Author: Archive

Poland: CTL Logistics briefs British MPs on Polish rail freight market

Posted by | Sep 8, 2007 | |

Pawe³ Szymañski, Chief Financial Officer at CTL Logistics S.A., outlined CTL’s market position and strategy for its European business to Rail Freight Group, an asso-ciation of British MPs and managers, during its recent visit to Poland.

Szymañski pointed out that CTL is consistently expanding its rail transport and logistics operations in Poland, which is a secure basis for all its activities that will enable it to pro-vide international services.

CTL is making significant efforts outside Poland to obtain licenses to run its own rail operations in all the main EU markets. Last week, the company was granted a safety certificate in the Netherlands, a key prerequisite for transporting containers from North Sea ports to Central and Eastern Europe. CTL has also entered into agreements with coun-tries to the east of Poland, outside EU borders, i.e. beyond the liberalized transport area, allowing it to take and hand over block trains at borders and organize further transport in the wide gauge system.

CTL is also purchasing a fleet of multi-system locomotives suitable for international traffic and has deployed its own wagons wherever availability of equipment is vital for meeting customer requirements, such as for transporting cars.

In order to plan and manage trains on a uniform basis, CTL is currently establishing a unique Train Control Center for managing its entire rolling stock and staff deployment.

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Dutch TNT says up to 11,000 layoffs possible

Posted by | Sep 8, 2007 | |

TNT NV said on Saturday it may have to lay off up to 11,000 workers due to rising competition in its home market, where the company is set to lose its remaining monopoly from next year.

The company said in April it will seek to freeze wages and cut up to 7,000 jobs to help lower costs by 300 million euros (USD 413 million) by 2015, but now seems to feel harsher measures will be needed to remain competitive.

“We may have to go as far as 10,000 or 11,000 redundancies,” Chief Executive Peter Bakker told Reuters in an interview.

Competitive pressures are rising in Europe. The European Parliament voted in June to delay until 2011 a plan to open its 88 billion euro postal market to full competition, a move that unions say will lead to job losses and diminished service quality in rural areas.

“There is a choice to aggressively cut costs and lay off a large number of people,” said Bakker, who was in Dalian, China for the World Economic Forum.

“Or ask existing employees to take a wage freeze over a number of years,” he said. “It’s a horrible choice to make.”

TNT is one of the Netherlands largest employers with about 59,000 staff

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Post Canada: Postal service alarm bells ringing hollow

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

A Victoria postal union has raised the spectre of reduced postal services in the region, but the claims are unfounded, says Canada Post.

In a news release, Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 850 officials said Canada Post is planning to move postal services from the existing corporate retail outlet (CRO) at 1625 Fort St. to a retail postal outlet (RPO) in an adjacent building.

But Canada Post media relations manager Lillian Au said the claim is baseless.

“We have had no discussions concerning the closure of Depot 9 at 1625 Fort St.,” she said. “Our only discussions dealt with ways to further improve service in the area.”

Canada Post is considering a second retail outlet in the area.

This consideration has resulted from regular reviews of dealer networks and service demands, she said. Extended hours and Saturday openings are in high demand by post office customers.

Allen Pleasants, president of Local 850, said employees at an RPO are given only one day of training as opposed to two weeks if working in a CRO. He said that inadequately trained employees could reduce the service levels to Oak Bay customers.

But Au said staff at RPOs is given the same level of training as staff at CROs.

And while Pleasant contends that businesses will suffer as the RPO will not offer bulk mailing services or services in the French language, Au said that the decision to offer French language services is based on census figures.

“If the area is designated bilingual, then we will offer these services,” said Au. Such is not the case at the Fort Street depot, she added.

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Port centric logistics delivers retail supply chain advantages

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

Panalpina has provided a port centric solution for its major home wares retail clients by outsourcing to TNT and Import Services

Panalpina’s clients previously managed their own supply chain once product arrived at the UK port of entry; however this was proving to be unnecessarily complex and costly. In consultation with its clients Panalpina has taken charge of the final stage of the journey and, with its partner’s expertise, is producing astonishing results.

Import Services and TNT provide two distinct services once Panalpina has moved product in sea containers, from origin to Southampton port.

TNT, the UK’s leading business to business express delivery service specialists, collects store ready consignments from the containers at its Southampton port based depot, before putting them into its national distribution network in readiness for next day delivery to high street retailers throughout the UK.

Import Services takes the residual bulk stock into its adjacent distribution centre where storage, order processing, high volume pick/pack and distribution of replenishment orders are effected.

Portcentric is the distribution to an end recipient straight from the port. A distribution model which is fast becoming the smart option as it offers impressive cost and time savings as well as attractive green credentials.

Portcentric distribution takes at least 10 percent of time out of the supply chain from the Far East and in Panalpina’s experience a significant percentage of cost. This saving plus a reduced carbon footprint, adds up to an exciting proposition which is starting to grab the attention of UK industry.

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Chronoexpress appoints new General Director

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

Chronoexpress, the express courier and parcel subsidiary of Correos, has appointed Eduardo Herrera as new General Director.

The appointment marks “a new stage of consolidation” at the company, Correos said in a press release. Chronoexprés has 50 depots across Spain and a fleet of 2,000 delivery vehicles.

Herrera, an economics and business studies graduate joined Chronoexprés as finance director in 2005.

José Tola García, who helped Chronoexprés cuts its losses by 60 pct, becomes transport director of Correos mail division.

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Truckers ask court to delay hours ruling

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

U.S. trucking companies have asked a federal court to delay a requirement that would reduce by one hour the time truckers can drive continuously.

The American Trucking Association Thursday requested an 8-month stay from a mandate of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court had ordered the daily driving limit be cut to 10 hours for long-haul truckers.

The trade group says eliminating the rule effective Sept. 14 would be expensive and require the industry to retrain drivers and operating personnel, reprint logs, reengineer routes and make other changes.

Safety advocates, who applauded the court’s ruling, say the industry is putting the public at risk by allowing truckers to drive too many hours.

The court action’s had followed by a week an ATA petition with the federal government, asking for revisions to 2-year-old regulations on truckers’ hours, which the court had rejected in late July.

The ATA argued for the 8-month stay to give the Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration time to review the court’s ruling and the new rules.

A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokeswoman did not return a call for comment Friday. After the ATA’s appeal last week, the agency said it was still developing a response to the court ruling but would do so in time for the industry to adapt.
The trade group’s members include United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp., JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. and YRC Worldwide.

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AstraZeneca – one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers -has awarded NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd a two and a half year contract.

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

The contract is for the centralized planning and primary distribution of pharmaceutical products from its manufacturing sites throughout Europe into its European distribution network.

Under the new agreement, NYK is providing centralized management and planning of the entire pan-European road transportation operation.

James Shaw (Global Category Lead Freight & Logistics), AstraZeneca said: “We were impressed by NYK’s approach to the tender process – their solution went beyond our initial requirements and demonstrated a high level of added value, along with an understanding of the importance of quality, integrity and audit control in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Their professional and pro-active approach also gave us every confidence in their ability to deliver what they promised.

“At both a cultural and operational level, NYK recognized that the new approach would represent a major challenge for many of our manufacturing plants and established a dedicated implementation team to ensure a seamless transition to the new system, including a dedicated relationship manager to ensure maximum confidence and co-operation from every site.”

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Troutdale gives FedEx USA approval to build distribution center at former Alcoa site

Posted by | Sep 7, 2007 | |

The city of Troutdale gave final approval Thursday to FedEx Ground to build its Northwest distribution hub on 77 acres of the former Alcoa-Reynolds Metals site, north of the Troutdale airport.
The new facility is part of FedEx’s USD 1.8 billion national expansion plan. The company plans to relocate its current Swan Island facility to the new hub, which will be about seven times larger. It will feature a fuel island, trailer garage and other structures totaling about 570,800 square feet in the initial phase.
FedEx will buy the Troutdale site from the Port of Portland, which is finalizing its purchase of the property from Alcoa Inc.
While city officials tout high-wage jobs, future tax revenue and the positive economic impact the company will bring to east Multnomah county, the hub will also increase traffic and air pollution, provide mostly part-time and contractor jobs, and could cost the city up to USD 6 million in lost income, due to tax breaks under a recently approved enterprise zone at the site.
The biggest challenge will be traffic. About 200 semitrailer and pickup and delivery van drivers will work at the new facility in the first phase of development, according to documents filed with the city. A transportation impact analysis prepared for the Port of Portland indicates that, at its peak hour, the facility will generate 423 arrivals and departures.
As a condition of approval, Troutdale asked FedEx to make several road improvements in the area, including construction of a traffic signal at the intersection of Marine Drive and Sundial Road. But the city did not impose conditions that would apply to the already clogged Interstate 84 Exit 17.

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