Author: Archive

GeoPost subsidiary Armadillo expands Russian network

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

The Russian parcels and freight logistics group Armadillo, a GeoPost subsidiary, said it has opened six new branches in key regions over the first half of 2006 to further expand its network.

Three branches are located in Siberia (Barnaul, Krasnojarsk, Osmk), one in the Volga region (Saratov), and two branches in the Far East (Charabarovsk and Wladiwostok). The openings give the company a total of 22 branches throughout all the regions of the Russian Federation, from the North-West to the Far East, Armadillo said in a statement.

Each new branch incorporates an office and operating terminal, including handling equipment and IT technology linking all branches. Each branch covers about 500 sqm and has capacity to handle up to 2,000 parcels per day.

“In the next five years, the Russian logistics market will experience a tremendous boom thanks to the biggest Western retailers,” explained Sergey Kruglov, director general of the Armadillo Group. “After opening branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, they are capturing the market in further regions of Russia where they require the same quality they guarantee to their customers in Moscow, Europe and all over the world. Russian companies will certainly try to capture the regional market where the demand for transportation services is very high,” he added.

The Armadillo Group, which is jointly owned by GeoPost and its Turkish partner, Yurtici Kargo, offers courier, express, parcel and freight transportation within Russia and internationally, including the Bizpak just-in-time delivery service. It plans to expand its network further later this year.

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USPS Launches Intelligent Mail in September

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

After years of planning, the Postal Service is ready to launch a new service, Intelligent Mail, on September 1. This move marks one of the biggest changes in postal technology since the introduction of the original postal barcodes in 1989.

Intelligent Mail is built around a new barcode, the 4-state barcode, now referred to as OneCode by USPS. Current postnet and PLANET barcodes are 2-state barcodes, the two states referring to tall and short bars. OneCode barcodes have four different bars – a tall bar and three different short bars. The important thing about all these bars is that they allow for a lot more digits, The OneCode gives you 20 more digits to use than the 2-state barcode, and few digits make a big difference.
Mail is an important medium, one that inspires trust and helps build brand and product awareness. Relative to other media, it is inexpensive and flexible. Direct mail remains a growing medium because of its inherent advantages as well as external events, such as “do not call” legislation, pushing direct marketers toward print communications.

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US aligns with courier companies against India Post

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

What does Uncle Sam have in common with Kamal Nath’s commerce & industry ministry? Both have found meeting ground in opposing the proposed amendments to the Indian Post Office Act – which has given sleepless nights to the courier industry by threatening to turn all packages below 300 grams the exclusive preserve of India Post.

While the US government has indicated that the move would have a bearing on the ongoing services negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the commerce & industry ministry’s concern is over FDI in the courier segment. While opposition within the government is manageable, officials feel the US decision to champion the case of the courier industry could block the proposed amendments.

The changes, spearheaded by telecom & IT minister Dayanidhi Maran, include a levy of 10% on the turnover of courier companies to subsidise the universal service obligations (USO) of India Post, which serves the remote regions of the country. The changes in law also call for mandatory registration for all courier companies with a registration fee of Rs 25,000 and a renewal fee of Rs 10,000.

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Postcomm consults on a long term licence for Zip Mail Limited

Posted by | Sep 12, 2006 | |

Postcomm today began a 30-day consultation on the proposed issue of a new long-term licence to Zip Mail Limited.

Under the new licensing framework that took effect from 1 January 2006, Zip Mail’s licence would:
allow it to provide all types of postal service;
be issued for a rolling ten year period;
require the company to comply with codes of practice on mail integrity (safety and security of the mail) and common operational procedures
(designed to ensure the multi-operator market works well in practice).

The consultation document and proposed licence can be found on the Zip Mail Limited consultation page. Printed copies are available from Postcomm at Hercules House, 6 Hercules Road, London, SE1 7DB. The closing date for responses is 12 October 2006.

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RPT Deutsche Post's Petram wants to close smaller post offices after end-2007

Posted by | Sep 11, 2006 | |

Deutsche Post AG board member Hans-Dieter Petram told the Seuddeutsche Zeitung that mail carrier will be shutting down branches in smaller locations by the time the company’s monopoly falls in 2007/08.

He told the newspaper that the law that requires the national mail service to cover the majority of locations in Germany an ‘anachronism.’

‘Of course we will continue to deliver packages and letters to even the

smallest villages, but we don’t need to keep branches open in these areas to

sell a couple of postage stamps per day,’ Petram said.

If Deutsche Post is expected to keep open many of these locations, than the

government-regulated prices it charges will need to be looked at, Petram said.

The opening of the market at the end of next year will not necessarily bring

lower prices for customers, Petram added.

But should the government demand that postage prices be reduced, Deutsche

Post’s competitors, who are already active in market, would have serious problems.

‘They’re terribly afraid of this,’ Petram said.

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UK union to announce result of strike ballot on DHL takeover of NHS logistics

Posted by | Sep 11, 2006 | |

Public services union Unison is to announce the results of a ballot for industrial action in protest over the takeover of NHS logistics by Deutsche Post AG unit DHL.

The strike could involve 1,000 workers, furious over the private outsourcing supply contract worth 1.6 bln stg.

Unison leader Dave Prentis said he would be seeking a judicial review of the way the contract was awarded.

If approved, the action could be the first in a series of major industrial protests by civil servants over government reforms of public services.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, warned of a strike ballot within weeks among 280,000 civil servants over job and pay cuts and privatising services.

‘Time is running out for government, who have failed to give guarantees over compulsory redundancies and deteriorating services, as they plough on regardless in cutting civil service jobs,’ he said.

‘Added to this you have a backlog of over 200 pay deals yet to be settled because of the chancellor’s intention to drive down pay among some of the lowest paid, many of whom earn as little as the minimum wage.’

Chancellor Gordon Brown has mounted an intense campaign to keep public sector wage deals to 2 pct or less as he fears big wage rises for Britain’s civil servants will fuel inflation and harm his spending plans.

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Logistics Expert Jürn Schmidt to run SecurLog

Posted by | Sep 11, 2006 | |

Cash and securities handling company SecurLog has a new CEO. Jürn Schmidt, 46, will take up the reins at SecurLog on 15 September. SecurLog operates throughout Germany and has about 3,000 staff. Schmidt, a Freight Forwarding Manager and Industrial Engineer, will take over from restructuring expert Dr. Michael F. Keppel, a Senior Director of Alvarez & Marsal, who has been filling this position on an interim basis. Keppel will stay on as SecurLog’s Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) during the handover period, which is expected to last until the end of the year. The company has thus filled the key position in its new executive structure. Further senior level appointments will be announced shortly.
Jürn Schmidt has more than 15 years of management and board level experience in the freight and logistics industry. He was a member of the management board of Kühne & Nagel AG Deutschland, CEO of Hangartner AG in Switzerland, and chairman of the board of Birkart Globistics AG.

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Italy Private National Post To Be Born Soon

Posted by | Sep 11, 2006 | |

The establishment of Uniposta, Italy’s new private postal service operator, will be finalised within 40 to 50 days, it was announced in a statement on September 11, 2006.

The company will be born from the unification of already-existing Italian business operators.

The new postal company’s business plan sets its annual turnover target at 500 mln euro (USD 635.9 mln), achievable until 2011. The plan also envisages a share of between 8.0 pct and 10 pct of the revenue of state-owned postal service company Poste Italiane on a national postal services market, which generates a turnover of more than 12 bln euro (USD 15.261 bln) every year, the statement read.

Italian outsourcing and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions provider Omnia Network has been considering the possibility to be part of the new group.

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