Author: Archive

Japan Post spinoff to take over mail-order sales business

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

The new firm that will manage the post office network of privatized Japan Post will take over mail-order sales operations handling local specialties, informed sources said Monday.

The new company, which will control some 24,000 post offices nationwide, will take over mail-order sales operations from Postal Service Center, an affiliate of Japan Post, the sources told Jiji Press.

Postal Service Center currently sells local specialties by mail order across Japan, a service known as “furusato kozutsumi,” with deliveries to customers made via Japan Post’s “Yu-Pack” parcel service.

The center receives some 7 pct of the prices of local specialty goods handled as fees under the service, launched in 1983.

In fiscal 2005 ended in March last year, the number of parcels handled under the service totaled 12.45 million, accounting for some 5 pct of overall Yu-Pack parcels. The service has 610,000 members.

The takeover is designed to smooth the way for the post office managing company to start broader catalog-based sales operations handling local specialty goods.

The post office company is one of the four firms which will be created when Japan Post is split up in October under its 10-year privatization process. The three other spinoffs are a savings bank, an insurance firm and a mail delivery service firm.

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Researchers see India's express industry growing by 20% a year

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

India’s express and courier industry, now valued at Rs71bn (USD1.63bn), is forecast to reveal a compound annual growth rate of 20% over the next five years and more than double its size by 2012.

According to a study by rating agency Credit Analysis’ research the main growth driver for the express industry will be the opening up of the banking, insurance, retail, aviation and telecommunications sectors.

Several executives recently interviewed for UPS indicated that a key segment of Asia’s business leaders were more excited about the growth of India than they were of China’s.

While there was optimism over the growth of the Chinese consumer market, small and medium sized enterprise leaders across Asia expressed a desire to capitalise on India’s rapid growth by leveraging its continued rise as a manufacturing base.

Leaders of such enterprises also expressed a desire to become an outsourcing destination for India and an exporter of raw materials to India for manufacturing.

The UPS Asia Business Monitor, a survey designed to gauge the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises in Asia, also found that, of 1,200 decision-makers interviewed across 12 different markets in the region 85% said India had the potential to be a regional economic leader and 81% said the country’s economy was certain to grow this year.

The express industry in India, which ranks among the fastest growing sectors in the Indian economy, has been growing at an annual rate of 33% over the past decade.

At its present estimated size, the industry is almost as large as the shipping and paper industries in the country. However, it is highly fragmented, with more than 2,500 express operators, although about 20 of them make up more than 50% of the industry’s revenues.

According to another study the organised portion of the industry comprises 65% of the total market.

The semi-organised and unorganised segments, which consist largely of regional and intra-city service providers and the government-run EMS Speedpost, between them account for the rest.

Among domestic operators, Blue Dart, DTDC, First Flight and Overnite Express are leading express service companies while FedEx, UPS, DHL and TNT are the top international operators.

‘Document parcels that weigh less than 300 gm account for about 70% of the total volume of document parcels and intra-city deliveries account for nearly 37% of their turnover,’ the CARE report says.

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Kuwait: The Ministry of Communications planning to privatise ‘transport, postal’ sectors; ‘Autonomous authority on the cards’

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

The Ministry of Communications (MoC) is planning to privatize the postal and transportation sectors in order to offer better services to citizens and to bring these services at par with those in the developed countries, reports Al-Qabas daily. Undersecretary at the ministry Abdul-Aziz Al-Osaimi said the ministry is trying to be in tune with the changing times and plans to adopt all the latest technological advancements that have taken place in these sectors.

Speaking about the transportation sector, Al-Osaimi said, “there are plans to create an autonomous transport authority and it will be responsible for organizing all transport facilities both on land and in sea.” Referring to the postal services, he said, “we need to keep ourselves abreast with the developments in this field and follow the example of some countries, which are now fully depending on postal services for transferring money and for postal orders.”

The Undersecretary also spoke about the optic fiber project, which is being implemented in South Surra. “This project will take time but over a period of time, I can assure that we will have optic fiber network throughout Kuwait and everyone will enjoy high quality services.”

Stating that the ministry is also open to suggestions and complaints of all kinds, he mentioned that it sets a date for customers to register their complaints through a special committee. The ministry has also put suggestion boxes in its premises. Hoping that the new Minister of Communications Sharida Al-Meosherji will perform his duty well and complete all transactions on time, Al-Osami added, “changing of ministers does not affect the performance of the ministry.”

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DHL relocates regional operations in Singapore

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

DHL announced the relocation of the regional operations of its two logistics business units – DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Exel Supply Chain – to a single headquarters in Singapore to further enhance its internal efficiencies and strengthen its market leading position.

In Singapore, the Logistics Division regional headquarters has over 400 employees, entrusted with the responsibility to manage, monitor and expand DHL Logistics’ operations in the Asia-Pacific region spanning 25 countries. A major responsibility of the regional headquarters is to ensure that all 25 countries connect seamlessly within the network and its regional counterparts to increase transparency, flexibility and service efficiency for customers. The DHL Logistics Division in Singapore has a combined staff strength of 2,200 employees and over 20 dedicated facilities, including a Healthcare and Life Sciences Hub, which specializes in handling and supporting clinical trials, cold-chain management, hospital logistics, temperature-controlled and dangerous goods storage.

Over the past few years, DHL’s investments in Asia Pacific have totaled over USD 1.7 billion with a focus on the development of dedicated infrastructure, enhancements of existing hubs and gateways, technology, and the continuous expansion of DHL’s dedicated Air Network.

Singapore is also the Asia Pacific headquarters for DHL Express; employing over 1,500 people.

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Hi-Tech Logistics Conference

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

Hi-Tech Logistics Conference

Monday 14th May 2007 – Wednesday 16th May 2007
Radisson SAS Park Lane Hotel, Antwerp, Belgium

Outlook on the costs of globalisation, logistics infrastructure challenges and opportunities within emerging countries
Impact of consumer driven supply chains and what can be done to stay competitive
Implementing strategies to manage the risk in longer supply chains
Achieving, maintaining and strengthening collaborative relationships and trading partnerships to achieve speed-to-market results
Examining the impact of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and other key environmental considerations
Effective reverse logistics management case studies
Reducing excess inventory and inefficiencies through leaner and improved chain visibility strategies
Security – protecting high value items
PLUS – Separately bookable Pre-Conference Workshop
MANAGING REVERSE LOGISTICS – GETTING YOUR RETURN STRATEGIES RIGHT

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MoC planning to privatise ‘transport, postal’ sectors

Posted by | Apr 15, 2007 | |

The Ministry of Communications (MoC) is planning to privatize the postal and transportation sectors in order to offer better services to citizens and to bring these services at par with those in the developed countries, reports Al-Qabas daily. Undersecretary at the ministry Abdul-Aziz Al-Osaimi said the ministry is trying to be in tune with the changing times and plans to adopt all the latest technological advancements that have taken place in these sectors.

Speaking about the transportation sector, Al-Osaimi said, “there are plans to create an autonomous transport authority and it will be responsible for organizing all transport facilities both on land and at sea.” Referring to the postal services, he said, “we need to keep ourselves abreast of the developments in this field and follow the example of some countries, which are now fully dependent on postal services for transferring money and for postal orders.”

The Undersecretary also spoke about the optic fiber project, which is being implemented in South Surra. “This project will take time but over a period of time, I can assure that we will have an optic fiber network throughout Kuwait and everyone will enjoy high quality services.”

Stating that the ministry is also open to suggestions and complaints of all kinds, he mentioned that it sets a date for customers to register their complaints through a special committee. The ministry has also put suggestion boxes on its premises. Hoping that the new Minister of Communications Sharida Al-Meosherji will perform his duty well and complete all transactions on time, Al-Osami added, “changing of ministers does not affect the performance of the ministry.”

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Parceline introduces delivery date choice by SMS

Posted by | Apr 15, 2007 | |

Delivery company Parceline has introduced an interactive SMS messaging service which offers home shopping customers a choice of delivery dates for their parcels.

Problems with home deliveries could become a thing of the past, says Parceline about its innovative solution which enables the company to arrange delivery direct with the receiver of the parcel.

When talking to delivery companies in the past about such solutions, I have been told that the technology is available but it’s down to the retailers to decide whether they want to offer it. This step by Parceline shows how delivery companies can increase efficiencies (by reducing failed deliveries) and still improve service for internet retailers.

Parceline says that what makes this solution really different is that the receiver can reply and choose delivery on a day more convenient for them. Parceline is the only carrier to offer this interactivity, and is obtaining a patent for this service.

The receiver will get a text from Parceline giving the date the parcel will be delivered. If this is not convenient for him, they can choose delivery from three alternative dates. This is all done by text, although there is an option to receive notification by email, if preferred.

Is this the solution that the retail industry has been calling out for? According to the IMRG, 12% of home deliveries fail at the first attempt.

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Postal union of Israel Post ends strike, but resumes work sanctions

Posted by | Apr 15, 2007 | |

The union of Israel Postal Company employees decided Sunday night to resume sanctions they applied last week instead of the full strike that shut down postal services on Sunday.

The 7,000 workers are protesting the government’s failure to lower bulk-mail rates so that the company can compete with private entrepreneurs in distributing hundreds of thousands of letters at a time. The workers claim that by not allowing the new state company to be competitive when it loses its monopoly in delivering bulk mail, many of them will be fired.

Diplomatic mail will not be distributed; mobile post offices will not operate; regular post office branches will close early (3:30 p.m. at large branches and 1:30 p.m. at smaller ones); and postal banks will not accept payments into government accounts.

However, postal agencies, which are owned by contractors rather than postal employees, continue to function normally in areas where they exist.
The National Insurance Institute said that NII allocations could be collected at these agencies Although the sending of letters by individuals is falling into disuse due to e-mail and faxes, the use of postal branches continues.

The Internet has significantly increased the ordering of products mailed directly to consumers. In addition, postal banks are widely used because they do not charge the fees demanded by commercial banks; thus many self-employed people go to the post offices on the 15th of the month to make their Value Added Tax payments and recipients of NII payments to get their money.

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