Rail transport (TBE concept): As regards the development of and transported by express rail services (TBE concept), the French authorities have confirmed to the Commission that “Sernam does not have a monopoly of TBE as any operator may ask Fret SNCF for an equivalent service.

According to the expert, TBE as developed by Sernam has a certain potential for growth although it is not very substantial for the railway market in France as a whole because it is currently only a small part of the market. rail courier as operated through TBE have the disadvantage that there are at least two stops necessary for unloading.

Moreover, at the request of the Commission, which has emphasised that Sernam should not gain a monopoly position in express freight transport services by rail, the French authorities have confirmed in writing [54] that any other operator potentially interested in performing transport services by rail will be able to benefit from the same conditions as those granted to Sernam. Accordingly, the Commission considers that any risk of a de facto or de jure monopoly emerging is excluded, and only the barriers to market entry remain.

Express : In order to enable a comparison between Sernam’s position and the market, Sernam has used the price per kilo as an indicator.

The French authorities indicate that Sernam has since 1995 implemented a new strategy of increasing charges intended to restore its profitability, re-evaluating its revenue from express and traditional .

Moreover, Sernam is shifting its focus from groupage/traditional mail services to express services and also from road transport to a new rail concept, TBE.

Ratio: Sernam’s express/traditional mail

Moreover, according to the information supplied by the French authorities, there has been a certain shift in focus in that the express/traditional mail ratio was […] in 2000 and […] in 2003. Accordingly, the share of traditional mail services in Sernam's activities has diminished to the benefit of express services.

Express : According to the expert, the market for express parcel delivery, normally within 24 hours, has shown strong growth in Europe and in particular in France over the past 20 years but the rapid entry of transport companies in this sector has led to a drop in prices.

Thanks to this transport plan, Sernam is now properly equipped to focus purely on express services and on delivering all products with express quality service (Cliq certification, [34] which guarantees the security, reliability, timing and traceability of the packages carried) even though only about one third reportedly constitutes a genuine express service. [32] Indication given by the French authorities at a meeting on 22 March 2004. This quality guarantee for the customer has in particular made it possible to significantly reduce the linked with ongoing disputes while at the same time substantially reducing the working capital requirement.

The part of turnover linked with traditional mail services reportedly fell by […]% and that linked with express by […]% between 2000 and 2003.

Gross data Express in figures (without correction for market trend)

the segment in France (consisting of sorting () and the carriage by road and rail of parcels or batches of several tonnes normally between 24 and 48 hours);

the /express segment in France (consisting of sorting () and the carriage by road and rail of parcels or batches of several tonnes normally within less than 24 hours);

According to the expert, Sernam is described as the leading express distributor in France even though, according to the expert, this estimation depends on how the market is defined.

Express in France

Sernam has changed over to express ; in fact, this has been one of the key elements for the success of Sernam’s recovery plan;

If account is taken of the corrections made by the French authorities to take market trends into account, the fall in Sernam’s turnover for mail services over the same period is even greater ([…]%), while that for express is only slightly less, namely […]% instead of […]%.

According to the French authorities: “The express companies use light road vehicles (12 t) to carry their express freight.

Viewed in a different way, however, if account is taken of the combined turnover for traditional and express services, traditional services constitute the major part of activities, […] in 2000 and […] % in 2003 compared with […]% and […]%, respectively, for express .