Consignia review as competition closes in
Consignia is undertaking a major review of its use of road, rail and air transport.
The new holding company for the UK Post Office, including Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide, recognises it will have to provide faster, cheaper and more reliable services in future as competition intensifies.
Paul Bateson, MD of logistics solutions, said the review was planned before the Hatfield rail crash last October. “But the huge impact on our services, particularly first-class letters, over the following weeks and months underlines the need for the review.”
Consignia moves 500,000 parcels and 80m letters a day, a quarter of the letters by rail.
It operates 60 trains and 40 air services a night.
In the weeks after Hatfield, late-running mail trains and missed road connections forced the company to charter up to 12 extra flights a night.
The rail/air balance has now returned to normal and a spokeswoman told IFW that English, Welsh and Scottish Railway, Consignia’s contracted operator, was running 91-92% of services to schedule.
“The target is 95%, but we are working closely on this, ” she said, pointing out that there were still speed restrictions on the West Coast Main Line.
Announcing the transport review, Bateson said: “Current levels of reliability across all networks are not good enough for the future.
With increasing competition, our customers expect more.”
The review will be completed by November. “It is not about tinkering with transport schedules and changing delivery routes, ” said Bateson.
“We need to be able to rely on the transport we use and to have confidence that our transport suppliers can consistently achieve, and then improve upon, the specification as we drive up our quality of service at the most competitive price.”
UK Post Office letters delivered daily (millions)
Road (long distance) 35
Road (local) 20
Rail 20
Air 5
Total 80
Posted: 09/07/2001
IFW
