Author: Archive

DHL confident of growing in tandem with Asia-Pac region

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

DHL’s logistics division will use its Singapore base to further develop its healthcare and life sciences and aerospace sectors, two areas which it sees chalking up attractive growth rates in the future.

With Asia-Pacific to contribute about half of global trade growth over the next few years and the growing consumer markets of China and India driving the region, DHL is confident of growing in tandem with the region as ‘forwarding grows, as trade grows’.

And with a significant part of life sciences production sites based here and about half the world’s aircraft orders projected to come from Asia, DHL’s logistics division hopes to expand in these and all other sectors it operates in the region.

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French plan green postal service

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

The French postal service, La Poste, plans to order 10,000 electric delivery vehicles, which it says are far more economical than normal cars or vans.
The state-run service is inviting tenders from European manufacturers for the first batch of 500.

“There has never been such a big order [for the vehicles] in the world,” said French Industry Minister Francois Loos, quoted by the AFP news agency.

La Poste wants to reduce its 70m-euro (GBP 48m; USD 95m) annual fuel bill.

La Poste has been testing eight French electric vehicles since 2005, made by SVE – a firm owned by the defence group Dassault and vehicle manufacturer Heuliez.

“According to our tests, it is six times cheaper to run an electric vehicle than a diesel vehicle,” said La Poste chairman Jean-Paul Bailly.

La Poste believes the change will also cut emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) by four tonnes per vehicle annually.

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Day Software announces new digital asset management solution

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Day Software is releasing a new, standalone digital asset management solution. Part of Communique, Day’s enterprise content management suite, Communique Digital Asset Management (CQ DAM) is the first to fully leverage a Java Content Repository (JCR) that is JSR 170-based, the industry standard for content access. The only native JCR-standard-compliant DAM solution available, CQ DAM is expected to distribute in mid-2007.

Delivering unparalleled global asset distribution and sharing through a centralized storage system, Day’s CQ DAM provides global, enterprise-wide access to digital assets via the web. The new solution includes essential DAM services such as a powerful metadata management engine, comprehensive version control, user and workgroup management, as well as integration with relevant third-party tools.

“Companies worldwide have witnessed a rich-media revolution, whereby Web content, images, audio and video have all become business-relevant media types,” said Michael Moppert, Chairman and CEO.

Day’s CQ DAM also provides intellectual property protection by creating dynamic rules for each asset or asset class, in order to control access and user rights. The system includes the ability to watermark and track digital information, and control the use of individual components. The product also offers a powerful workflow engine that enables the implementation of cross-organizational processes for content creation, editing, approval processing, quality control, metadata management, distribution and archival.

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Indian government proposals may rip the courier bag

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

The Indian government wants to reserve the right to carry letters, book post and parcels weighing up to 150 gm for its postal department. Private courier operators may be allowed to service this sector, but they will have to charge five times the postal department’s tariff for the same articles. In a cabinet note on the proposed Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2007, the department of posts in the ministry of communications & IT has also said that in the case of urgent or exclusive mail services, courier companies will have to charge 2.5 times the Speedpost or Express Mail Services rates. The ministry expects to introduce the Bill in the Budget session of Parliament, scheduled to reconvene on April 26. Industry sources said the move would make private courier services uncompetitive, as their services would be significantly more expensive than that of the postal department. For example, if the postal department charges Rs 100 for a packet weighing less than 150 gm, private courier operators will have to charge a minimum of Rs 500 for the same package. A bulk of the mail carried in India and originating within the country weighs less than 150 gm. The draft bill, however, makes a concession from the government’s earlier plan, which sought to reserve all postal articles up to 300 gm for the postal department. Costly Parcel

Courier charges to go up 10% of courier company revenue will be earmarked for USO fund Competition Commission calls Bill anti-competitive Watchdog to be set up; TDSAT to settle disputes Courier industry size: Rs 7,000 crore Annual growth: 25% Competition Commission of India (CCI) member and acting chairman Vinod K Dhall said, “There is a major competition issue here. This sector does not require economic regulation.”

The Rs 7,000-crore courier industry, growing at 25% a year, has called the proposed move by the government retrograde. The government, however, is of the view that the move will help generate additional revenue for the central government. The bill also proposes to make the registering of courier companies mandatory. There are also provisions to allocate a part of the revenue of courier companies to a universal service obligation (USO) fund.

The draft Bill also seeks to set up a three-member Mail Regulatory & Development Authority to regulate the sector.

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Indian logistics market to touch euro 90b by 2015

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

At a time when the logistics industry in India is at a major inflexion point and international majors like United Parcel Services (UPS) and FedEx have started making their presence felt, DHL could not have waited any longer. DHL Exel Supply Chain & Global Forwarding CEO John Allan came calling last week. Attracted, no doubt, by the booming logistics market in India.

Riding on the increased investments in infrastructure, proposed phase out of Central Sales Tax (CST) and boom in the manufacturing sector, the organised Indian logistics industry is growing larger by the day. “We estimate the Indian logistics market to be around euro 33 billion. By 2015, we expect it to reach almost euro 90 billion at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 11%, which is higher than the rate of growth of the Indian economy,” says Mr Allan.

He adds that in the next decade, there will be a substantial growth in the manufacturing segment, which will trickle down as opportunity for logistics companies. “There are two reasons why we see a major opportunity here. Firstly, India serves as a good base for manufacturing for exports like automobile components and pharmaceuticals so most of them are moving to India. Secondly, the size of the domestic market is itself getting larger.”

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FedEx Truckload Brokerage launches

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

FedEx Custom Critical, Inc. has introduced a new company to meet customers’ truckload shipping needs—FedEx Truckload Brokerage.

The new company, officially opened for business Jan. 2, 2007, offers customers full-service truckload brokerage solutions. Options range from brokerage solutions for regular, dry-van freight to oversized pieces requiring flatbed trailers. Additional resources can also be utilized for shipments requiring temperature control.

Customers who call FedEx Truckload Brokerage work directly with a logistics account manager. The account manager handles all aspects of the shipment, from initial setup to finding the right carrier and providing the final invoice. These capabilities are available for customers throughout the continental United States.

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U.S. Postal Service expects deficit this year

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Even with postage rates going up, the Postal Service expects a deficit this year as struggles with a swiftly changing communications market, Postmaster General John Potter said Tuesday.

“The dynamics of the 21st century communications market have altered – forever – the basic assumptions of postal economics,” Potter said in remarks prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform postal subcommittee.

The rapid growth of electronics communications have resulted in declines in lucrative first-class mail, though lower-cost advertising mail continues to increase.

In addition, private companies have taken a growing share of the package and rapid delivery market.

“Competition exists for every piece of mail that we move through our system,” Potter said.

In 1970, Potter pointed out, the U.S. Postal Service’s 741,000 employees delivered 85 billion pieces of mail . Last year, with about same number of workers, the agency delivered 213 billion pieces of mail.

But, he said, “We can no longer depend on volume growing at a rate necessary to produce the revenue required to cover the costs of an ever-expanding delivery infrastructure.”

Potter said the agency is exploring expanded use of contract services to move mail and is looking for other ways to reduce costs.

This fiscal year the agency is facing a projected loss of USD 5.2 billion, Potter said, much of which results from a new requirement for advance funding of health benefits.

Postal rates go up May 14, with the price of a first-class stamp rising 2 cents to 41 cents.

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Irish Financial Services Regulator issues licence to Postbank

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

The Financial Services Regulator has approved the award of a banking licence to Postbank, the joint venture retail banking service between the international financial services provider Fortis and the Irish postal service, An Post.
Announcing the news today Postbank said that the service expects to begin trading as early as next month. “Now that we are to receive our banking licence from the Irish Financial Services Regulator we can start to finalise our plans for market entry”, said Postbank CEO Margaret Sweeney. “We hope to be ready to begin offering products to the public within a few weeks.”

The JV said that the company is to be called Postbank.

Postbank will initially offer savings and investment products, expanding to provide full banking services including current accounts, loans, credit cards and internet banking by the autumn. Postbank will be represented in over 200 post offices to begin with and to expand through the Post Office network over the following 12-months.

Postbank expects to formally receive its banking licence within a fortnight after some final procedural matters have been dealt with, paving the way for a launch within weeks.

Postbank also announced two further senior appointments today. Maurice van der Putten is Chief Operations Officer. Maurice has spent the last 12 years working for Fortis in a number of senior positions. Prior to joining Postbank, Maurice held the position of Deputy Director Fortis Insurance Netherlands Life Insurance’s back office Robert Jan Van Pelt is Manager of Sales and Distribution. Van Pelt has held senior management positions within Fortis Retail Banking since 1990. Prior to taking this position Mr van Pelt was Head of Project Management in Fortis with responsibility for the project portfolio of Retail Banking.

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