The first stage of a one million dollar re-branding campaign by air express supplier DHL UAE is underway with a huge billboard on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road. Sporting the new red and yellow corporate colors of DHL Worldwide Express, the billboard is the first major visual expression of the new DHL to be launched within the UAE.
Read MoreThe German, Dutch and French postal operators now control 45% of the European parcels market. The market was estimated to be worth 36bn Euros in 2002. According to Claude Béglé (Director General of European operator Geopost) “the smaller postal operators which are not currently part of one the three main networks will have to sell themselves to one of the three in the next five years. No postal administrations will be able to survive by concentrating on mail only due to the costs of maintaining a large retail network and sorting centres“. (translation from original)
Read MoreThe European Commission has decided today not to raise objections to a further series of financing measures in favour of Post Office Limited (POL), the retail subsidiary of Royal Mail Group plc. These measures complement earlier measures the Commission approved in 2002. On 12 March 2002 the Commission approved the funding of a basic postal account to credit social benefits and from which cash can be withdrawn at post office counters for those benefits holders who do not want to open an account with a bank. On 18 September 2002 the Commission approved minimum funding necessary for POL to close 3,000 urban counters no longer required under the 2000 UK Postal Services Act (2000).
Read MorePlans for the world’s most advanced automated international mail sorting office near Heathrow airport have spiralled out of control and behind schedule, as the loss-making Royal Mail prepares to announce another year of GBP200m in the red. The scheme – which was opposed by two former cabinet ministers, Stephen Byers and Chris Smith – was originally planned to cost GBP150m, but has risen to GBP367m. Costs may rise to GBP420m before the centre’s hoped-for completion in December, almost two years behind schedule, its critics claim.
Read MoreRoyal Mail today announced a pre-tax loss of GBP611 million for the year ending March 2003 – almost half the loss in the previous year – and is aiming to return to profit this current year. Chairman Allan Leighton said last year had been a year of progress. The underlying loss from day-to-day operations was GBP197 million – over GBP120 million, 38% better than a year ago. It is the first improvement in trading performance for five years and Mr Leighton said: “Our people have stopped the rot. They deserve the credit that for the first time in five years, trading performance is getting better, not worse. They have laid the foundations for a turnaround and put the company at the start of the road to profitability.”
Read MoreTPG, the largest private sector employer in the Netherlands, and the negotiators for the trade unions ABVAKABO FNV, BVPP, CNV Publieke Zaak and vhp KPN & TPG have reached an agreement on a new collective labour agreement. This collective labour agreement has a term of one year and covers around 68,000 employees of TPG in the Netherlands. As a part of the agreement, arrangements regarding the contributions of both the employer and the employees to the present pension situation have also been agreed, whereby the pension will remain non-contributory for the employees. The trade unions will present the agreement to their members for approval.
Read MoreTNT Argentina, the Argentinean subsidiary of TPG, the Dutch express delivery and logistics services holding company, expects to increase its 2002 turnover of USD18mil by 80% in 2003. In order to achieve its target, the company will focus on increasing delivery volumes and on targeting local small and medium-sized companies that are entering the foreign trade market. As part of its strategy to raise market share, TNT Argentina has formed partnerships with institutions such as export promoting bodies and chambers of commerce of other countries in order to advise local small and medium-sized companies on how to market their products abroad.
Read MoreThousands of passports could be falling into the hands of terrorists and criminal gangs because of poor postal security, it has emerged. Almost 3,000 passports went missing in the post after the passport agency dispatched them last year, according to newly released government figures. Passports are still sent by first-class post, which leaves no record of their movement if they go astray. Special delivery is available, but only for an additional fee. The figures show that 2,359 passports went missing in 1999, 3,851 the following year, 2,541 in 2001 and 2,982 last year. A Home Office spokesman said: “Every year the UK issues up to 5.5m passports, so, put into context, the number that goes missing is very small. We are talking with the Royal Mail about moving to secure delivery of all passports by autumn or winter this year.”
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