@chrisjo
Actually, I've found the ground shipment rates haven't changed much at all, even though the prices of containers have increased; Much like the common carrier policies of the airmail system, a similar arrangement exists for ground shipment, that being a container of mail with contents bound for several nations will be loaded on the first avaliable ship going to some or all the relevant stops - My first time shipping with Japan Post Ground, it took quite some time to arrive, as my parcel was initially shipped to Belgium before being forwarded on via road;
Presumably this was because the first boat heading to Europe within a sensible time frame that could carry my package was only going as far as Belgium, and of course there's no logical advantage to waiting for, & putting it on another ship to complete the cross channel run
In practice this is somewhat similar to the airline method, where parcels are shipped to a hub before completing their journey, albeit with the catch that there is no fixed hub per-se, rather the hub used is entirely based on the next avaliable ship, and its Port calls.
To the best of my knowledge, the reason the rates are still cheap is because of UPU pricing guidelines and of course subsidies towards the cost of national postal services provided by UPU member states to maintain a competitive price.
Also fun fact for all of you - EMS is actually a UPU brand name, which they offer to postal services for use to brand their express parcel offerings - Most member states use the EMS brand for continuity, but in the UK for example, we don't see or use the EMS brand at all domestically, as the Royal Mail refer to the system as ParcelForce Worldwide - Any EMS post generally gets handled by them upon arrival to the UK.
Actually, I've found the ground shipment rates haven't changed much at all, even though the prices of containers have increased; Much like the common carrier policies of the airmail system, a similar arrangement exists for ground shipment, that being a container of mail with contents bound for several nations will be loaded on the first avaliable ship going to some or all the relevant stops - My first time shipping with Japan Post Ground, it took quite some time to arrive, as my parcel was initially shipped to Belgium before being forwarded on via road;
Presumably this was because the first boat heading to Europe within a sensible time frame that could carry my package was only going as far as Belgium, and of course there's no logical advantage to waiting for, & putting it on another ship to complete the cross channel run
In practice this is somewhat similar to the airline method, where parcels are shipped to a hub before completing their journey, albeit with the catch that there is no fixed hub per-se, rather the hub used is entirely based on the next avaliable ship, and its Port calls.
To the best of my knowledge, the reason the rates are still cheap is because of UPU pricing guidelines and of course subsidies towards the cost of national postal services provided by UPU member states to maintain a competitive price.
Also fun fact for all of you - EMS is actually a UPU brand name, which they offer to postal services for use to brand their express parcel offerings - Most member states use the EMS brand for continuity, but in the UK for example, we don't see or use the EMS brand at all domestically, as the Royal Mail refer to the system as ParcelForce Worldwide - Any EMS post generally gets handled by them upon arrival to the UK.
Been building Plarail worlds since 2001; Building when I can in 2023 