Author: Archive

Latvian express market grows 70pct in 2007

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

Latvia’s express parcel volumes increased by 70pct to 6.3 million shipments in 2007 compared to 3.7 million shipments in the previous year, according to the Latvian Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) annual review of the country’s express delivery market, the Baltic Business Daily reported.

“Both domestic and international deliveries showed large growth. The incoming international express deliveries rose by 128pct, international outgoing deliveries by 35pct, and domestic express deliveries increased by 45pct,” the commission’s representative Zanete Luse was cited as saying.

In the domestic sector, DPD Latvija had the largest market share with 43pct in 2007 ahead of state-run postal operator Latvijas Pasts with 27pct, according to the regulator’s data. Other leading domestic players include Velokurjers, City Express, Autopasts Terminals and V-Sports.

The international sector was led by Itella Logistics with a 53pct market share followed by DPD Latvija with 19pct. Other leading international players include UPS partner EKL/LS, DHL, TNT and Autopasts Terminals.

The number of registered express companies in Latvia grew by eight to a total of 30 last year, according to the PUC. The PUC is an independent state institution responsible for regulating various sectors, including the postal market.

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Strategic Review of Canada Post Announced

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and Minister responsible for Canada Post, today announced that the Government of Canada will conduct a strategic review of the Canada Post Corporation that will be guided by established terms of reference. “We are conducting a strategic review of Canada Post to make sure this public institution has the right tools and means to fulfil its mandate in the future,” said Minister Cannon. “This review is being conducted with the full understanding that Canada Post will remain a Crown corporation. In the changing business context and with new challenges ahead, we want to act now to make sure it continues to fulfil its mandate: delivering essential, universal services every day to Canadians, while remaining financially self-sustaining.” The review will focus on four major areas: market and competition; public policy objectives and responsibilities; commercial activities; and financial and performance targets. A review of Canada Post has not been conducted since 1995. The review will be led by an external, independent advisory panel composed of three members. “I am very pleased that Dr. Robert Campbell has agreed to chair the panel and that Mrs. Nicole Beaudoin and Mr. Daniel H. Bader will support him as panel members on this important review,” said Minister Cannon. “I look forward to their report and recommendations, which are due to me in December 2008.”

The panel will be guided by the following four principles:
– Canada Post will not be privatized and will remain a Crown corporation;
– Canada Post must maintain a universal, effective and economically viable postal service;
– Canada Post will continue to act as an instrument of public policy through the provision of postal services to Canadians; and
– Canada Post will continue to operate in a commercial environment and is expected to attain a realistic rate of return on equity.

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E-BOX is condemned by the TGI of Paris but it is La Poste which appeals

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

La Poste initiated a legal action against E-Box on 6 June 2006 and requested the cancellation of trade marks arguing the similarity to La Poste brands and claiming it could create confusion to the consumers. La Poste also requested EUR 215,000 for compensation.
On 11 March 2008, after 2 years of legal procedures, the Court of Justice issued its decision (This sentence is provisional since one of the parts can still appeal):

The tribunal:
– Condemns E-BOX for counterfeiting by imitation of the following brands: ’agence postale rapide ebox’’, agence postale jaune’’, agence postale orange’’,’’agence postale erte’’, ‘’point poste jaune’’, ‘’point poste orange’’, and ‘’point poste vert’’. E-BOX must pay to La Poste EUR 20,500.
– Declares inadmissible the counterclaim of EBOX against La Poste

In revenge the tribunal:
– Don’t approve the nullity of the ’agence postale rapide e-box’’ brand
– Declares the validity of the following E-BOX brands: ‘’post ebox’’, “e-box, l’ autre poste’’, et ‘’e-box, une autre idée de la poste’’.

La Poste decided to appeal to this sentence.

La Poste group announced the objective to EUR 850 million net profits for 2008. Even if E-Box “contribution” passed from EUR 20,000 to EUR 215,000, it will remain marginal in the accounts of La Poste.

Therefore, the action of the La Poste only aims to ensure the monopoly of the words “poste”, postal’, ‘postale’, ‘agence postale’ and seek to preserve the monopoly of the postal services in France.

Can be possible a healthy competition in the French postal market, where ARCEP is the regulator and guarantor, if the services suggested by competitor operators of La Poste cannot be understood by the consumers as being of postal nature?

By collateral effect, the continuation of legal actions from La Poste give value to E-BOX trade marks containing the word ‘poste’. But E-Box’s interest is to support the implementation of the European directives related to the liberalization of the postal markets and the creation of a competition model.

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USPS launches "green" Web site

Posted by | Apr 22, 2008 | |

The US Postal Service has launched a new Web site promoting the agency’s eco-friendly products and services, as well as recommended “green” practices for mailers.
The new Web site can be accessed at www.usps.com/green. The site, which went live on April 14, is divided into five sections: eco-friendly products and services, greening your mail, recycle, innovation and direct and green. The home page also features selected stamps released by the USPS in the past that promote nature and conservation.
The site also includes several links to various resources on the Direct Marketing Association’s Web site, including DMAChoice, its free direct mail opt-out service, and its list of 15 eco-friendly business practices for direct marketers.
The USPS first started talking about launching a green site in October in order to highlight its eco-friendly Cradle to Cradle packaging, said Joyce Carrier, acting manager of advertising for USPS.

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NetApp delivers for Belgian Post Office

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

The Belgian Post Office recently collaborated with NetApp for its data backup and archival. To manage this data, the post office is switching to a virtual infrastructure developed by NetApp in combination with conventional physical tape. In doing this, the post office is keeping pace with the current trend of virtualization in the storage environment, minimizing risk, and maximizing its return on investment in IT spend.

Because of the increasing quantity of data and activity on the post office’s network, implementing a more flexible system became a critical business need. After researching its options, the Belgian Post Office decided to partner with NetApp to create an archival and backup system that took advantage of the flexibility of disk-to-disk speed and flexibility and integrated with its existing tape infrastructure. The resulting system allows for near-constant availability of backed up data, more robust disaster recovery, and the ability to grow the system in the future with less overall cost.

The NetApp NearStore Virtual Tape Library is a disk-to-disk backup appliance that appears like a tape library to a backup software application but provides the superior speed and reliability of disk technologies. Developed specifically to address the requirements of backup administrators, NearStore VTL solutions increase the performance and reliability of backups, simplify backup management, and reduce D2D storage costs by up to 67 pct through the use of high-performance disk compression.

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Greek National Bank confirms buy of 5.16 pct stake in Greek Postal Savings Bank

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

National Bank of Greece (NBG) said it acquired 5.16 percent of Greek Postal Savings Bank via block trades on the Athens Exchange, confirming what sources had said earlier to Thomson Financial News.

NBG explained that it bought 7.34 million shares in four block trades at 13.25 euros per share, taking its total holding in Greek Postal Savings Bank to 5.73 percent.

On March 28, EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA raised its stake in Greek Postal Savings Bank to 5.7 percent by acquiring 5.55 million shares at 10.5 euro per share.

Brokers recently told Thomson Financial News that several banks would be interested in Greek Postal Savings Bank’s further privatisation, should the Greek state decide to reduce its stake from its direct and indirect roughly 44 percent holding.

The brokers explained this was because in times of tight liquidity, Postal Savings Bank rich cash reserves and extensive deposit gather network would command a premium.

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Swiss Post once again reports exceptionally fast delivery times

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

Swiss Post is one of the fastest postal organizations in Europe. This is the result of independent measurements carried out on international delivery times. Last year, Priority-class letters coming into Switzerland from Europe reached their destination in an average of just two days. Once again, that’s faster than the European average.
In 2007, Swiss Post managed to retain its high standard in the mailing of its international letters. In tests conducted by the International Post Corporation (IPC), the company once again achieved a relatively high ranking, thus living up to its reputation as one of the fastest and most reliable postal operators in Europe. Priority letters mailed from Europe to Switzerland in 2007 took two days on average to reach their destination – the same as the previous year. In general, priority mail from Switzerland to other European destinations also reached the intended recipient within an average of just 2.1 days of posting. Swiss Post International (SPI), the international arm of Swiss Post, once again beat the typical delivery time of 2.2 days for all the countries surveyed.
29 European nations participate in the IPC’s international measurement system, known as the UNEX study. The IPC determines international delivery times by introducing around 400,000 test letters to international mail flows. The involvement of external, independent measurement contractors guarantees the validity of the results.

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TNT Express Italy wins contract and upgrades customer service

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

TNT Express Italy has renewed a distribution contract with leading direct sales company Amway based around its growing B2C network and invested EUR 1.4 million to improve its customer service offer with an automated system for pick-ups and new help teams.

US-owned Amway, which markets mostly cosmetics, healthcare and home products to consumers via independent retailers, will use the nationwide network of 1,200 TNT Points to distribute products to its salesforce.

Goods will be transported by road from the Amway hub in the Netherlands to TNT’s branch at Rho, near Milan, and then distributed throughout Italy through the TNT Point network. Amway salespersons can pick up their parcels at a convenient TNT Point instead of having to await courier delivery.

The B2C retail network, using a “shop-in-shop” concept in cooperation with retailers such as newsagents, tobacconists and office supply shops, is due to grow from 1,200 outlets to 1,500 by September.

Alessandro Sabato, managing director of Amway Italia, said 22,000 persons were selling Amway products each day in Italy, and they would now have rapid and comfortable access to their sales products.

Meanwhile, TNT Express Italy said it had completed a €1.4 million investment to upgrade its customer service offering under a contract with BT Italia. Following a successful test phase, TNT Express Italy has fully implemented the self-service speech application known as “Victoria” to handle standard calls from customers requesting pick-ups.

The Interactive Voice Responder (IVR) system requires just 3 – 6 standard questions to book a pick-up. Such calls were previously a “significant” proportion of the 36,000 daily calls handled by 500 call centre staff, TNT pointed out. “Victoria” is indistinguishable from a real person, and if problems arise, the customer is immediately transferred to a human operator, the company added.

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