Chronopost tracking

Fast parcel distribution in France and internationally

Chronopost is a French company specializing in the fast delivery of parcels to individuals and professionals. A subsidiary of GeoPost (the parcel branch of the La Poste Group), this carrier operates a dense and modern logistics network covering the entire French territory as well as a wide range of international destinations. Recognized as one of the major players in the sector in France, Chronopost offers an extensive range of express freight services, with a focus on reliability, responsiveness, and innovation.

History and evolution

Created in 1985 by the La Poste Group to meet the growing demand for express courier services, the company was initially named SFMI (Société Française de Messagerie Internationale). It adopted the name Chronopost in 1992, affirming its identity focused on speed (chrono) for parcel delivery. During these early years, the company implemented innovative tools for the time in 1987, Chronopost introduced a computerized parcel tracking system accessible via Minitel, offering customers a real-time view of their shipments' progress.

At the turn of the 1990s, Chronopost expanded its geographical presence. In 1991, it began serving the overseas departments, integrating these remote territories into its express network. In 1992, the company inaugurated its main international hub at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport (Roissy), a strategic platform dedicated to sorting and transiting air and road shipments to and from abroad. Throughout the 1990s, Chronopost expanded its international footprint in 1998, it adopted the commercial name Chronopost International and established several subsidiaries outside France, gradually covering almost all countries and territories worldwide.

In 1999, La Poste created the GeoPost holding company to consolidate all its parcel delivery and express transport activities. Chronopost then joined this new structure, facilitating the integration of its network into global solutions. In the early 2000s, Chronopost partnered with global partners to strengthen its international reach a major commercial agreement was concluded in 2001 with the American company FedEx, allowing Chronopost to use FedEx's network for parcel delivery outside Europe, while FedEx relied on the La Poste Group's network in Europe. This strategic, non-capitalistic alliance succeeded a previous partnership with TNT and illustrates Chronopost's desire to compete in the global express market.

Over the years, the company continued to develop its infrastructure and offerings. In 2004, Chronopost opened its first urban logistics space in the heart of Paris (Concorde) to optimize distribution in the capital. In 2008, a new high-tech sorting center was inaugurated in Chilly-Mazarin in the Paris region to increase sorting capacities and absorb volume growth. The company also innovated in services starting in 2015, Chronopost launched new solutions tailored to specific markets, including Chrono Fresh (Chronofresh subsidiary dedicated to the delivery of temperature-controlled food products, launched in 2015) and later developed the healthcare logistics segment. It acquired Biologistic in 2016, a company specializing in cold chain medical transport, and then in 2017 other players (such as Delifresh or 360° Services) to consolidate its expertise in the delivery of sensitive agri-food and pharmaceutical products.

In 2017, Chronopost innovated in services for individuals by introducing Sunday delivery in certain major cities. Initially offered in Île-de-France and about fifteen major cities (such as Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, etc.), this Sunday delivery expanded reception possibilities for customers. The international expansion continued in 2018, Chronopost partnered with the Japanese carrier Yamato Holdings for the handling of fresh and frozen product shipments between France and Japan, and signed an agreement with the Chinese logistics company SF Express to improve delivery times and service quality to China. At the same time, the company strengthened its network in France by absorbing the ALP group and its subsidiaries (Delifresh, Freshlog, 360° Services), allowing it to continue its development in temperature-controlled transport.

In recent years, Chronopost has intensified its environmental and technological commitment while increasing its capacities. In 2019, the company announced that the entire city of Paris is now served exclusively by clean vehicles (electric or very low emissions), realizing its desire to reduce the carbon footprint on the last mile. An urban micro-sorting center concept named "Chrono City" was launched in Paris to pool deliveries in the capital and facilitate the use of soft transport modes (cargo bikes, electric vans). In 2021, Chronopost officially created its Chronopost Healthcare division to structure its offers dedicated to the transport of temperature-controlled healthcare products, extending initiatives started through Biologistic and other acquisitions. The company continues to invest in its infrastructure in 2023, it commissioned four new state-of-the-art sorting centers dedicated to Chronofresh and Healthcare activities, to support the growing demand in the temperature-controlled logistics field. In 2024, Chronopost completed the expansion of its Aulnay-sous-Bois sorting center, tripling its sorting capacity and establishing one of the most efficient parcel platforms in Europe, capable of processing up to several hundred thousand parcels per day. This constant evolution demonstrates Chronopost's adaptability to logistical challenges and the needs of the e-commerce market.

Structure and group affiliation

Chronopost is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GeoPost, the international parcel-express branch of the La Poste Group. As such, the company is part of a larger entity, DPDgroup, which brings together the various parcel delivery subsidiaries and brands of GeoPost worldwide. In France, Chronopost is the cornerstone of the La Poste Group's express offer, focusing on fast shipments with delivery commitment, while its sister company DPD France (also within GeoPost) offers standard or deferred parcel deliveries. This complementarity within the group allows covering all segments of the courier market, from classic postal service to high-end express solutions.

Operationally, Chronopost relies on a national network of regional agencies and sorting centers, in close coordination with other group entities. The company has several major sorting centers (including the Roissy-CDG international platform for air flows) and numerous local distribution agencies strategically distributed throughout metropolitan France. Thanks to the national infrastructure of its parent company La Poste, Chronopost also benefits from additional support points for example, post offices can serve as drop-off or pick-up locations for Chronopost parcels, and in some sparsely populated areas, traditional postal service mail carriers can contribute to express parcel delivery. Furthermore, Chronopost uses subcontracting partners (independent couriers or affiliated local carriers) to carry out part of the delivery rounds, particularly on the "last mile", to ensure optimal territorial coverage to the final recipient.

Services offered

Chronopost offers a complete range of express transport services addressing both domestic needs and international shipments. In the French national market, its flagship service ensures fast parcel delivery throughout the territory, including next-morning delivery options to major cities. Various formulas exist to meet customer expectations for example, the Chrono 13 service guarantees express home delivery the next business day after shipment. In addition, Chrono Relais allows distribution to a pick-up point (at a relay merchant or in an automatic locker) with similar speed, offering the recipient the flexibility to collect their parcel according to their availability.

For less urgent or bulky shipments to Europe, Chronopost offers more economical yet reliable solutions, such as Chrono Classic, which ensures parcel delivery to many European countries within a few business days. Professional customers also have tailor-made options, such as scheduled deliveries or the Express International service to send documents and goods to over 200 countries and territories in very short timeframes. As part of these international offers, Chronopost handles export formalities and relies on local correspondents to ensure final delivery in each destination country.

Aware of the specific expectations of certain sectors, the company has developed specialized services. Chrono Fresh (managed via the Chronofresh subsidiary) ensures the transport of perishable or temperature-sensitive food products while strictly maintaining the cold chain fresh, refrigerated, or frozen goods are transported in suitable insulated packaging with temperature control throughout the journey, both in France and internationally. On the other hand, the Chronopost Healthcare offer meets the needs of the medical and pharmaceutical sectors this dedicated service, launched in 2021, guarantees the secure delivery of healthcare products (biological samples, medicines, vaccines, medical devices, etc.), either under temperature control (between 2°C and 8°C or negative for frozen products) or at controlled ambient temperature, according to health requirements. These specialized sectoral solutions complement the classic parcel services and demonstrate Chronopost's commitment to offering "tailor-made" transport for sensitive goods.

Finally, for the general public and online commerce, Chronopost has expanded its out-of-home and CtoC (consumer-to-consumer) offers. The Shop2Shop by Chronopost service, for example, allows sending a parcel from one relay point to another at competitive rates, relying on the vast network of Pickup partners the sender drops off their package at a nearby relay, and the recipient collects the shipment at the chosen relay, all within a few days. This shipping mode without home delivery meets new consumption patterns by offering a practical, economical, and flexible solution for parcels between individuals or for online sales from individual to individual.

Logistics network and geographical coverage

With a solid infrastructure, Chronopost has an extensive logistics network that allows it to cover the entire national territory as well as a very large number of international destinations. In metropolitan France, the carrier relies on several main sorting platforms (sorting centers) strategically distributed, connected by regular road and air links, as well as a network of regional agencies ensuring the final sorting and local distribution of parcels. This dense territorial network ensures that even remote municipalities or rural areas can be efficiently served. Chronopost is also present in overseas territories (such as Réunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, etc.), through local establishments or collaborations with regional postal services, allowing it to offer express shipments to and from these overseas communities.

With a solid infrastructure, Chronopost has an extensive logistics network that allows it to cover the entire national territory as well as a very large number of international destinations. In metropolitan France, the carrier relies on several main sorting platforms (sorting centers) strategically distributed, connected by regular road and air links, as well as a network of regional agencies ensuring the final sorting and local distribution of parcels. This dense territorial network ensures that even remote municipalities or rural areas can be efficiently served. Chronopost is also present in overseas territories (such as Réunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mayotte, etc.), through local establishments or collaborations with regional postal services, allowing it to offer express shipments to and from these overseas communities.

In Europe, Chronopost benefits from its membership in DPDgroup to extend its coverage. Parcels destined for European countries use the international GeoPost network thus, a Chronopost shipment from France can be quickly transported to another country and entrusted to the local group subsidiary for final delivery. For example, a Chronopost shipment to Spain will be delivered by the teams of SEUR (a historical partner and now a GeoPost subsidiary in Spain), while in Italy, delivery will be handled by BRT (an Italian operator integrated into the DPDgroup network). Similarly, in many European countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, etc.), Chronopost parcels are relayed in the final stage by DPD network carriers present locally, ensuring consistent service quality throughout the European Union and neighboring countries.

Outside Europe, Chronopost relies on international agreements and partnerships to serve over 200 countries worldwide. Intercontinental express parcels transit through the Roissy-CDG platform and then take dedicated air links to major regions of the globe. Depending on the areas served, Chronopost collaborates either with other GeoPost subsidiaries globally or with partner carriers when the group does not have a local entity. Historically, the alliance with FedEx has ensured reliable parcel delivery to America, Asia, or Africa by leveraging FedEx's vast air network. Today, Chronopost continues to strengthen its global connections, whether through direct cooperations (for example with SF Express for the Chinese market or with Yamato for the France-Japan flow) or by integrating into DPDgroup solutions on an international scale. This extensive presence makes Chronopost an operator capable of offering express delivery service almost anywhere in the world, while maintaining quality control from start to finish through its strategic partnerships.

Strategic partnerships

As a member of the DPDgroup network, Chronopost benefits from synergies and close collaborations with many sister entities within the GeoPost group. The DPD brand itself, very present in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, etc.), is a natural partner French customers can ship via Chronopost parcels that will be handled in the destination country by the local DPD organization, ensuring cross-border service continuity. In addition to DPD, the group relies on renowned local companies integrated into its network SEUR in Spain, BRT in Italy, DTDC in India (GeoPost's partner on the Indian subcontinent), Jadlog in Brazil, and Yamato in Japan for refrigerated delivery. These collaborations ensure that Chronopost shipments benefit from field expertise and well-established infrastructures in each region, while sharing common quality standards.

Alongside intra-group partnerships, Chronopost has entered into strategic agreements with external players to increase its capacities or reach. The agreement with FedEx in the early 2000s is a notable illustration, covering network exchange for international deliveries. In the specific field of refrigerated logistics, the rapprochement with Yamato in Japan (initiated in 2018) allows Chronopost to offer its customers the shipment of fresh products to Asia under optimal conditions, relying on Yamato's specialized network once the parcel arrives in Japan. Similarly, the collaboration with SF Express improves the logistics circuit to China, a rapidly growing market for e-commerce shipments, by combining SF Express's customs expertise and Asian network with Chronopost's know-how from Europe. Furthermore, Chronopost maintains relationships with numerous airlines and international transport agents to secure cargo capacities on planes and expedite the customs clearance of its urgent shipments. All these partnerships, whether capitalistic (integration into GeoPost) or purely contractual, contribute to strengthening Chronopost's global network and ensuring the reliability of each step in the delivery journey of its parcels.

Environmental commitments, digital innovations, and CSR

Faced with the challenges of sustainable development, Chronopost has gradually implemented a proactive policy to reduce the environmental impact of its transport activities. The company has committed to an ecological transition of its vehicle fleet and logistics organization, particularly in the crucial "last mile" segment. Specifically, Chronopost is investing heavily in acquiring low-emission vehicles (electric vehicles, natural gas vans, cargo bikes for urban delivery, etc.) for its delivery rounds. Its goal is to significantly increase the proportion of deliveries made in clean mode in the coming years. Paris is the showcase of this strategy since 2019, all Chronopost parcel deliveries in the capital are carried out without any diesel vehicles, thanks to a combination of electric vans and soft means. Many other major French cities have followed suit, so that an increasing share of parcels is now distributed in a "zero local emission" manner in urban centers (several dozen cities were already concerned in 2022).

Beyond greening its fleet, Chronopost strives to optimize its flows to limit unnecessary trips and maximize vehicle load rates. The establishment of urban micro-depots (such as the Chrono City concept in Paris) aims to bring parcels closer to their final recipient upstream, to carry out the last miles with non-polluting means and avoid empty returns. Over long distances, increased use of rail-road transport (combination of rail and road) and optimization of truck loading are part of the levers activated to reduce the carbon footprint of transport between sorting centers.

In parallel, the company affirms a more global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, in line with the commitments of the La Poste Group. This includes ethical and social initiatives towards its employees and partners. Chronopost values the training and safety of its employees, promotes diversity and equal opportunities within its teams, and ensures the compliance of its subcontracting chain with social standards (fight against undeclared work, respect for labor rights for independent couriers, etc.). These CSR initiatives are publicly highlighted and aim to sustainably anchor Chronopost's activities in a responsible model.

Regarding digital innovation, Chronopost has always sought to be at the forefront to improve service quality and customer experience. The company has modernized its sorting centers by equipping them with state-of-the-art technologies multi-face automated barcode readers, video-tracking systems allowing real-time supervision of parcel progress, high-speed sorters controlled by computers, etc. These investments ensure faster and more reliable processing of growing parcel volumes, while reducing error or loss rates.

On the customer side, Chronopost focuses on digitizing tracking and relationship tools. The online parcel tracking service is a historical pillar, offering shippers and recipients the ability to know the delivery progress in real-time. The Predict interface, implemented within DPDgroup, proactively sends delivery notifications to recipients with an estimated time slot, usually with an accuracy of about one hour. Thanks to Predict, the customer can reorganize the delivery in case of unforeseen circumstances (reschedule to another date, choose a relay point, authorize delivery in a safe place, etc.) directly from their smartphone or computer. Furthermore, Chronopost has developed an intelligent chatbot named "Léonard", capable of online dialogue with users to answer frequently asked questions or provide tracking assistance, at any time. This conversational robot, based on artificial intelligence, handles a large part of common requests, allowing users to be efficiently directed or complex cases to be escalated to a human advisor if necessary.

Other innovations facilitate the user experience the launch of the e-label (dematerialized transport label) for example, exempts individual shippers from printing a paper label after affranchising their shipment online, they simply present a QR code at the drop-off point, where the physical label is automatically printed by the relay. At delivery, the internal tool PhotoConfirm has been deployed to improve traceability in case of delivery without signature (for example, drop-off in a mailbox), the courier takes a timestamped photograph of the deposited parcel, which can then be viewed as proof of delivery. All these innovations illustrate Chronopost's desire to use digital technologies to increase transparency, reliability, and convenience of its service, while optimizing its internal processes.

Tracking and delivery infrastructure

The tracking and delivery system implemented by Chronopost relies on advanced computer tools and a physical network of contact points, to ensure each shipment a smooth and traceable journey from start to finish. Each parcel entrusted to Chronopost is associated with a unique tracking number (appearing on the transport label) that allows identifying the shipment at all stages of its journey. From the moment of pickup, the parcel's barcode is scanned, and tracking information is uploaded to the central system. Shipper and recipient can thus, thanks to the Chronopost website or mobile app, consult the delivery progress in real-time.

The network of pick-up and drop-off points also plays a key role in Chronopost's delivery infrastructure. Beyond home delivery, the company offers a network of "out-of-home" solutions under the Pickup banner. This network includes thousands of partner local businesses (tobacco shops, grocery stores, florists, bookstores, etc. acting as parcel relays) as well as self-service automatic lockers in certain public places (stations, shopping centers, etc.). Shippers can drop off their shipments at one of these relays or lockers, and recipients have the option to choose delivery to a Pickup point near their home or workplace. This distribution mode, via Chrono Relais or the Shop2Shop service, offers appreciable time flexibility, as most of these relay points have wide opening hours, including late in the day or on weekends.

On the ground, Chronopost parcel delivery is carried out by professional delivery agents, whether they are company employees or subcontracting partners. They perform optimized rounds thanks to geolocation systems and onboard mobile terminals, which provide them with routing information and allow scanning each parcel upon actual delivery. In case of recipient absence during a home delivery, the Chronopost courier leaves a delivery notice (paper notification in the mailbox and/or electronic message) indicating the options for the next steps new delivery attempt on a later date, parcel availability at the nearest pick-up point, etc. This process is managed via the online tracking platform, where the recipient can quickly choose the option that suits them best.

Traceability is a central element of the Chronopost service at each key stage (pickup, departure and arrival at sorting centers, delivery preparation, etc.), a tracking status is recorded and viewable by the customer. These statuses allow reconstructing the parcel's journey and anticipating its arrival. Below, a table summarizes the main tracking statuses that a shipper or recipient may encounter when consulting the tracking of a Chronopost shipment, along with their precise meaning.