Bring buys courier firm, transfers terminals to Norway Post
Norway Post’s freight subsidiary Bring Cargo is to transfer its terminal operations over to its parent company. The controversial move had three board members voting against the decision as it was passed by a single vote majority on Monday.
The move will be effective January 1, 2012, and should see about 600 employees in the terminal operations transferring to Norway Post (Posten Norge).
Other operations at Bring Cargo are not affected as Norway Post looks to strengthen its domestic parcel operations.
Daj Mejdell, the Norway Post CEO said: “To ensure competitiveness in an increasingly tough market, we are working to achieve economies of scale. Plans to co-ordinate terminal operations and our parcel and freight activities in Norway is an important part of this development.”
The restructuring has not found favour among employees, with representatives of Norway’s transport workers union staging protests outside Norway Post headquarters in Oslo this week.
The move will mean the affected Bring Cargo staff transferring to the working conditions of the collective bargaining agreement for Norway Post staff.
Norway Post conceded that there had been clear signs of disapproval among workers, but insisted both Bring Cargo and itself had good working conditions and wage levels under their respective labour deals.
Employees transferring to Norway Post would keep their positions and salaries, the company confirmed.
“We respect the fact that employees are fighting for their rights, but to describe the transition to the Post’s collective bargaining agreement as ‘social dumping’ is absurd,” said Mejdell, commenting on public criticism from workers’ groups.
Acquisition
While terminal operations are transferred over to Norway Post, the company said it would be continuing to invest in Bring Cargo to lead the group’s logistics operations.
The company is currently trying to make profitability improvements around the fact that it is handling fewer letters and more parcels in its network.
Just days after sealing a deal to buy Norwegian transport company Bergen Container & Transport, Bring Cargo has now revealed it has just bought a 100% stake of a transport and courier firm that operates in Oslo and Trondheim.
Toms Transport & Messenger will become part of Bring Express, which now has a network of 26 locations and a further 40 subcontractors in the Nordic countries.
The newly acquired company has been operating since 1988, opening its office in Trondheim in 2009. It now turns over more than NOK 61m worth of business in Oslo with 100 vehicles based in the Norwegian capital, while with 15 vehicles based in Trondheim it generates NOK 5.6m worth of business there each year.
Mejdell said: “The express and distribution market is developing rapidly, and Toms Transport & Messenger service has strengths in distribution, delivery and transport. We will complement each other in a positive way, thereby giving customers a better deal.”
The company’s general manager Tom V Andresen is set to continue in his role within Bring Cargo.
He said of the acquisition: “Bring Express is the largest message delivery player in Norway, so I am very pleased that it was none other than Bring that bought the shares in this company. Bring wants to be a productive and long-term owner of Toms Transportation & Messenger.”
