Pallet network Pall-Ex has formed a strategic alliance with Hellmann Worldwide Logistics to give its members and customers pan-European coverage.
Pall-Ex has existing partners in Germany, Scandinavia and Spain and has been trunking into Europe on an ad hoc basis. From 2 August, it will offer a scheduled five-nights-a-week service available for quarter, half and full pallets.
DHL Express will open its USD100-million dedicated central Asia hub in Hong Kong this week and it is already clear the terminal’s handling capacity will have to be expanded ahead of schedule.
Chief executive (Asia Pacific) John Mullen said a daily volume target DHL set for 2008 was achieved last week before the facility had even officially opened.
“It doesn’t mean we’ll run out of capacity overnight. But it does indicate our volume projections [made three years ago] were highly conservative,” Mr Mullen said. “We will have to substantially upgrade the hub’s capacity before the original deadline. It will be much, much sooner than that.”
Read MoreCompanies in the U.S. are facing mature markets at home and are increasingly looking to the Chinese market to grow and remain competitive globally. According to FedEX, U.S. exports to China have grown by 75 percent over the past three years making the United States second only to Japan as China’s top trading partner. And European exports to China are also growing steadily.
DHL was the first international air express company to enter China in 1980, followed by FedEX in 1984, and UPS in 2000.
DHL’s partner Sinotrans is a licensed customs broker, covering 300 cities through 11 major gateways with about 37 percent of China’s market. In 2003, they invested USD200 million in China for a five-year program.
Read MoreTHE 1.5 millionth pallet handled by Fortec Pallet, one of the nation’s leading pallet distribution networks, has passed through its Rugby hub.
Phill Vann, night hub manager, was on hand as forklift driver Kelly Slater loaded the 1.5 millionth pallet on to the trailer driven by Alison Stead.
Rod Abrahams, managing director of Fortec Pallet, said: “To reach 1.5 million pallets is a major milestone for Fortec Pallet.
Read MoreSingapore Post Ltd. Monday reported a 10.5% rise in first quarter net profit to SD26.1 million, as revenue from its mail services remained steady amid a reduction in taxes and costs. Revenue for the three months ended June 30 came to SD89.4 million, a slight 0.5% decline from SD89.01 million a year earlier. Singapore’s dominant postal operator said it managed to reduce finance costs by swapping fixed interest rates on its bond issue for floating rates. It also paid less in taxes after the government reduced the corporate tax rate to 20% from 22% in the previous financial year.
Read MoreThe Liberal Democratic Party–in a move seen as a switchover from strong skepticism to a more conciliatory outlook toward Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s postal services privatization initiative–decided Monday to draw up its own privatization plans for the services by the end of September.
The move apparently is in line with government plans to work out a draft program on the specifics of privatizing the postal services by the end of September.
Fukushiro Nukaga, chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council, said in a program broadcast Monday on NHK, “Our party will launch full-scale discussions (on postal services privatization) in August to single out major problems relevant to the issue, and draw up a framework proposal in September.”
Read MoreThe Japanese government may ask Japan Post to maintain its current government bond holdings until maturity even after it is privatized, the Asahi Shimbun reported, without citing sources. The government is also considering adopting legal measures binding Japan Post to manage JGBs as its main investment instrument, the newspaper said.
The moves are aimed at reducing risks of a collapse in Japanese government bond market, which would affect government funding.
Read MoreFedEx Express will reveal plans today for a thrice weekly non-stop service between Hong Kong and Incheon, South Korea, in a move that will bolster both its Hong Kong and inter-Asia connectivity.
Peter Yin, FedEx Express regional vp for South Pacific, confirmed that the services, using Boeing MD-11 freighters with a 90-tonne payload, would be inaugurated soon.
He said the flights would be the first direct link between Hong Kong and Seoul. Previous cargo services were handled through FedEx’s major Asian hub at Clark airbase in the Philippines.
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