Deutsche Post World Net AG has ordered 4,500 “Caddy” vans from Volkswagen AG, said a spokesman for VW’s commercial vehicles unit.
He declined to comment on media reports that the order is worth 45 mln eur. Most of the vehicles will be delivered to Deutsche Post this year.
The Royal Mail will face fines of at least GBP50m following the release next month of annual performance figures that are expected to show a sharp deterioration in the punctuality of its deliveries.
The record penalties would stem from the introduction of a tough new regulatory regime, designed to compensate business customers. A spokesman for Postwatch, the independent body that monitors the Royal Mail’s performance, said: “The Royal Mail has got 15 licence service standards and it is unlikely that it achieved any of them in the past year. Because of the automatic compensation scheme for large mailers, the Royal Mail will have to return many millions of pounds to large customers.”
He added: “If the scheme had been in place last year, it would have cost pounds 40m. Performance has worsened and it will probably cost more.”
Read MoreRoyal Mail has delivered a damming verdict on plans to open up the postal market to competition, claiming that it will lead to an increase in the price of stamps.
The comments are directed at the regulator, Postcomm, which is thinking of levying VAT on postal companies. Royal Mail, chaired by Allan Leighton, enjoys a VAT-free status, which gives it an advantage when bidding for mail contracts with organisations such as charities and financial services companies that are themselves exempt from the tax. Postcomm wants to end Royal Mail’s special status and is preparing to recommend that the Treasury introduce a 5 per cent VAT rate for all postal companies.
Read MoreDHL Worldwide Express Sdn Bhd has announced the appointment of Charles Brewer as country manager of DHL Express Malaysia effective March 29.
Brewer is no stranger to Malaysia, having worked as the commercial manager in Kuala Lumpur between March 2001 and June 2002. Before this, he was acting country manager in Malaysia and country manager of DHL Express Philippines.
Read MoreNigel Stapleton looks slightly too large for his modest office in a civil service building behind Waterloo station.
The government-issue chairs are hardly commodious, the walls are a little thin and his salary is distinctly public sector at {GBP}76,500 a year for his three-day a week job as chairman of the Postal Services Commission.
It cannot be what he is used to after a career in the more lavish corporate world. But he is excited by his new job, which he began in January, and talks enthusiastically about the intellectual challenge of regulating the postal industry, the chance to use the economics he learnt at Cambridge and his desire to be of service to customers.
Read MoreLa Poste, the French national postal services group, has posted a sixfold increase in net profit for 2003, to 202m euros. However, as chairman Jean-Paul Bailly pointed out, the group is still only moderately profitable and lags behind its main European counterparts. Turnover increased by 3.4 per cent last year, to 18bn euros, but fell short of expectations.
Read MoreJean-Marc Pailhol has been appointed commercial director of the financial clients’ division of the French post office, La Poste. Mr Pailhol was formerly head of the individual clients’ branch of the French co-operative banking group Banques Populaires.
Read MoreIn the struggle over future stakes in state-run postal services, Deutsche Post and its Dutch archrival TPG are increasingly getting in each other’s way. According to Austrian Post, both companies would be possible for a co- operation. Belgian Post is also toying with the idea of entering a co-operation. Only recently the company instructed Morgan Stanley to check the possibility of strategic alliances with other postal services.
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