Author: Archive

TNT signs book deal with Gardners

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

TNT Express has signed a three-year deal to provide delivery services for Gardners Books. Under the multi-million pound agreement, TNT will collect stock from the headquarters of the UK’s largest book wholesaler in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and distribute it to hundreds of independent books stores around the UK.

TNT says the deal is “its first major venture into the wholesale book market” and “an exciting new business element for the company’s burgeoning media and entertainment division”. The firm took over the contract after Gardners’ previous deal with Parcel-force expired.

Danny Geach, general manager, TNT media and entertainment, says: “This market is worth in excess of GBP 180m a year and we see this as a real opportunity. “We believe we won the contract because we are able to provide a high-quality service at a reasonable cost.”

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UPS: Getting big brown machines to go green

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service’s fleet of all-electric delivery trucks were no match for the potholed streets and heavy package volumes of New York City.

UPS is experiencing a blast from the past. It again has some electric vehicles carrying packages in various U.S. cities. Diesel-electric hybrids, natural-gas-powered trucks and a slew of other experimental vehicles also cruise city streets and highways.

The company’s morphing into a leader in using truck fleets powered by alternative fuels. And what it’s learning offers pointers for other firms trying to lower costs and environmental impacts by using new vehicle tech.

UPS has over 1,600 of its trucks using either hybrid or alternative-fueled drive systems around the world. The company says it’s invested USD 15 million over the years in alternative vehicles.

At the same time, UPS has a ways to go. So-called green vehicles amount to less than 2 pct of its total global fleet. That gas and diesel engines remain the norm at UPS underscores the hurdles in turning big brown trucks into green ones.

In early October, UPS announced it will add another 306 alternative-fueled vehicles — 139 compressed natural gas trucks and 129 propane delivery trucks — by next year.

Savings vary for the other alternative fuels UPS uses, though they typically run cleaner than diesel trucks.

Today, UPS has over 100,000 vehicles around the globe, and about 600 aircraft. It says about 20,000 of its trucks are classified as “low emission” vehicles. That includes alternative-fuel trucks, as well as newer,cleaner-running regular trucks.

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DHL Express opens new depot in Murcia, Spain

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

DHL Express has opened a new depot in the southern Spanish city of Murcia and is considering opening an air hub at a new airport south of Madrid, according to media reports.

The company has invested EUR 6 million in the 4,200 sqm Murcia depot which has capacity to sort up to 2,700 parcels an hour, the Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung reported. DHL expects to distribute about 3,500 parcels a day to Murcia and the surrounding region.

Meanwhile, Spanish business newspaper Expansión reported that authorities at Don Quijote Airport at Ciudad Real, south of Madrid and Toledo, are in discussions with DHL Express over an air cargo operation. DHL Express has its main air hub for Spain and Portugal at Vitoria, in the northern Basque region.

The privately-financed EUR 1.1 billion airport, currently under construction and now expected to open in spring 2008, aims to position itself as a strategically located base for air cargo and low-cost flights. It lies close to major north-south, east-west motorways, and will benefit from a stop on Madrid-Seville high-speed passenger line.
DHL Express has opened a new depot in the southern Spanish city of Murcia and is considering opening an air hub at a new airport south of Madrid, according to media reports.

The company has invested EUR 6 million in the 4,200 sqm Murcia depot which has capacity to sort up to 2,700 parcels an hour, the Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung reported. DHL expects to distribute about 3,500 parcels a day to Murcia and the surrounding region.

Meanwhile, Spanish business newspaper Expansión reported that authorities at Don Quijote Airport at Ciudad Real, south of Madrid and Toledo, are in discussions with DHL Express over an air cargo operation. DHL Express has its main air hub for Spain and Portugal at Vitoria, in the northern Basque region.

The privately-financed EUR 1.1 billion airport, currently under construction and now expected to open in spring 2008, aims to position itself as a strategically located base for air cargo and low-cost flights. It lies close to major north-south, east-west motorways, and will benefit from a stop on Madrid-Seville high-speed passenger line.

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Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust wins ‘Best Campaign’ award at annual AHC conference

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust has been presented with the ’Best Campaign’ award at the annual Association of Healthcare Communicators Conference.

Awards were presented to organisations demonstrating the best in industry communications. The ’Best Campaign’ award, sponsored by Royal Mail, was won for the trust’s publicity around the hospital’s bowel cancer screening programme. The activity was described by the judges as ’a superbly devised and delivered campaign, as a pilot to a national programme that has already helped to save lives’.

The campaign, which is continuing, involves posting self-test kits to the homes of people in the target age range. Recipients are asked to take the test and send it back to the hospital for analysis, and people whose results showed an abnormality are contacted so that further tests can be carried out. The approach, which also included activity with local radio to raise awareness of bowel cancer, has proved hugely successful, with a 73 per cent response rate in its first year.

Other award winners included Knowsley Health and Social Care NHS Trust, which was presented with the ’Award of Excellence’, and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust which won the ’Best Internal Communications’ award.

This year’s conference explored the theme of ’reputation or obliteration’ through presentations, discussions and seminars with industry leaders. Speakers included David Blunkett, MP, and representatives from The Department of Health and Unison.

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Japan Post Service Ups Profit Expectations Amid Criticism

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

Japan Post Service Co., the mail, parcels and express division of the newly-formed Japan Post Group, has upgraded its profits expectations for the second half of the year ending March 2008.

But its international expansion drive is facing criticism from multinational competitors. Japan Post now expects to increase H2 net profits by 8pct. This is 79.2 billion yen, which is 30.2 billion more than it forecast earlier this year, the Nikkei Weekly newspaper reported. The improvement is due to a smaller-than-expected contraction in mail volume and a reduced tax burden. Its revenues are expected to slip slightly to 1.06 trillion yen.

Over the last year, Japan Post has embarked on an expansion of its parcel and express activities. In October, it announced it would merge its domestic parcel service with that of Nippon Express in October 2008 to form a major competitor to the two market leaders, Yamato Transport and Sagawa Express. It has launched a cargo airline in cooperation with ANA, and sealed an international cooperation partnership with China Post.

But the Nikkei Weekly recently reported that foreign courier companies have complained about preferential treatment for Japan Post‘s EMS service. They claim it is unfair for the new Japan Post to enjoy the benefits of faster customs clearance and other preferential public sector treatment for its lower-priced EMS service which is increasingly competing with their express services that operate on a fully commercial basis.

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DHL named Global 3PL of the Year at Supply Chain Asia Logistics Awards Singapore

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

DHL has won the coveted Global 3PL (third-party logistics) of the Year award at the Supply Chain Asia Logistics Awards 2007, organized by Supply Chain Asia magazine. Readers of Supply Chain Asia magazine and a panel of experts have bestowed this accolade on DHL for its innovation, service excellence and commitment to providing customers with superior express and logistics solutions. DHL received the award at a ceremony held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center yesterday evening.

The criteria for the Global 3PL of the Year takes into account customer service, product and service innovation, as well as network and technology. DHL’s quest to provide customized solutions and efficient service made it a perfect candidate for this award.

The annual awards ceremony is organized by Supply Chain Asia magazine, a leading logistics and supply chain publication. Through votes cast by readers, finalists were short-listed in each of the 15 categories. An independent panel of 15 judges then selected the winners.

This latest award further attests to DHL’s leadership position in the industry, having also received a string of awards this year. It won Best Express Operator, Best Lead Logistics Provider, Best 3PL, Best Air Freight Forwarder, Best Project Cargo Forwarder and Best Sea Freight Forwarder – at the prestigious 2007 Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards (AFSCAs). It was also named “International Express Operator of the Year 2007” at the World Air Cargo Awards.

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DHL Japan celebrated at ‘2007 DMA International ECHO Awards’

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

DHL has received a Bronze ECHO Award in the ‘Business & Consumer Services’ category at the ‘2007 DMA International ECHO Awards’ for its promotion of DHL’s services via seasonal greeting cards designed in the motif of cities around the world. The awards, sponsored by the U.S.-based Direct Marketing Association, are given for outstanding direct marketing programs based on the three criteria of strategy, creativity and results.

At DHL Express Japan, the Sales Division’s Direct Business Unit has been conducting the DHL Rank Up Program to actively promote sales since October 2003. This program includes the sending of effective direct mail based on the frequency of customers’ use of DHL services, as well as collaterals that stimulate DHL’s brand recall. The sending of seasonal greeting cards that led to the Bronze ECHO Award win was conducted as part of the Rank Up Program with the objective of promoting ongoing use of services by small-lot and less frequent customers. The greeting cards, based on the theme and motifs of cities around the world, featured an illustration depicting a scene of DHL and a message in connection with that city to demonstrate DHL’s intimate local knowledge of the business scenes of various cities across the globe. As a result, the sending of greeting cards boosted revenue from those customers by close to 30 pct year-on-year.

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Botswana Post: Postal policy coming

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

The Minister of Communications, Science and Technology Mrs Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi is expected to officially open a two-day National Postal Policy stakeholders consultative seminar in Gaborone.

The purpose of the seminar is to solicit public views on the policy. The ministry says in a press release that the development of the event follows public concerns that the lack of a policy hampers service delivery and infrastructure development.

Consequently, the draft policy will interrogate the need to define a structure for governments vision in terms of service provision in the postal sector.

The ministry says the digital age is believed to have had adverse affects on the role and function of the postal services throughout the world and Botswana is no exception.

The introduction of electronic communication services, such as the Internet, e-mails and SMS messages, has impacted negatively on postal services.

However, it says, the postal service remains an essential tool in delivery of goods in this era of e-commerce, in exchange of information, particularly to the underserved communities countrywide.

In line with Vision 2016 objectives and the draft National ICT Policy, the ministry says, Botswana Post can be used as a platform to effectively reach out to the communities countrywide, as it has the facilities and experience to provide universal services.

In addition, it says Botswana Posts postal network can be used to house Kitsong Centres which are community communication and business centres.

The release further states that in many cases, post offices also serve as banking outlets for the Botswana Savings Banks and that many Batswana use them to remit money to their kith and kin around the country or the Western Union to transact money outside the country.

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