On 1 December, postal rates will increase for the second time this year, according to Radio Mayak on 15 November. Under the new rates sending a postcard will cost 2.75 rubles ($0.09), up from 2.45 rubles, and the standard rate for printed matter will be 6.45 rubles, up from 5.65 rubles. Postal rates last went up on 15 May.
Read MoreThe postal regulator has hit back at accusations from Royal Mail that the new terms and conditions for liberalisation, revealed this week, will give foreign competitors an unfair advantage.
A Postcomm spokesman says: “Royal Mail is being disingenuous here – it uses its domestic profits to finance a successful operation in Holland. Condition 12 of the standard licence states that we can identify when an operator is cross subsidising UK operations using domestic products. In the year of set-up we would expect this to be the case but after that we would refer such activity to the competition authorities.”
Read MoreIn its issue of 19 November 2002 Handelsblatt reported that according to information from Brussels Deutsche Post would have to repay state aid to the Federal Government in the amount of just over EUR 900 million, instead of the just under EUR 850 million initially planned. Deutsche Post has received a payment request for EUR 906 million (including interest) from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance. The company intends to take legal action against this administrative act as it is of the opinion that the amount of interest applied has not been calculated correctly.
Read MoreThe German federal government is planning to raise six billion euros ($6.07 billion) through privatisations in 2003, government sources said on Tuesday. The sources said the government planned to raise 5.5 billion euros by selling stakes in Deutsche Telekom AG or Deutsche Post AG or both. The stakes would probably be sold to state-owned bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW), they said. That would imply no immediate increase in the numbers of shares freely available for investors.
Read MorePalletline, which believes itself to be the largest of the pallet networks, has identified possible sites for an industry-led hub in the Midlands. Chairman Bob Russett says that the new hub will be operational in the next 2 to 3 years, will have a capacity of 20,000 pallets a night and cost around £14m.
Read MoreThe multinational logistic services company TNT inked a five-year contract to distribute the products of the Brazilian tobacco producer Souza Cruz. TNT is taking over the management of the Souza Cruz distribution center based in Curitiba (Parana state), and will be responsible for the delivery of 120mil cigarettes per month to 4,000 points of sale in the city.
Read MoreLynden Air Freight filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation in support of FedEx Express’ challenge to DHL Airway’s citizenship status. Lynden, a Seattle-based freight forwarder and Alaska-based all-cargo airline, joined the cause after being spurned by the U.S. Air Force, which awarded DHL a military cargo contract worth $21 million that Lynden held for three years.
Read MoreThe U.S. Postal Service, mailers and the Bush administration are confident Congress will approve legislation that could keep postal rates steady until 2006, but passage may be a tougher fight than first thought.
The legislation is needed for the postal service to lower its pension contributions after a review revealed it has almost fully funded future obligations for postal employees and retirees in the Civil Service Retirement System. As a result, it could lower its retirement contributions by $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2003 and $2.6 billion in FY ’04.
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