Author: Archive

Spain's Tourline increases volumes by 25%

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Tourline Express, the Spanish carrier fully owned by Portugal’s public postal operator CTT Correios, said it had increased shipment volume in 2006 by 24.8% to nearly 8.2 million, from 6.5 million in 2005.

The company says it has increased turnover by 30% a year over the past three years, which would situate revenues at around EUR 130 million for 2006 compared to EUR 105 million in 2005.

Tourline is also moving its Catalonian distribution hub to a new 1,500 sqm facility on Barcelona’s Zona Franca estate, double the size of the previous installation. Tourline opened 32 new branches across Spain last year.

“The move to the new platform signifies a notable increase in the number of shipments per day we manage in Catalonia and will also improve the security of our activities,” said Josep María Montserrat, managing director of Tourline.

The carrier is investing EUR 300,000 in video surveillance systems at all its distribution centres in a project which should be finished by the end of this year.

Tourline, founded in 1998, has over 300 branches and 10 hubs in Spain, employing just under 2,000 staff and with a fleet of 1,600 vehicles

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Belgian Post Selects U.S. Cisco Systems VoIP Solution

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Belgian postal services company De Post/La Poste has chosen a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution of U.S. IT solutions provider Cisco Systems for its new sorting centres in Antwerp, Charleroi, Ghent and Liege.

Under the agreement, the sorting centres as well as other six large administrative units of De Post/La Poste will be able to use telephony services via Cisco’s solution by the end of 2007. The sorting centres, employing nearly 4,000, will be connected to a computer system that will be leased from B-Telecom, part of the ICT division of Belgian railways operator SNCB/NMBS.

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U.S stamp prices to rise in May

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Americans will pay 2 cents more to mail a first-class letter beginning May 14, but they will be able to buy a new type of stamp that could shield them from future price increases.

U.S. Postal Service governors approved a plan Monday to increase some rates, including raising the price of a first-class stamp to 41 cents. It also authorized the creation of a “forever stamp,” which can be used indefinitely regardless of rate changes.

The forever stamp will be sold for 41 cents starting in mid-April. After that, it will be sold at the prevailing first-class rate.

“The idea of the forever stamp is to make for a smoother transition between price changes,” and spare customers the annoyance of buying small-value stamps to make up the difference when rates go up, says Michael Plunkett, the Postal Service’s acting vice president for pricing.

The forever stamp is intended for consumers and small businesses, he says. It will be sold in books and sheets, not the high-quantity rolls often used by large businesses.

Quantities won’t be limited, however, even when future rate increases are announced, says Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders. “People can buy as many as they want,” Plunkett says.

About 4 billion of the stamps have been printed, Saunders says. “We have the flexibility in our printing process to respond to demand,” he says.

The stamp, which will be available initially in one design, will be unveiled next week.

Other changes approved by the governors include:

*Increasing the price to mail a postcard from 24 to 26 cents,

*Reducing the rate for additional ounces of first-class mail from 24 cents to 17 cents

*Basing first-class rates on package shape. For instance, boxes and large envelopes will cost more to send than letter-size envelopes of the same weight.

Rates were last raised in January 2006.

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Pitney Bowes highlights mailstream technology at National Postal Forum

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc. is showcasing a broad range of mailstream technology, services and expertise to participants in National Postal Forum being held at the Washington Convention Center March 25-28.

The postal industry’s largest show comes at a time of unprecedented change for major mailers. The landmark postal reform bill signed into law in December promises new opportunities for mailstream users, and a pending price increase from the United States Postal Service (USPS) drives the need for fresh approaches to creating, producing and distributing mail, documents and packages.

Anticipating some of the significant changes coming this year in postal rates and rules, Pitney Bowes is demonstrating how the FPS™ Flexible Productivity Series inserter can help production mailers convert flat mailpieces to folded mailpieces. This can help customers take advantage of expected rates that create incentives to send letter-sized envelopes that are easier and less expensive for the U.S. Postal Service to process.

Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software will showcase the Address Quality Hub, a new address cleansing software platform that improves mail deliverability and maximizes postal discounts.

The Pitney Bowes display will also feature the industry’s fastest cutter, the servo-powered HPI-72C, which processes 72,000 documents per hour. The input works with a heavy-duty folder to deliver outstanding performance when processing high-page-count applications on Pitney Bowes high-speed inserters.

Additional solutions on display will include the DM Infinity™ Digital Mailing Station, a new stand-alone metering alternative that prints postage on sealed, single-weight envelopes, including postcards, with speed and precision up to 22,000 pieces per hour.

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Fast, reliable services spur worldwide demand

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Global courier firm DHL Express (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd said one of its
customers, a multinational information technology (IT) firm, has seen its
freight shipped via express services grow at double-digit rates since
2003.
“This particular client now uses express delivery for 80 per cent of
its total shipments,” it told Business Times.
The firm currently operates a regional hub in Penang, dealing with
spare parts procurement and fulfilment as well as repair and return
services for the Asia-Pacific region.
“Because of the high value and importance of their shipments, their
spare parts and repair and return items are on a tight Service Level
Agreement.
“This means that we and the client have an agreement which guarantees
certain delivery requirements.
Shipments must be delivered within an
agreed time-line, failing which we are responsible for any delay,” DHL
Express said.
The firm’s shipments comprise IT goods, electronics, machines and
parts. Eighty per cent are destined for overseas markets and the
remaining 20 per cent for local delivery.
Like this firm, more and more companies globally are turning to express
services for their delivery needs as express operators are able to
provide guaranteed, fast, reliable, on demand, worldwide, integrated,
door-to-door movement of shipments which are tracked and controlled
throughout the journey.
Express services are the “Business Class” of cargo services, says
Oxford Economic Forecasting in a report released in 2005.
“The express industry is one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors –
since 1998, its growth has been more than twice that of the global
economy as a whole. It is expanding particularly rapidly in the
transition and emerging market economies,” the report said.
The report estimates that the industry globally will grow by an average
of 8 per cent per year in real terms between 2003 and 2013. Direct
employment in the express industry is also expected to increase from 1.25
million now to 2.1 million by 2013, if it is unconstrained.
The industry is expected to support almost 4.5 million jobs by 2013,
said the report.

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DHL Express (Malaysia) aims to increase its market share

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

DHL Express (Malaysia) aims to increase its market share by another one to two per cent by end of this year.

It currently leads the local express delivery market with more than 40 per cent market share.

Its plans for the year include doubling the number of DHL Servicepoints to six by end-2007, from the present three Servicepoints in Bangsar, SS2 and Menara Axis.

The three new Servicepoints will be set up in Penang, Johor Baru and the Klang Valley. With these Servicepoints, customers can easily pick up or drop off packages.

The service centre has a built-up cost of RM21 million and features, among others, a fully automated material handling system.

With the new service centre, DHL can sort 5,000 packages a day compared with 3,000 packages a day previously and “still have lots of room to expand”, Sam Leong (Country Manager) said.

DHL Express Malaysia is also looking to introduce more routes for its customers.

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Express growth in Malaysia

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Although it makes up only a small portion of cargo traffic, the express delivery service is generating substantial worldwide employment and revenue.

This industry is expected to grow faster than its counterparts in other cargo sectors – air and ocean – between now and 2010.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has estimated that the global air cargo will grow at an average of 5.3 per cent for the 2006-2010 period, while ocean freight is expected to increase by 7.2 percent.

But Teong said the local express delivery industry will grow at an average of 10 per cent per year, and is expected to continue to expand rapidly as the country becomes more developed.

Local courier firm City-Link Express (M) Sdn Bhd, for one, expects its 2007 revenue to grow by 10 per cent, while GD Express Carrier Bhd (GDEX) sees its revenue growing in the range of 20-30 per cent.

Revenue growth of global express firms such as DHL Express, meanwhile, is expected to outpace the industry average. Its Malaysian operation has been registering a growth of 15-20 per cent in revenue in the last few years.

Recognising the lucrativeness and potential of this industry, Malaysia Airlines’ air freight unit, Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd, is working on introducing an express delivery product this year.

There are currently 114 licensed express delivery players in Malaysia. The market is led by the four major foreign players – FedEx, UPS, DHL Worldwide Express and TNT, which combined capture a 60 per cent share of Malaysia’s RM1 billion express delivery business, with the rest coming from local courier players. “The top 10 players already have a 95 per cent control of the market. The other smaller players only offer despatch services,” Teong pointed out.

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Deutsche Post wants Europe to open markets

Posted by | Mar 20, 2007 | |

Deutsche Post’s monopoly on letter delivery will end next year. Even as the company struggles to remain profitable, most other European Union countries are reluctant to liberalize their mail markets.

Deutsche Post stocks fell 6 percent Tuesday after the company announced its 2007 earnings will fall short of predictions.

At the same time, many other EU countries have dragged their feet on liberalizing their own mail monopolies. Deutsche Post said it’s worried this attitude will put them at a disadvantage.

A date needs to be fixed for other countries to open their markets to competition, Klaus Zumwinkel said, adding that it doesn’t bother him if Germany is one of the first to do so, but “the date must be fixed.”

The reluctance of some of the European postal operators goes against the idea at the basis of forming the European Union, Zumwinkel said. It was supposed to mean getting rid of tariffs and forming common markets.

Countries are concerned about issues like universal coverage as public postal carriers are required to deliver mail at acceptable prices to remote regions five days a week, even if it isn’t profitable to do so.

Countries also worry that opening the market will lead to the tendency to find low-paid workers to deliver mail. This is already happening to an extent in Germany, with some private companies paying wages as low as four euros per hour to deliver parcels. Deutsche Post also takes advantage of cheap labor. Since 2000, the company has shed 34,000 part and full time positions, turning to subcontractors in some cases.

The German government has said despite other countries’ reluctance to end their own letter-delivery monopolies, it will go forward with its plan to open its system to competition in 2008.

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