Author: Archive

UK Royal Mail to close 270 post offices in half our high streets

Posted by | Nov 1, 2004 | |

Royal Mail is preparing to close or sell up to half its high street post offices as part of a sweeping restructuring, The Times has learnt. The company operates 560 Crown offices but is planning to shut between 240 to 270 in a move that would leave hundreds of thousands of people without easy access to basic services. It is currently losing GBP70 million a year, and managers insist that the losses are unsustainable. Critics have accused Royal Mail of asset stripping in an attempt to raise profits. Many of the post offices that could be sold are in prime locations and would command millions of pounds on the property market. The sales will provoke public anger but could provide the beleaguered business with a cash injection. Royal Mail has told unions that the main post office network must be reduced to between 320 and 390 branches to be viable.

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Thiel Logistik sells stake in DPD Austria to GeoPost

Posted by | Nov 1, 2004 | |

GeoPost, Europe’s third largest provider of express and deferred parcels services, has reached an agreement to acquire Thiel Logistik AG’s 25.5% stake in DPD Austria. These shares were originally held by non-depositary partner companies Birkart, Dachser and Nathe & Quehenberger, with each holding equal stakes. The share purchase price has not been disclosed. The transaction is currently awaiting approval from Austrian anti-trust authorities. All parties expect the acquisition to be finalised by the end of this year. After this, GeoPost will be DPD Austria’s second largest shareholder. GeoPost holds about 85% in the DPD franchisor organization.

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Metamorphosis of the Indian Post

Posted by | Oct 31, 2004 | |

Bright new blue uniforms in place of the old khaki (designed with the help of the National Institute of Fashion Technology – NIFT), eposts to tackle the onslaught of emails and an elaborate plan to transform the dull and vacant looking post offices into swanky shopping area. Indian post offices are all set for a face-lift.

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Competition in New Zealand forces truckers’ alliance

Posted by | Oct 30, 2004 | |

Mainfreight is dumping NZ Post as its express freight courier operator and getting together with Freightways. A strategic alliance, disclosed yesterday, combines the country’s biggest mover of loads of freight with one of the country’s two big express parcel movers. The alliance is a response to hotter competition. Toll Holdings of Australia has expanded slowly into the express parcel market here and New Zealand Post, Freightways’ main competitor, plans to merge its express freight business with Deutsche Post’s unit DHL. “This is about two businesses with good strengths getting together,” said Freightways’ chief executive Dean Bracewell. A merger is not on the agenda. Mainfreight’s express parcel needs will now go to Freightways’ unit New Zealand Couriers.

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DHL to add 600 jobs in Broward County, Florida

Posted by | Oct 29, 2004 | |

Global delivery giant DHL plans to add 600 jobs over the next three years at its Americas headquarters in Plantation, executives said Thursday at a ceremony attended by Gov. Jeb Bush and Broward County leaders. The expansion comes as DHL takes on domestic market leaders UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp. in the United States, unveiling plans in June to invest USD1.2 billion in North American operations. DHL also began a six-month, USD150 million marketing campaign in June to build its brand name among Americans. John Fellows, DHL Americas’ chief executive officer, said the 600 jobs to be added in Plantation will boost staffing at the Americas headquarters to about 1,250. That will increase DHL’s total South Florida employment to more than 2,000, including independent contractors. About 40 percent of the 600 new jobs are to be filled by relocating Airborne or DHL staff, with the rest to be new hires.

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DHL to expand operations in Japan via Chubu Airport

Posted by | Oct 29, 2004 | |

Germany’s DHL International Ltd. said Friday it is aiming to expand its business in Japan by capitalizing on the opening of Chubu International Airport, a new international gateway to central Japan, in February 2005. Under its business plan through the end of 2005, DHL plans to increase its number of international parcel delivery transactions in Japan by utilizing the international cargo and passenger flights of its affiliated or partner airlines to and from the new airport, which is under construction on reclaimed land off Nagoya. Air Hongkong, an affiliate of DHL, will fly a cargo plane to and from Chubu International Airport. Northwest Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa, both of which are DHL partner airways, will also cooperate with the German company.

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Transport strike, parcel service demonstration leaves Brussels in gridlock

Posted by | Oct 29, 2004 | |

A public transport strike and a demonstration by employees of DHL led to traffic gridlock in Brussels early Friday. Police closed of several major roads in the city during morning rush hour to accommodate the DHL demonstration, where thousands were expected to protest. With public transport unions also going on strike to demand better working conditions, thousands of people were left stranded in traffic-choked streets. The DHL workers are protesting a decision to move the courier’s international hub away from Brussels as of 2008 in a dispute over excessive noise from night flights.

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