In 1996 Slovak Post embarked upon a "Project for the development of the postal service to the year 2000", the aim of which is to improve and accelerate the modernisation of postal services. One of the key elements within this modernisation is the "Logistics Project". This, again, was initiated in 1996 and will be completed in November of this year. Its first stages saw improvements in the postal transport network and in the number of sorting offices. In the past a letter might be sorted as many as seven times - at mail-handling centres and in trains and vans - before reaching its destination. Following the introduction of the automatic sorting line this number has been reduced to two or three. In July of this year the first such line will be introduced in Košice, to be followed in November by Bratislava. The Siemens technology to be used in our centres is capable of sorting between 35,000 and 40,000 items an hour. Slovak Post (Slovenská pošta, š.p.) will be doing its unmost to make the most efficient possible use of what is a substantial investment. We are confident that the public at large will assist us by including the correct postcode and by using formats suitable for automatic sorting, thus reducing the number of items which will continue to be sorted by hand.