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Liberal Democrats support for preservation of Universal Service Obligation

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

Lib Dem MP Robert Smith voices Lib Dem support for preservation of Universal Service Obligation at debate at Westminster Hall.

Speaking on a Lib Dem motion of the Universal Service Obligation in Westminster Hall, MP Alistair Carmichael pointed out the importance of a debate on Universal Service Obligation “following the recent application by the Royal Mail for zonal pricing for bulk mail, on which consultation with Postcomm has just concluded.”

Mr Carmichael expressed his concern that if Royal Mail’s application for zonal charging for bulk mail is approved, bulk mail will be removed from the universal service.

He suggested: “What is left will hardly be worth the name. It will hardly be universal and it will barely be a service.”

Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander also expressed his concern that the government, and Postcomm, are pressing ahead with the opening up of the mail market without first ensuring that there are adequate safeguards in place to protect the universal service.

Lib Dem Sir Robert Smith, speaking for the Liberal Democrats, made clear that “the present situation has come about because of the opening up of the letter market, which was the result of European Union regulations and the decision to open up the whole of the European market-albeit not at the pace that it is happening in the UK.”

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TNT Express UK will expose on CSR Summit to focus on reduction of carbon footprint

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

One of the highlights of the 4th CSR Summit, which takes place at the Dusit Hotel in Dubai on 24 – 28 June, will be a presentation by TNT Express, UK.

Mike Patrick, TNT’s Corporate Social Responsibility Director, will impress on regional corporations the need to implement and integrate a sustainable and environmental stewardship programme into their CSR strategy to reduce their environmental footprint.

TNT was the first of the UK company’s nationwide network of depots and offices to receive the coveted international environmental standard IS0 14001, ‘green’ certification. This was achieved after employees embarked on a programme to minimise their impact on the environment by conserving energy, recycling materials and preventing pollution.

The campaign aims were to conserve energy, cut pollution, recycle waste, and train lorry drivers to adopt the latest fuel-saving techniques when behind the wheel of their vehicles, clearly demonstrated their commitment to the achievement of one of their corporate social responsibility objectives, that of commitment to reducing pollution to the environment.

Not only is the green approach better for the environment but it is also saving TNT hard-earned revenue at Wellingborough. By re-using and recycling wooden pallets, they have reduced waste disposal costs by up to 32 per cent and they have cut the amount of paper used by almost 11 per cent, year-on-year.

In all this year’s CSR Summit features 41 speakers from 17 different countries, with the programme split into four main categories mirroring the key principles of CSR; Promoting CSR In The workplace; Positioning CSR In The Market; Contributing To The Community and Emphasising Global Warming And Climate Change And Their Impact On Business.

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TNT completes delisting from New York Stock Exchange

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

Following its announcement on 25 May 2007, TNT N.V. announces that the delisting of its American Depositary Receipts (‘ADRs’) from the New York Stock Exchange is effective as from today.

TNT’s American Depositary Receipt facility continues as a Level I program with Citibank, N.A. as depositary. TNT’s ADRs will be traded on the over-the-counter market. TNT has not arranged for the listing of the ADRs or its ordinary shares on any other national securities exchange or for the quotation of its shares in a quotation medium in the United States. TNT’s ordinary shares will continue to be traded on Euronext Amsterdam.

Furthermore, today TNT has filed a Form 15F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister and terminate its reporting obligations under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (‘Exchange Act’). TNT’s obligations under the Exchange Act are suspended as from today. By operation of law, the deregistration will become effective 90 days after the filing, i.e. September 16, 2007. TNT reserves the right to withdraw the Form 15F for any reason prior to its effectiveness.

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Hermes works on European B2C network

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

German B2C parcel delivery company Hermes Logistik is working on creating a European network to grow its international business, a senior manager told CEP-Research. It will enter the Austrian market on July 1.

Hermes, with turnover of EUR 1,016 million in 2006, is a subsidiary of Europe’s largest mail-order firm Otto Group, which also owns the parent firms of UK home delivery company Parcelnet and France’s Mondial Relay. Parcelnet recently bought the Redcats courier network while Mondial has announced plans to start operations in Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal.

The company, which claims a German B2C market share of about 37%, is again developing well this year, with Parcel Shop volumes up by 25% year-on-year as of the end of May, Martin Kreiter, vice president marketing, said in an interview at the Transport Logistic fair in Munich. “We are growing well this year, and are winning new third-party customers,” he commented.

On plans for Austria, he added: “We are ready to start. We have the 1,200 Parcel Shops.” Hermes will initially have about 20% of the Austrian B2C market by delivering Otto Group parcels in the country.

Asked about Hermes’ European expansion plans, Kreiter noted that the Otto Group subsidiaries combined are already Europe’s largest home delivery organisation with 22,000 Parcel Shops. The creation of a European B2C network is “one of the challenges for the next few months,” he said. Although it was not yet clear how this would be structured, “we will need one face to the customer in future”, he stressed.

Kreiter confirmed that Hermes Logistik planned to enter the German mail market once the small letters segment was liberalised as of January 2008. “We know we are losing business because customers take letters and parcels to the post office. If we offer both, then we will win more business.”

Hermes would offer letter services through its network of 13,000 Parcel Shops. Consumers would be able to post letters in blue letterboxes outside the parcel shops. Hermes would definitely not have any delivery staff itself but would provide delivery through partners, he said. TNT Post Germany, in which it has a minority holding, was one possible delivery partner.

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DHL named International Express Operator of the Year 2007

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

DHL was named “International Express Operator of the Year 2007” at this year’s Air Cargo Europe transport logistic industry trade fair, held from June 12 – 15, 2007 at the new Trade Fair Center in Munich. Honoring excellence in the air cargo industry, the first-ever World Air Cargo Awards was sponsored by the Air Cargo Weekly newspaper, a forum for international airfreight professionals.

Voting was administered online via the Air Cargo Weekly website, where readers could nominate industry leaders in a range of award categories, including Cargo Airline of the Year, Airport of the Year and Airfreight Forwarder of the Year. DHL came out on top in the International Express Operator category, as voters were impressed by DHL’s ability to meet performance targets, its level of investment in new products and services, and DHL’s flexibility, innovation and overall “personal touch” when it comes to customer needs and customer service.

The conference is the world’s largest gathering of the international air cargo community, bringing together over 21,000 executives from airlines, airports, freight forwarders, shippers, suppliers and service providers. After this year’s premiere, Air Cargo Weekly plans to sponsor the World Air Cargo Awards annually.

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Indian Postal Insurance Likely to be Split Off

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

The Indian Post Office is likely to hive off its postal life insurance business into a separate entity by next year, following which it could come under Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority purview.

This will enable it to come up with more life products as well as avail of the investment opportunities offered to regular insurance companies.

While the modalities are being worked out, an investment committee has been formed to look for a fund manager for deploying the funds collected from postal life and rural postal insurance schemes into various avenues for investment.

“There are various amendments being brought about in the Postal Act and changes are likely to be introduced in the next session of the Parliament” said Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communication and information technology, said.

Indian Post will also metamorphose to a full-fledged bank called Post Bank of India in a few years.

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Postal department to collect Speed Post from homes

Posted by | Jun 17, 2007 | |

Sending Speed Post packets will be easier soon with the Department of Posts planning to start the service of collecting parcels from homes at no extra cost.

“We will set up toll-free call centres in eight cities this year where customers can call and get their packets picked up from their homes,” DoP general manager John Samuel said.

The postman would collect packets from homes and deliver it without taking any extra charges, he said. The call centres would be set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.

DoP would also introduce a system of alerts which will inform customers about the receipt and delivery of Speed Post packets through SMS or e-mail.

Speed Post, which currently has a market share of 27%, expects revenues to go up to Rs550 crore in 2007-08 from Rs449 crore at present, Samuel said.

The monthly traffic from Speed Post exceeded Rs1.4 crore in March 2007.

“With our new measures, the volumes and revenues will definitely go up in future. We are expecting 40-50% increase in our monthly traffic,” Samuel said.

To make Speed Post competitive in the express industry, the government last week reduced the rates for local services by 40% to Rs12 from Rs20 earlier for up to 50 grams, but increased the rates in weight slabs above 50 grams.

Samuel said the Department would also expand its reach to 1,500 cities by the end of this year. It currently has about 5,000 booking offices across 1,200 cities.

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Up for auction . . . 75,000 items that were 'lost in the post' by Royal Mail

Posted by | Jun 17, 2007 | |

Royal Mail has admitted selling off thousands of items that got ‘lost in the post’ to help meet its running costs.

The troubled company sells the contents of about 75,000 undelivered packages every year, at the risk of enraging hordes of customers already frustrated that their post has gone astray.

Even customers who paid over the odds for premium ‘secure’ services to cover valuable items have been shocked to find their goods put up for auction, in an operation that could be netting the postal giant millions of pounds a year.

The scandal was exposed by retired teacher John Beattie after he discovered that a set of antique bagpipes, which Royal Mail had lost, were for sale on internet auction site eBay.

He had originally sold the rare 1910 Henderson bagpipes to a fellow collector in Belgium for Pounds 1,500 last July, and despatched them using the Royal Mail’s Airsure premium airmail service, described as ‘fast, secure and reliable’.

Although the package was correctly labelled, it vanished without trace.

However, in March this year a friend spotted the bagpipes online.

It turned out that the package had spent three months languishing in the national undelivered mail centre in
Belfast, before the Royal Mail sent it to Surrey auctioneers Wellers.

In turn, they sold the bagpipes to an online bidder for Pounds 60. The instrument then turned up on eBay, advertised by a man in the Glasgow area.

Wellers has an exclusive contract to sell Royal Mail’s undelivered post, but senior auctioneer Glen Snelgar refused to comment on their arrangement.

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