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FedEx gets more flights to China

Posted by | Aug 31, 2006 | |

FedEx Express announced on Wednesday that it was granted permission by the U.S. Department of Transportation to start additional weekly flights to China, bringing its total to 30.

The additions, which will go into effect in March 2007, will allow FedEx Express to operate more all-cargo flights to and from China than any other U.S. airline, the company said in a released statement.

FedEx Express is the cargo airline division of FedEx Corp., operator of the world’s largest express transportation company.

FedEx Corp. earlier this year announced a $400 million agreement to boost its presence throughout Asia by taking full control of a 50-percent joint venture begun in 1999 with the Tianjin Datian W. Group.

The joint venture handles international package shipments to and from China, and FedEx’s partner, which goes by the name DTW Group, also operates a domestic delivery network with 89 locations in cities across China.

Memphis-based FedEx said it hopes to complete the acquisition during its 2007 fiscal year, which began in June. The operation will become part of FedEx Express.

Shares of FedEx rose 42 cents to close at $100.54 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.

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Firms urged to make the most of new postal charges

Posted by | Aug 31, 2006 | |

ROYAL Mail is urging more small businesses who use postage meters to take advantage of a GBP 30 million discount by resetting meters to reflect a price reduction, following the introduction of the new pricing system.
As part of the new pricing structure, the price of 1st class post for meter users has been reduced by 1p and now costs 30p, rather than the previous price of 31p or the 32p for stamped mail. To take advantage of the discount, all customers need to do is reset their machines.

Royal Mail’s Lorna Clarkson said: “We always remind users to reset their meters when there is a tariff change, and this time is particularly important if business customers are to get a share in the GBP 30 million price reduction.”

While it is important that all businesses check their meters have been reset, it is particularly important for smaller businesses that use manual franking machines.

The reduction is in recognition that business post costs Royal Mail less to handle and is on top of the 1p discount given to business mail as part of tariff changes in April 2005.

Under the new pricing system Royal Mail is giving businesses a “double whammy” of price reductions, with an increase in the weight limit from 60g to 100g, so customers can send more for less.

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Mixed-mail & parcel sorting technology provides new business opportunities to mail & parcel processing centers

Posted by | Aug 31, 2006 | |

Why is the United States Postal Service, USPS spending billions of dollars to automate product handling and logistics across the nation? Because it’s committed to being the final delivery services for media, books, mail order prescription and other small parcels for the home and businesses delivery service. Their business continues to mushroom and their expanding “small parcel” shipment volume presents USD 100’s of millions in new business opportunity to existing mail pre-sort and parcel processing centers that jump on board and take advantage of this market opportunity.USPS, once considered the “slow boat” of parcel carriers, has installed new technologies and automation throughout its distribution network and private industry mail centers and carriers are now being given larger financial incentives from the USPS to automate and inject the mail and parcels into local delivery centers, thereby improving services while lowering delivery costs. Think of Amazon, and dozens of other high volume shippers of books, DVDs mail order pharmaceuticals, apparel and business-home office products, they all want the six day a week delivery with faster and lower costs provided by the USPS.Using automated parcel sorting systems such as Numina’s NTS(TM) tray sorting technologies, the private sector can intelligently inject mail stream into the USPS automated centers and streamline delivery and costs using automated sorting and electronic manifesting for mail and parcels. It enables the USPS to shortcut its old, labor-intensive, multi-site manual handling of mail and parcels that required shipping and handling as many as three or four times en route to its destination. material handling automation eliminates expensive manual handling, and enables “zone injection” to the closes initial point of distribution such as the USPS SFC (Section Center Facilities) or better yet to a local DDU (Direct Delivery Unit), so letters and parcels avoid all of the sorting and redistribution costs and delays that were so long associated with the old USPS delivery methodology. Numina Group’s mixed mail and small parcel sorting technology enables parcel services and mail processing centers to process anything from a business letters, flats, irregular, bound printed materials, bagged items and parcels in sizes up to 12″ x 18″and 25-lbs on the same hardware. An automated feed system measures and classifies letter or parcel according to size, weight, destination and other rate-related characteristics.

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Online shopping boom boosts postal orders

Posted by | Aug 30, 2006 | |

Nearly one in three Postal Orders sold are now being used to pay for goods bought by online and home shoppers. The Post Office® has calculated that GBP 104 million worth of Postal Orders will be sold to fund the UK’s online and home shopping boom this year.
The figures show that a new generation of shoppers are relying on the security and convenience of the traditional Postal Order for their virtual shopping trips. Kevin McAdam, Post Office Ltd, said: “Postal Orders are proving perfect for people who don’t want to give out their bank account details online or over the telephone, or where they cannot use cash.
The new Postal Orders look similar to a cheque and the name of the recipient can be printed on the order, making it more secure. But unlike a cheque the seller doesn’t need to wait for bank clearance allowing them to access the money immediately. For customers without bank accounts or access to plastic or cheques, Postal Orders offer a safe and convenient way to make purchases where they cannot use cash.

Available now at all 14,300 Post Office® branches, the new Postal Orders can now also be processed through bank clearance systems, so retailers can accept them more easily.

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Firms urged to make the most of new postal charges

Posted by | Aug 30, 2006 | |

As part of the new pricing structure, the price of 1st class post for meter users has been reduced by 1p and now costs 30p, rather than the previous price of 31p or the 32p for stamped mail. To take advantage of the discount, all customers need to do is reset their machines.

Royal Mail’s Lorna Clarkson said: “We always remind users to reset their meters when there is a tariff change, and this time is particularly important if business customers are to get a share in the £30 million price reduction.”

While it is important that all businesses check their meters have been reset, it is particularly important for smaller businesses that use manual franking machines.

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Correos expands its service to include making payment to Telefónica without having the bill.

Posted by | Aug 30, 2006 | |

Since the middle of July, the service of payment of Telefónica bills, other than by direct debit, without having to have the bill has been available in the network of over 2000 computerised branches of CORREOS throughout Spain. As a result of this agreement with Telefónica – one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies, which provides services in 19 countries and is present in more than 40 in total – the customers of CORREOS who wish to use this service can pay their bills at the post office without having to present the actual paper copy of the bill. The customer only needs to have their national identity card, passport or residency card, and to know their client number and the amount due.

This bill paying service provided by CORREOS has advantages for customers, such as the ease of always having a post office nearby, thanks to their extensive the branch network, and the long opening hours, from 8:30 to 14:30 in those branches only open to the public in the morning, and continuously from 8:30 to 20:30 in those branches that stay open all day. Those branches located in shopping centres provide this service during the same opening hours as the shopping centre, including public holidays.

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DHL hikes air surcharge

Posted by | Aug 30, 2006 | |

DHL Express, the third-largest express carrier in the U.S. package competition, already had an 18 percent surcharge in effect for August. Its September fuel fee will be 19 percent.

All three major overnight parcel carriers that compete in the United States have now said they were hiking their air fuel surcharges by a full percentage point in September.

The two biggest express players in the U.S. package market, UPS and FedEx Express, both said they will push their fuel surcharges for overnight air parcels to 17 percent in September, from 16 percent now.The carriers listed the new fees in Web site updates. They had each held those rates steady from July to August, after jet fuel prices stabilized some from an earlier surge.

But as oil prices rose for much of the past month, jet fuel costs rose as well, pushing the fuel price indexes for all the carriers to another trigger level.

But while they were raising their surcharges based on aviation fuel, they left their ground shipment surcharges at the same levels they used in August as the cost of diesel that fuels most of their trucks did not show the same gains as jet fuel.

FedEx and UPS left their September ground shipment fuel fees at 4.75 percent. DHL held to its 4.8 percent ground fuel surcharge.

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China's ZJS Express upgrading ahead of Hong Kong IPO

Posted by | Aug 30, 2006 | |

ZJS Express Co Ltd, a Beijing-based private courier service, is upgrading its operations and management prior to an initial public offering planned for the second half of 2007 in Hong Kong, said company chairman and president Chen Ping.

ZJS Express plans to raise up to 200 mln hkd via its Hong Kong listing but prior to going public is investing in new technology and doubling its branch network.

After the company completes its restructuring and listing, it will significantly narrow the gap in operational quality with major global players who have entered the Chinese market, Chen told XFN-Asia in an interview.

‘The international express firms currently have weak networks in China and operate on higher costs compared with ZJS. We should take this opportunity to further sharpen our competitive edge,’ he said.

ZJS Express’ volume is expected to increase from more than 35 mln items in 2005 to about 50 mln this year, according to Chen.

Earlier this year, the company said that it plans to invest around five mln yuan to expand its network, increasing the number of outlets to over 800 across the country from more than 400.Among measures to improve operational efficiency, the company will separate its contract logistics operations for corporate customers — 40 pct of its revenue — from services provided for individuals. It will also increase administrative staff at its Beijing headquarters by 52 pct to reinforce management, said Chen.

Chen said the firm will also implement personal digital assistants (PDA) and in coming months buy more equipment including automated picking and sorting systems, logistics vehicles and roll containers.

‘We are not short of money for these two years (2006 and 2007). In addition, we will soon obtain additional funds for future development from the Hong Kong IPO,’ said Chen.

The company had a net profit of around 60 mln yuan last year on total revenue of about 600 mln yuan.

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