Germany’s postal service reached a wage deal with unions representing 160,000 workers Tuesday, putting an end to a series of brief strikes that slowed mail service and averting broader stoppages.
Workers at partly privatized Deutsche Post will get a 3.5 percent increase for the year beginning June 1, another 3.2 percent a year later for a period of eleven months, and a one-time payment of 43 euros ($41).
Business Express has invested £55m in its Shaw sorting centre and £8m on a new track and trace system. Using the new Beumer system 150,000 items a day pass through the site, estimated to reach 232,000 a day from September.
Read MoreIt may be hard to believe in the current climate, but the rail freight business is on the up, reports Chris Lewis
Despite the widely publicised problems surrounding the Channel Tunnel and post-Hatfield crash disruptions, growth in the UK rail freight business over the past 12 months has been around 8%-9% – enough to deliver the government’s target of 80% growth over the next 10 years, says Julia Clarke, head of freight at the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).
The Future Group,a partnership of five forwarders based in Germany became the first group member to be accepted into Lufthansa Cargos Business Partnership Programme.
The move is seen as a significant advance for the group, set up in May to allow the medium-sized forwarders to compete with the air cargo buying power of the big global forwarders.
he Spanish parcels service provider Guipuzcoana Euro Express, which belongs to Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN), increased its turnover last year by 11% to EUR 277 million. It handled about 14.4 million orders and 39 million shipments. According to Guipuzcoana the development of the international parcels business substantially surpassed expectations. On the national level the rate of growth was more modest. Guipuzcoana Euro Express also recently opened a new logistics centre in Valladollid. The terminal has a total warehouse and handling area of 10,000 sqm.
Read MoreTNT Spain, a subsidiary of the worldwide courier, express parcels and logistics provider TNT Post Group (TPG) headquartered in Amsterdam (Netherlands), recently opened a warehousing and handling terminal at Alicante with an area of 1860 sqm.
Read MoreFedEx Corp said its ground shipping unit will grow for ‘a long time to come’ as businesses shift to the lower-cost delivery option and the company expands its coverage to all US addresses this year.
FedEx chairman Fred Smith also said business activity is picking up in Asia, where many US technology companies have their manufacturing facilities, as well as in Europe and the US.
Read MoreWhile neither rain nor sleet will keep postal carriers from their appointed rounds, they may soon carry significantly less direct mail on those routes.
Consider this: 3 billion pieces of standard business mail will vanish in 2002, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Direct marketers, who rely heavily on the U. S. Postal Service, are changing their tactics and finding alternatives to the U.S. mail, largely as a result of frequent rate increases.
To cope with the USPS rate hikes—the latest of which goes into effect on June 30—some marketers are decreasing their direct mail budgets, conducting smaller, more targeted mailings and using alternative media such as e-mail to acquire and retain customers. Marketers have already cut back significantly on their direct mail efforts.
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