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EU may open up postal markets by 2011

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

European Union countries are likely to agree to a delayed opening of the bloc’s postal markets to full competition, a French minister said yesterday.

The European Commission has proposed stripping away the remaining barriers to competition from 2009 but the measure needs approval from the bloc’s member states and the European Parliament.

The measure has sparked protests by postal workers in many EU nations, particularly France, who fears job losses.

EU transport ministers meet in Luxembourg on Monday with the aim of reaching a political agreement.

Under parliament’s first-reading compromise, full liberalization would not start until 2011 with the 12 mostly eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004 and after having until 2013 to implement the reform.

Parliament also effectively allowed Luxembourg and Greece to delay liberalization until 2013.

The EU assembly’s compromise is expected to form the basis of the text adopted by ministers.

The market for letters weighing up to 50 grams is currently shielded from competition. Mail above that weight is fully liberalized.

The measure contains safeguards to ensure a range of everyday services, such as letter collection and delivery, known as the universal service, is maintained even in the most thinly populated areas.

Parliament also inserted a reciprocity clause so a country that is fully liberalized does not have to authorize competitors from states that have yet to open their own sectors.

Swedish and British postal markets are already fully liberalized.

Germany and the Netherlands are due to open theirs to full competition next year.

The sector employs 5.2 million people, who deliver 135 billion items a year to the European Union’s 490 million consumers.

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Fortec launches new dedicated scheduled 24 hour daily pallet delivery service to Ireland

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

The Fortec Pallet Distribution Network has today announced the launch of a new scheduled premium 24 hour daily pallet delivery service to Ireland using the resources of the existing Fortec licensees. The new service will offer deliveries through the Fortec network into both Dublin and Belfast on a next day basis

Freight bound for Ireland from around the UK will reach the new 140,000 sq ft Fortec Hub at Watling Park near Rugby by midnight each day and be transhipped to Ireland via Holyhead the next morning enabling next day delivery of those urgent palletised goods in Dublin and Belfast.

This service complements the existing Fortec 48 hour service throughout the rest of Ireland. The major benefits for the new Fortec 24 hour Ireland service include: –

” Express service for urgent palletised freight
” Economy service still available
” Reliable delivery service from Fortec licensees
” Scanned PODs on line within 24 hours
” Competitive rates

Neil Hodgson, Fortec’s Business Relationship Manager for Ireland who is spearheading the new service commented:

“The launch of the new 24 hour pallet delivery service into Ireland by Fortec is another example of Fortec providing improved services for licensees so they can offer their customers the right solutions to meet their requirements.

“Customers can be sure of the Fortec reputation for reliability and a quality delivery service together with a number of other benefits including PODs on line and highly competitive rates.

“Ireland is a very large market and the facility of a 24 hour dedicated daily service will no doubt help our licensees’ customers to build their businesses in the country” he added.

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OZtion extends online identity verification via Australia Post 100 point check

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

OZtion, Australia’s second largest online auction site (http://www.oztion.com.au), has today announced an expansion of their online identity verification program, which covers both people buying and selling products online at OZtion.

Philip Druce, Managing Director for OZtion commented, “Online scams and fraud are still a common problem faced by Australians when they are shopping online. The Federal Government offers software that is supposed to make the Internet safer for Australians, but it doesn’t stop you from being ripped off when buying products online. Many popular online sites make it easy for scammers to setup fake identities, and rip people off. The Australian Government should be doing more to stop scammers.”

In partnership with Australia Post, OZtion is now offering an optional 100 point identity verification service. The new service allows Australians shopping online to be confident that they are dealing with a legitimate person, rather than a scammer using a fake identity.

The new 100 point identity verification service is available to any OZtion user, and costs $20 inc GST. The identity check is carried out by Australia Post, and confirms the user’s date of birth, identity, current residential address, and signature. Once the identity check has been completed, a special icon is displayed next to the user details on to signify that the user has been verified by Australia Post.

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Beirut slashes red tape for new businesses

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

The prolonged agony of registering a new company in Lebanon may be coming to an end thanks to a new agreement between the government and LibanPost on Friday. The new system permits an entrepreneur to hire a legal representative and prepare an application and supporting papers from any LibanPost branch where the payment is made. All these procedures, according to the government, should not take more than six days.

Previously, starting up a business in Lebanon entailed hiring a legal representative, collecting a series of forms and documents, visiting numerous government institutions, and paying several fees to these institutions. Companies seeking registration complained in the past that the procedure used to take more than 45 days just to get a stamp of approval from the government.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Finance Minister Jihad Azour, Justice Minister Charles Rizk, Justice Minister, Economy and Trade Minister Sami Haddad, LibanPost board chairman Khalil Daoud and a representative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed an agreement at the Grand Serail Friday which aims to cut the time, cost, and complexity of the registration process by providing a simple guide to be followed by both local business owners and foreign concerns that wish to open new branches within the country.

Lebanon ranks 132nd in the 2007 “Doing Business” report prepared by the IFC, the private-sector arms of the World Bank. The report provides measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 178 countries.

According to the report, it takes an average of 46 days to register a business in Lebanon, with an average cost of 94 percent of annual income per capita, compared to 11 days for registration and an average cost of 25 percent in Tunisia.

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Post insurance: a new and promising market for African postal institutions

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

This article is a summary of a text written by Wilfrid A. Serge MARTIN, Directeur des Services Financiers Postaux at La Poste, our WSBI Member in Benin. It defines what post insurance is and describes the situation and the perspectives of post insurance in Africa and in Benin in particular. The full text of the article, with more statistical information, can be obtained on demand.

The marketing of insurance products via the distribution network of a financial institution leads to new market shares, generates extra revenues and constitutes a welcome diversification of the product offer. Indeed, both non-life (accidents, health, car insurance, travel insurance) and life insurance can be offered to the clients, either directly or linked to a financial product. Banks all over the world, and also in Africa, have taken up this opportunity since a long time already and coined the concept “bank insurance”. Postal institutions in West Africa have on the contrary a lot of catching up to do. Instead of tapping into this new and promising market that corresponds perfectly to the needs of their clients, these institutions have focused far too long on their traditional postal and financial business, although their creation law or regulation anticipated this contingency already in the 60’s.

The so-called CIMA code, which regulates the insurance market in 16 African countries including Benin, enables a change of the law on the insurance sector in 2004. An additional clause obtained after a battle of many years headed by a private insurance company and La Poste du Benin, allowed the marketing of a full range of insurance products (life and non-life) through the post offices and microfinance institutions.

The use of the “post insurance” concept will not only bring in new business, but will also enhance the specific role and identity of the postal institutions against the commercial banks.

La Poste du Benin is putting in place an intensive marketing plan for a retirement related insurance product, after the launch in December 2005 of a new product based on life insurance. Indeed, these product categories have an important potential for savings mobilisation. This is demonstrated by positive experiences of La Poste du Senegal, where sales of retirement savings surged after the introduction of an insurance- linked product. Earlier, la Poste had already introduced successfully an insurance linked to an account.

The results obtained by La Poste in Benin and positive experiences by postal institutions in other African countries clearly show the need for Postal institutions to orientate towards new businesses. The use of the post insurance concept will allow the national post office to capture an important part of the Benin insurance market, where currently 10 insurance companies are active. The potential is undoubtedly present and thanks to its large network, its important client portfolios and considerable sales volume, the Benin Post is ideally positioned.

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FedEx selects Newport for new central coast center

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

FedEx will start operations in and out of Newport, serving a region from Pacific City to Yachats, bringing in thousands of pounds of correspondence and packages to customers located here.

“We are really pleased FedEx has selected Newport,” said Airport Manager Dennis Reno. “FedEx has been a great group of folks with which to work, and we’re well underway in getting facilities ready for them. Expanded overnight services have been a priority for this airport and this area for some time, and I know folks are going to be pleased to have expanded FedEx service available here.”

FedEx’s new central coast operations center will be one of 30 new locations nationally.

FedEx is hiring staff to serve its new central coast operations center, primarily in delivery and shipping positions. “The potential for new job creation here is wonderful news,” said Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County board chair David Green, a vice president with West Coast Bank. “Making it easier for area manufacturers and other businesses to send packages and correspondence internationally in rapid fashion is terrific. Several local companies have told us how much they’ve wanted expanded FedEx service here, and this is another part of making the ‘business climate’ of the Central Coast as vibrant as possible, which can be a challenge for rural economies such as ours.”

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Bar Code Cameras: Accu-Sort Camera Systems Help Finland Post Process Faster, Cut Cost

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

Accu-Sort Systems announced that it has installed an AV4000(2.0) camera-based sortation system at the Finland Post Parcel Sorting Center in Helsinki. The new system eliminates manual handling by handing off camera-captured images to an optical character recognition (OCR) imaging system that reads parcel address labels.

Multi-side camera tunnels over an FKI tilt tray system capture parcel dimensions, bar code data, and high-quality images for an OCR and Video Coding System supplied by Prime Vision. This is the first high-speed parcel sortation application able to send full-resolution images including embedded tracking data across a standard Ethernet network.

Prior to this system, the Finland Post used a manual process in which every label was read and manually keyed into the system. This process was slow and introduced numerous opportunities for error.

In addition to the AV4000 camera tunnel system, Finland Post also installed a mobile image capture solution to read labels on roller cages, pallets, and non-conveyable items coming into the facility. Unlike any other hand-held readers, the Accu-Sort AccuVision HandsFree CCD camera provides an image good enough to be read by an OCR system. At Finland Post, the camera reliably reads carbon copy labels which include handwriting. Another unique advantage is a reading field large enough to capture an A5 label (8.3″ x 5.8″). Because the camera has an exceptionally deep depth of field, operators do not need to position the camera precisely, enabling faster processing.

Technicians installed the camera on a movable overhead arm so operators can move the camera in a five meter radius. This increased productivity and safety: operators can move out of the way of forklifts and continue working.

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Greek state to seek strategic alliance for Greek Postal Savings Bank reports

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

The Greek Minister of Finance, George Alogoskoufis, said that the state will seek a strategic alliance with a similar foreign European financial institution for Greek Postal Savings Bank (GPSB), according to several local press reports.

The reports noted that the state will not proceed with a new placement soon since its focus is on the banks transformation process.

The minister also reiterated that the government has no intention to sell GPSB to a local bank, the reports added.

The government sold a 20 pct stake in GPSB in July and now controls 44.4 pct.

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