Author: Archive

Royal Mail may have to pay GBP 1bn for the redundancies it needs, says consumer chief

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

The government may need to come up with an extra GBP 1bn to fund a massive redundancy programme to help the Royal Mail out of its crisis, a consumer chief warned before strike action by the Communication Workers Union.

David Bland, a regional chairman of Postwatch, believes the Royal Mail has no alternative to automating its letter systems and slimming down its workforce if it wants to survive private-sector competition. He said no one in the industry would win from industrial action at a time when many users were turning to email and other alternatives to the state postal service.

Without a clear look at the Royal Mail books it was impossible to know how much money was needed, added Mr Bland, but he believed it would be hundreds of millions of pounds if not a billion.

The department of trade and industry – now business, enterprise and regulatory reform (BERR) – has already agreed to allow Royal Mail to borrow GBP 1.2 bn to help it fund modernization of its systems. It has also allowed Royal Mail to put some GBP 800 m in a special account as part of a programme to bolster its pension scheme as it fights off companies such as TNT and UK Mail that are winning more and more of its business customers.

Mr. Bland believes that Royal Mail is giving an over-gloomy picture of its pension requirements, but the company accepts revenues are falling along with an overall 2 pct annual decline in post volumes and it is not in a position to fund a large wave of redundancies.

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German mail operator PIN Group buys regional delivery firms

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

IN Group Privately-owned German mail company PIN Group has extended its geographical network with two acquisitions of regional delivery companies.

PIN Group, now majority-owned by publishing group Axel Springer, has bought the Ostsee-Post in Rostock, north-east Germany, and LN Briefkurier in northern Germany. Both companies were owned by regional newspaper companies which used them to diversify into mail deliveries.

“The mail companies of regional publishers with their expertise and delivery experience form the core of our company,” commented CEO Günter Thiel. With the acquisition of the Ostsee-Post and LN Briefkurier we are strengthening our network in the North-East.”

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UPS results: Export revenue rises 14 pct ; LTL shipments climb 12 pct

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

UPS today reported a solid 7.2 pct increase in diluted earnings per share for the second quarter to USD 1.04 on a 3.9 pct gain in revenue. Strong performance by the international package segment and encouraging trends in supply chain and freight overcame a challenging U.S. small package market.
International export revenues jumped 14 pct on double-digit volume growth. UPS Freight less-than-truckload (LTL) revenue climbed 10.5 pct on a 12 pctincrease in shipments.
“Strong gains in our international package segment offset a lack of growth in the U.S. business. We’re also executing well in our supply chain and freight business and are pleased with the profit improvements in this segment. We remain confident in the long-term growth prospects that the dynamic global marketplace offers UPS” said Mike Eskew, UPS’s chairman and CEO.
UPS expects diluted earnings per share for the third quarter to fall within a range of USD 0.99 to USD 1.04 compared to the USD 0.96 reported for the prior-year period.

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DHL hopes to expand airport consolidation centre in Heathrow

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

DHL- Exel is hoping to expand the scope of its Heathrow Consolidation Centre (HCC) by providing additional services. The HCC currently works with all the retailers, before and after security, at all the Heathrow terminals. This means that all the retailers deliver to the HCC and DHL takes those deliveries into the airport terminals.

Paul Durkin, business director for airport logistics and consolidation centers at DHL-Excel, says the HCC reduces commercial vehicle movements to the terminals by about 80 pct. He believes this could be cut even further if DHL is able to start delivering engineering products into the airport and take over deliveries to airlines.

Durkin says that while there are no firm plans at the moment, the company is investigating both possibilities. “Because of the increasing security requirements for the terminals, it makes sense for us to take products into the sites because we have the security screening processes at the HCC.”

DHL operates a bus-stop-type system around the airport at two-hour intervals during the day. As well as delivering into the terminals, it also removes packaging and recycling, and shifts stock from one terminal to another. DHL is also hoping to work with BAA to open consolidation centres at other airports around the UK.

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Leipzig-Halle woos cargo carriers with fly-by-night offer

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

With express courier giant DHL moving its operations from Cologne-Bonn airport to its newly-created Central European hub at Leipzig-Halle airport and Lufthansa Cargo deciding to move all freighter flights from Cologne-Bonn to Leipzig-Halle from October 28, the East German airport is aggressively courting other airlines by pitching itself as the gateway to Eastern Europe and an airport with no restrictions on night flights.

Anticipating a rise in traffic, Eric Malitzke, managing director of the Leipzig-Halle Airport, told that the airport was taking a number of steps to upgrade its existing infrastructure. On July 5, its second runway, a parallel additional runway, went into operation. Leipzig-Halle invested some USD 380 million in the second runway and has earmarked USD 1.3 billion for other infrastructure projects.

DHL invested over USD 400 million to set up a Central European hub in Leipzig-Halle and convert its hubs at Cologne-Bonn and Brussels airports into gateways after a heated debate with the Belgium government over night flights. DHL wanted to expand its operations at Brussels and consequently increase night flights but abandoned its plans after strong opposition from people living in the area over noise concerns. DHL is still continuing operations at the two airports but has downgraded their status to gateways rather than European hubs.

DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo have been jointly operating a route network between Europe, Asia and the US since March 2004 with their Aerologic Intercontinental joint venture, touted as the biggest operative partnership between a cargo carrier and an express and courier company.

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Bailey boots Palletline management team

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

Palletline plc, the UK’s most experienced palletized freight distribution network, has further strengthened the senior management team at its Birmingham hub through the appointment of Troy Bailey as General Manager – Operations.

Troy joins Palletline from another national network and will once again join forces with Operations Director Mark Pulford with whom he has previously worked.

Troy’s key role will be the day to day management of operations at Birmingham, focusing particularly on scanning, next day and economy deliveries and hub optimisation.

Troy has spent his entire career in the logistics and related sectors, staring with Caterpillar and then moving to Christian Salvesen where he was a contract manager for major customers including Land Rover, Massey Ferguson and Volvo.

He then spent eight years with Tamworth-based DFDS Transport as a divisional manager, before joining Geologistics in Birmingham where he spent two years as regional manager covering the midlands and south-west.

His most recent role saw him drive a number of key operational improvements for another national pallet distribution network.

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Palletline expands Withcare

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

Uttoxeter-based Professional Handling Withcare is the latest new member to join Palletline plc, the UK’s leading pallet distribution network.

The company, which is based at Bramshall Industrial Estate, will cover the DE and ST14 postcode areas for Palletline, incorporating north Derbyshire, Uttoxeter and parts of Staffordshire.

The new appointment follows significant growth in pallet freight input into the Palletline network from the east midlands region.

Founded in 1986, Professional Handling Withcare employs 35 staff and operates more than 50 vehicles. It is investing in further double decker vehicles to deal with the extra freight generated through its membership of Palletline.

As well as general haulage services, Professional Handling Withcare specializes in retail support.

Founded in 1992, Palletline was the UK’s first national network dedicated to pallet distribution.

Operating from a main hub in Birmingham with regional hubs at Greenford, west London, and Preston, the company today employs some 150 staff, with major clients including blue chip organizations such as Parcelforce and J Sainsbury plc. As well as the UK, Palletline offers deliveries to mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the Irish Republic.

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Higher Overhead Costs Drag Down Western Union Q2 Profit By 7 pct

Posted by | Jul 24, 2007 | |

Western Union reported net income of USD 204.5 million, down 7 pct from USD 218.9 million and earnings dipped 10 pct to USD 0.26 per share from USD 0.29 per share in the same quarter last year. The company added that its results included USD 0.04 per share towards costs associated with being a public company. Twenty-one analysts, on average, surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of USD 0.26 per share.

Total revenues advanced 8 pct to USD 1.2 billion from USD 1.11 billion in the previous year quarter. Sixteen Wall Street analysts’ consensus revenue estimate was USD 1.22 billion. Western Union attributed revenue upside to 14 pct international consumer-to-consumer business on 20 pct transaction growth.

While revenue from transaction fees rose 6 pct to USD 981.4 million from USD 921.7 million, revenue from foreign exchange advanced 13 pct to USD 185.8 million from USD 165.1 million and commission and other revenues contributed USD 35.7 million, 33 pct higher than USD 26.8 million recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Western Union said that its domestic consumer-to-consumer business witnessed a 10 pct downside in revenue on 5pct fall in transactions due to the immigration debate and broader market. The company also indicated that there was a sequential modest improvement. The company said that in a trend paralleling the Mexico business, domestic transaction volume showed improvements in every successive month of the second quarter with June witnessing the smallest downside of 3 pct .

The company disclosed that it was on a four-part strategy to improve its Mexico unit. Western Union believes that the revenue decline of 7 pct in the second quarter from the Mexico unit will moderate as the year progresses.

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