Author: Archive

FedEx wins awards for work environment

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

FedEx has again been named one of the ‘Best companies to work for’ in 2008 according to rankings released by the Great Places to Work Institute. In 10 of the past 11 years FedEx has been recognized as one of the “best companies” to work for as well being consistently ranked in Fortune’s ‘Global Most Admired Companies’. The Fortune award extends the list of global accolades FedEx has received.

In Asia Pacific, FedEx was named among the top 10 “Best Employers” in China, Korea, Japan in 2007 by Hewitt Associates. Australia made the list but was just outside the top ten. The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and the South China Morning Post also recognized FedEx as a “Best Company for Women” at its Women of Influence Awards.

“This honour not only reflects the commitment of our employees in the U.S., but of all employees in the entire FedEx network,” said David L. Cunningham, Jr., president, FedEx Express Asia Pacific. “In Asia, we place our employees first and it is the investments in our employees that drives their dedication to make every FedEx experience outstanding for our customers and that is what differentiates us from the competition.

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Teamsters, DHL in Tentative Labor Deal

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

The Teamsters union has reached a tentative labor agreement with DHL Express, a unit of Deutsche Post, the two sides said on Wednesday.

“This agreement is truly historic,” Brad Slawson, chair of the Teamsters national negotiating committee, said in a statement. “It is the first new national master agreement negotiated in the transportation sector in decades.”

The deal will be reviewed by the Teamsters and DHL members, who will then vote on it. The Teamsters said the deal would cover thousands of DHL employees nationwide.

“”We’re pleased that the parties have reached a tentative agreement and look forward to its ratification,” said DHL spokesman Richard Gibbs.

DHL has around 20,000 employees in the United States.

The company has struggled to make headway in the U.S. market, which is dominated by United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp.

Most of the UPS work force is unionized, while only FedEx’s pilots currently have union representation.

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Royal Mail needs consultants (UK)

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is tendering for up to GBP 40m-worth of IT consultancy services as part of plans to improve the efficiency of its GBP 1.5bn-worth of technology outsourcing contracts.

Increased investment in IT is playing a key part in helping Royal Mail adapt to a more competitive business environment, according to a spokesman.

The business is in a period of modernisation, and part of that programme is upgrading our IT infrastructure, he said.

The scheme, which started last year, involves operational restructuring, as well as new salary and pension schemes for employees.

But the rise of email has eroded Royal Mails letters business, and rival parcel couriers are also increasingly competitive.

The tender is for an initial period of one year, with the option of three year-long extensions.

But Royal Mail already has in place a 10-year outsourcing deal with a consortium led by CSC, which includes subcontractors BT and Xansa.

In the light of these contract provisions, it is surprising that Royal Mail needs extra consultancy, according to Eric Woods, public sector practice director at analyst Ovum.

The organisation obviously needs extra IT capacity, and has been obliged to put it to tender ­ though it is unusual to do this when the company has existing outsourcing contracts, he said.

The current crops of contracts were set up as part of a major technology overhaul between 2001 to 2004.

At the time, the company implemented SAP software for its finance and purchasing systems, and Siebel software for its customer relationship management. It also put in automation tools to improve productivity.

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Deutsche Post declines to comment on report it bid for Beiersdorf logistics

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

A spokesman for Deutsche Post World Net AG declined to comment on a report it bid for a Beiersdorf AG contract, eventually concluded with Kuehne & Nagel International AG, to out-source logistics operations at its main Hamburg warehouse.

Beiersdorf, the German consumer goods company, yesterday said Kuehne & Nagel will handle its Hamburg logistics as well as the export of goods to subsidiaries abroad, but did not disclose financial details. The contract concludes its efforts to restructure its complete logistics chain.

A report in Die Welt today said the contract has a value of more than 1 bln eur, and that Deutsche Post’s express unit bid as well, not citing its sources.

The report said the contract is a major set-back to Deutsche Post, which is the market leader in German contract logistics.

Under contract logistics, companies out-source their complete integrated supply chain to logistics companies, for which these contracts offer higher margins than ordinary transport logistics.

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Italy's antitrust accepts post office commitments to end liberalisation probe

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

Italy’s antitrust authority said it has decided to accept commitments made by Poste Italiane SpA to settle an investigation into the post office’s market position in liberalised services.

Last August, the authority launched the probe after a series of complaints from private postal operators and from TNT Post Italia SpA.

Today, the authority said the post office commitments should remove the anti-competitive issues raised by the state company’s conduct.

The commitments proposed by the post office have been strengthened as a result of ‘market testing’ with rivals, it said.

The commitments include a tender for concessions to collect and deliver post in 70 different urban areas with an overall value of 168 mln eur over three years, it said.

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Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. Reports record annual earnings

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. announced record annual earnings in 2007, reflecting ongoing improvement in aircraft utilization due to proactive asset management, sustained operational execution, the positive impact of Continuous Improvement initiatives, and increased military and commercial charter demand. These positive measures more than offset the negative impact of record fuel prices on the Scheduled Service segment in the second half of the year. 2007 results also reflect significant reductions in AAWW’s net interest expense and effective income tax rate.

For the full year ended December 31, 2007, AAWW posted net income of USD 132.4 million, or USD 6.17 per diluted share, more than double 2006 levels, on revenues of USD 1.563 billion. Operating income of USD 154.8 million and pretax income of USD 132.7 million included a nonrecurring gain of USD 3.5 million on the disposal of aircraft and engines.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, AAWW reported net income of USD 50.7 million, or USD 2.35 per diluted share, on revenues of USD 442.8 million. Operating income of USD 70.7 million and pretax income of USD 66.7 million included a nonrecurring gain of USD 2.5 million on the disposal of surplus aircraft engines.

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Opening of EU mail markets to raise competitive pressure on postal companies -S&P

Posted by | Feb 28, 2008 | |

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said the opening of the EU’s 90 bln eur mail markets to full competition from 2011 will raise the competitive pressure on the four large European postal companies, Deutsche Post AG, rated ‘A-‘ with a negative outlook, TNT NV, rated ‘BBB+’, La Poste, rated ‘AA-‘ and Italy’s Poste Italiane Group, rated ‘A’, with stable outlooks.
S&P said the slow pace of liberalisation over a 15-year period has also offered a strong competitive advantage to these incumbent national mail services. This has given the companies the chance to reposition themselves in more lucrative segments of the mail market and expand into non-mail activities like international express and logistics and financial services.
Deutsche Post and TNT are likely to be key players in sector consolidation, and their ratings will continue to benefit from their strongly cash-generative mail segments, the agency added.
S&P said state-owned La Poste will also benefit from the slow pace of full liberalisation of its home market, which gives it more time to streamline and modernize its mail operations, leverage its costly network with its enlarged banking offer, and eventually match competitors’ efficiency and profitability.
While, Poste Italiane, although also not privatised, may be in a stronger position because its financial services contribute a strong 67 pct of its total sales, compared with 22 pct for La Poste, the agency said.
All four players may also face regulation risks because the European Commission liberalisation plan still upholds the controversial ‘universal service obligation on incumbent national postal services, obliging them to continue to provide full territorial collection and delivery at least five days a week at an affordable cost, S&P added.

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Kumho Asiana all-clear to buy Korea Express

Posted by | Feb 27, 2008 | |

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has approved Kumho Asiana Group’s acquisition of Korea Express Co., paving the way for the conglomerate to expand its logistics business in the parcel and express market.

The group’s two affiliates – Asiana Airlines Inc. and Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. – were chosen as preferred bidders for the purchase of 24 million new shares of Korea Express. The 24 million shares are equivalent to a 60 pct stake in the company. The price is estimated at more than USD 4 billion.

Now that the takeover has been officially given the green light, Kumho Asiana Group will negotiate with the insolvency court on the final acquisition price by next month, the Korea Herald newspaper reported.

Korea Express has been under the control of the insolvency court since November 2001, after it failed to repay debts owed by its parent company Dong-Ah Construction Industrial Co., which collapsed under mounting debt in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

But despite financial woes, the company has been aggressively expanding its business in recent years, thanks to the fast-growing online shopping industry.

Korea Express became the country’s top delivery firm last year with estimated 122 million deliveries, topping its competitors Hyundai Logistics with 120 million, CJ GLS Co. with 114 million, and Hanjin Corp with 100 million, the newspaper also reported. Korea Express hopes that delivery volume this year will rise to 200 million on synergies from the acquisition.

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