Author: Archive

Royal Mail – Digital tracking rolled out (UK)

Posted by | Feb 13, 2008 | |

As part of its ongoing modernisation plan, Royal Mail is to equip its workforce with mobile devices aimed at improving the accuracy and reliablty of its abilty to track items.

Royal Mail is currently looking for a contractor to manage the servicing and updates required. 130,000 will be in use once the system is up and running.

Similar devices are already being fitted to its fleet of vans, enabling delivery offices to track the progress of its collection and delivery service. Other postal operators are already equipped with scanning devices which cut down on the time involved in writing confirmaton sheets which in turn helps make deliveries and collections more efficient.

Read More

US regional operator Velocity Express seeks international partners

Posted by | Feb 13, 2008 | |

Velocity Express plans to expand its international business and is looking for partnerships with logistics suppliers. The company meanwhile reduced its losses in the fourth quarter but its revenues also dropped due to customer losses.

The company said it is stepping up its focus on its Global Alliance initiative to capture the significant long-term opportunity in the worldwide marketplace.

Wasik, Velocity’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said the company has signed up Shanghai-based ALC Advisors to assist on the Asian component of the alliance. “We are also in discussions with potential partners in other regions of the globe and other industry segments,” he added.

Velocity Express also announced operating results for the second quarter and six month period. Revenue for the quarter ended December 29, 2007 fell to USD 86.1 million from USD 102.3 million in the same period one year earlier. This was due to the loss of two significant contracts with a financial institution and Office Depot, the end of unfavourable contracts inherited from the merger with CD&L, and the generally slow economic environment, which combined more than outweighed new customer acquisitions.

However, the company succeeded in reducing its Q4 operating loss to USD 3.9 million from USD 8.7 million one year earlier. The net loss was USD 8.9 million compared to USD 13.4 million one year earlier.

Read More

FedEx jumps aboard France's TGV

Posted by | Feb 13, 2008 | |

A consortium plans to offer express parcel service to points in Western Europe using high-speed trains. German tracks may derail idea of overnight service
One side-effect of the world of modern logistics is that Germany’s national postal service can hardly afford to use trains to move packages these days. Overnight delivery is considered the standard in express shipping. But freight trains are hardly able fit the bill when it comes to guaranteed next-day delivery.
That situation, though, is expected to change soon in France, where 20 high-speed TGV trains — which operate at speeds of 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour) and will be equipped with nine unfurnished cars designed to carry standardized airfreight containers — are slated to being operations in four years. The Carex project (an acronym for “Cargo Rail Express”) has strong political support in France.
In the meantime, though, funding has been secured for the project, with La Poste and FedEx, which uses Paris’s Roissy Airport (formerly “Charles de Gaulle”) as its European logistics hub, on board as the lead investors.
More than 50 FedEx cargo planes take off and land at Roissy every night, connecting Paris with faraway continents, as well as domestic airports like Nice, Toulouse, Lyon and
Given these obstacles, German national railway Deutsche Bahn has shown little enthusiasm for the project. Courier freight is a minor player in the industry. The core business consists of heavy cargo, such as raw materials and industrial products, and it is highly successful. Annual freight transport volume, which has been growing for years, now amounts to significantly more than 100 billion ton-kilometers.

Read More

Quebecor World Logistics First in Industry to Run Mixed Class Co-Mail to Help Customers Reduce Postal Costs

Posted by | Feb 13, 2008 | |

Quebecor World Logistics is the first in the industry to offer its customers mixed-class co-mail that combines Periodical and Standard class mail pieces into a single offline co-mail offering. This gives our customers improved flexibility of a pool but also the industry’s quickest turn-around time, unattainable in a single class co-mail run. The mixed-class, short-run pool conducted at Quebecor World Logistics’ Bolingbrook, IL co-mail facility will now become part of QWL’s superior co-mail process, creating enhanced value to Quebecor World’s quality print product.

Customers using Quebecor World Logistics’ mixed class co-mail solutions in combination with additional mailing optimization programs are able to realize savings on their overall mailing costs while improving delivery times.

In May of 2007, Quebecor World announced the expansion of its co-mail platform into the Northeast with two new 30-pocket machines. In addition, QWL entered into an exclusive two-year purchase agreement with SIM Products Co. for two 30-pocket co-mail machines and secured the option to purchase the next four machines produced by SIM.

Read More

Japan Post says may take stake in retailer Lawson

Posted by | Feb 12, 2008 | |

State-owned Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd said on Tuesday it may buy a stake in Lawson Inc., Japan’s third-largest convenience store chain, in the latest move to combine postal and retailing.

The two companies said that within three years there would be 800 stores selling Lawson products and postal services.

“Until Japan Post goes public, it won’t be possible for both companies to hold each other’s shares at the same time. But so long as it is fine for just one side to take stake for a while, we can acquire Lawson shares,” said Yoshifumi Nishikawa, the president of Japan Post.

He added that the company had yet to determine how many Lawson shares it would buy.

While some convenience store chains, including Yamazaki Daily Store, owned by Yamazaki Baking Co Ltd, have teamed up with Japan Post to deliver packages, Lawson has been the most aggressive to partner up with the state-run postal firm.

Lawson has placed mailboxes in all its stores and operates five branches inside post offices. The two companies are cooperating to deliver mail in Kochi prefecture in western Japan.

Japan Post is the holding firm of four businesses — mail delivery, banking, life insurance and counter services — which split into four companies in October.

The banking and insurance businesses are set to be privatised sometime by 2017, but the government does not plan to privatise the mail delivery and counter service operations.

Read More

DPD Geopost Germany with new management

Posted by | Feb 12, 2008 | |

Arnold Schroven was appointed as Managing Director of DPD GeoPost Germany in place of Hans Fluri who is leaving the company.

Fluri had decided to leave the German parcels carrier in order to join a position with a “renowned international company”, DPD GeoPost Germany said in a statement.

Schroven had been named as his successor by Paul-Marie Chavanne, GeoPost CEO.

Schroven has been with DPD since 1992 and held a number of senior management positions. He has driven development of the international DPD franchise network, and will remain head of the separate franchise organisation DPD GmbH.

Read More

Swiss Post improves parcel delivery quality

Posted by | Feb 12, 2008 | |

Swiss Post said it further improved its parcel delivery quality last year but mail quality dropped due to the operational start of a new sorting hub.

The proportion of PostPac priority parcels reaching their recipient on the next working day rose by 0.3 percentage points from 2006 to 97.6%, the Swiss postal operator said. Delivery quality for PostPac Economy, with delivery on the second working day after posting, was stable at 97.5 pct.

Delivery of A-Post (first class) mail dropped back from 98 pct to 97.1 pct while B-Post (second class) fell to 96.7 pct from 98.3 pct. Swiss Post said that the operational start of the new mail sorting hub at Zurich-Mülligen had impacted negatively on quality but it stressed that its mail delivery quality remained at a high international standard.

Read More

DHL Express USA to reduce workforce by 600 positions

Posted by | Feb 12, 2008 | |

In a move designed to lower general and administrative costs across its U.S delivery business—due to the current economic climate and market conditions—DHL Express USA said today it will reduce its workforce by approximately 600 positions.

DHL added that these domestic workforce reductions will occur through attrition, reductions, and suspending open positions across functional areas. DHL Express USA Spokeswoman Michele Nadeem told LM that these reductions will take place today and tomorrow.

Hans Hickler, Chief Executive Officer, DHL Express USA., said in a statement that this action is one of several measures DHL Express USA is taking to improve its competitive position in the U.S. market, which is strategic to the company’s global growth plan. “These changes will help us better align our cost structure without impacting our unwavering commitment to serve our US customers,” said Hickler.

Since then it has competed aggressively for market share against industry bellwethers UPS and FedEx, as well as the United States Postal Service. DHL said it has invested more than USD 3 billion into the U.S. since 2003, including USD 1.2 billion in infrastructure and distribution.

In the DHL statement issued today, the company said it is making moves to augment its competitive position in the U.S. by investing in business growth areas and increasing service to both consumer and business customers, as well as the non-cash writedown for DHL Express USA.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest