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Empost takes off with new Cargo and Logistics service

Posted by | Feb 26, 2007 | |

Empost, the UAE’s national courier company announced the launch of its Cargo and Logistics service offering air, land and sea freight operations through the Logistics division of Empost. This service will enable Empost to expand into a higher degree of customer services and will improve the level of proficiency.

Sultan Al Midfa, CEO, Empost said, “The new Cargo and Logistics service will provide Empost customers with regional and global transportation networks, specifically tailored to their requirements to offer reliable, prompt, secure, efficient and profitable solutions. We are aiming to offer a comprehensive global supply chain solution that will reduce costs, improve customer service, reduce inventory investments and speed up product delivery.”

The portfolio of services offered by the land, air and sea freight division includes flexible International land options from standard to expedited services; Door-to-Door and Airport-to-Airport forwarding Sea-to-Air transhipments and Air-to-Air transhipments, Customs Clearance, Ware House & distribution and Land transportation within UAE and the globe.

Online management tools for shipment tracking, and time bound and guaranteed air freight services, with flexible options for shipment and delivery ranging from 24 hours to seven days, depending on the urgency of the shipment.

Empost’s sea freight service operates in association with a variety of global ocean freight and transportation providers and is designed to combine the economies of ocean freight with the speed of air freight. The service can handle any shipment size, such as full container loads to less than container load, special equipment and oversized cargo, with the additional guarantee of personal cargo monitoring until the freight’s arrival at the desired destination.

Both air, land and sea logistics services will facilitate communication by sourcing all incoming and outgoing logistical needs through one point of contact on a 24/7 basis. The booking and tracking system will be EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) compliant and CCN (Cargo Community Network) based, enabling Suppliers and Customers to communicate directly to improve Data integrity and generate significant cost savings.

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China Southern freighter expansion to lift Baiyun airport Move will force Hong Kong to rethink air cargo policy as dominance comes under threat, say analysts

Posted by | Feb 26, 2007 | |

China Southern Airlines, the biggest mainland airline by fleet size, plans to grow its freighter fleet to 14 aircraft from two by 2011.

Analysts say the move will mean more freight connections and volume for Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport, forcing Hong Kong to rethink its air cargo policy.

Like its mainland rivals, China Southern has been slow to develop its freighter business because of a long-standing imbalance between exports and imports.

Load factors for inbound cargo traditionally have been much lower than for outbound, keeping profit margins thin.

China’s airlines operate only 33 freighters with 7,700 tonnes of capacity. UPS and FedEx, the two biggest dedicated cargo carriers in the United States, between them operate 1,000 freighters.

However, China’s swift economic growth, spurring demand for such prime air freight commodities as high fashion, fine wines and delicate electronic products, means that imports and exports are coming into a better balance.

Chinese airlines have begun forming cargo alliances with international carriers.

Shenzhen Airlines teamed up with Lufthansa to form Shenzhen-based Jade Cargo Airlines which operates two Boeing 747s and plans to expand the fleet to six aircraft by next January.

China Southern has a code-sharing arrangement with Air France Cargo-KLM Cargo.

By 2011, China Southern expects to take delivery of six Boeing 777s, which can stay in the air for 10 hours and six Airbus A300s which can be adapted for passenger and freight service. The first of the A300s, which are principally designed for use on regional routes, will be delivered at the end of this year.

Mr Dodwell said the Hong Kong government needed to update the import-export ordinance to facilitate more transshipment business.

And he said the efficient use of air space was being hindered by the conservative air spacing regime in Hong Kong and the refusal by the Beijing government to allow planes bound for or leaving in Hong Kong to fly through the mainland’s air space below 10,000 feet.

“I can see healthy growth of 5 per cent to 8 per cent a year in Hong Kong for the next five years,” said Matthew Ma, vice-president of Cargolux, an airline based in Luxembourg. “It is a performance-based industry; it’s not only capacity that counts.”

Mr Ma said Guangzhou could not match Hong Kong for reliability and just-in-time management. However, Hong Kong still needed to embrace the “open skies” concept and address the issue of high service charges, he said.

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FedEx Pilots "Smart" Tracking with Google Earth

Posted by | Feb 26, 2007 | |

According to ZDNet, FedEx CIO Robert Carter revealed at the Wharton Technology Conference in Philadelphia a pilot program that FedEx is experimenting with tracking valuable packages with Google Earth. The tracking involves more than just positional information – things like: package’s temperature, location, humidity levels and delivery status. The tracking device used in the pilot involves a “wireless device, about the size of a small cell phone, transmits information back to the company over public Wi-Fi networks.” For a long time now, I’ve been expecting one of the big tracking companies (UPS, FedEx, DHL) to release a network link capability to allow individuals to track their packages. But, none has yet to be released. In this case, FedEx is only experimenting with valuable packages. According to FedEx CIO Carter, using Google Earth has saved them considerable money for the tracking. But, whether this will be available anytime soon? He says: “It’s still a closed pilot, which is about all I can say.”

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USPS prepares mailers for new postal law effects

Posted by | Feb 26, 2007 | |

The diligence the U.S. Postal Service is taking to interpret the new postal law and communicate its effects to its customers became clear at the quarterly meeting of the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee.

On Dec. 20, President Bush signed into law the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the first major change at the USPS since 1971. The law benefits customers by ensuring predictable price increases tied to the Consumer Price Index and lets the agency continue its transformation efforts and cost-cutting measures.

Linda Kingsley, the new vice president of strategy and transition at USPS, announced that the agency is working closely on the bill and has published a new Web page at www.usps.com/postallaw. It will give visitors updates on any changes the agency has made to the new law.

Ms. Kingsley and the strategy and transition group will also have a lead role in identifying, planning and managing the timely implementation of the new law’s provisions. In this regard, the group will serve as the primary liaison among all functions with roles in this process, with the ultimate goal of having maximum levels of integration, cooperation and success.

Postmaster General John E. Potter announced that the Postal Regulatory Commission and the USPS will hold a conference March 13 titled “Meeting Customer Needs in a Changing Regulatory Environment.” There, they will discuss how the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act could increase the agency’s ability to meet customer needs. The event will take place at the Bolger Center in Potomac, MD.

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UPS, Airbus Revise A380 Agreement

Posted by | Feb 26, 2007 | |

UPS and Airbus signed an agreement yesterday that sets out a timetable for deciding the status of UPS’s order for the freighter version of the A380. The agreement specifies changed delivery dates for the A380F and provides for possible termination of the original purchase agreement by either party later in 2007.

Deliveries of UPS’s first 10 A380s were originally scheduled to begin in 2009 and run through 2012.

“UPS’s decision to purchase the A380 freighter was based on a lengthy evaluation of our future network needs to meet customer demands across a variety of global trade lanes,” said Bob Lekites, UPS’s vice president of Airline and International Operations. “Those needs still exist and UPS has been carefully evaluating various options since Airbus announced production delays late last year. This agreement will provide us additional time to evaluate our network requirements and make a decision once and for all as to how best to ensure service to our customers.”

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'Big Brother' clocks in at the Royal Mail

Posted by | Feb 25, 2007 | |

The Royal Mail, which earlier this month revealed an 86 per cent plunge in profits, is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds installing television screens in every delivery and sorting office in the country.

Management will use the screens to convey information and updates on the company’s performance to staff, including speeches by chief executive Adam Crozier and chairman Allan Leighton – prompting wags inside the state-controlled postal group to dub it “Allan Leighton Direct” and to compare it to George Orwell’s Big Brother.

A Royal Mail spokesman declined to comment on the cost of the new communication system, but insiders believe it will set the business back considerably. The TVs are understood to be 42-inch Fujitsu screens, which retail for around GBP2,000 each.

The Royal Mail will be able to negotiate a discount but it is still buying a considerable amount: at least one will be installed in every site, including 1,400 delivery offices, the 470 post offices the group manages directly, administration centres and other depots.

The move comes at a time when the Royal Mail is being forced to tighten its belt as it confronts a gaping pension black hole and struggles to adapt to increased competition. Earlier this month, the group confirmed that interim operating profits had come in at GBP22m, against GBP159m a year earlier. Much of the decline was blamed on costs associated with the pension deficit, which rose by GBP1bn to GBP6.6bn. But the Royal Mail has also lost a number of corporate clients, including Carphone Warehouse, BT and Centrica.

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Cost of maintaining rural mail service questioned

Posted by | Feb 24, 2007 | |

Lorelei Beal says it’s “ridiculous” that Canada Post plans to fork over more than CD500 million to maintain rural mail delivery across the country.

The Conservative government ordered the post office late last year to continue rural roadside delivery amid concerns about the safety of mail carriers on busy rural roads.

Beal, who lives on Highway 7 between Guelph and Rockwood, said postal workers haven’t expressed any safety concerns about door-to-door mail delivery for years.

She is one of the rural residents who’s still getting mail delivered to her mailbox. Not all residents have been so lucky.

Some Puslinch Township residents were irked last year when they were told they wouldn’t get their mail delivered to the end of their laneway anymore, but instead had to pick up letters at a communal super-mailbox.

Canada Post spokesperson John Caines said this week it will cost CD153 million over the next two years to implement their rural delivery plan.

However, Canada Post expects to spend more than CD500 million over five years to ensure rural residents are receiving their mail, he said.

Caines said staff have to be hired to assess 843,000 rural customers in five years, which explains the huge cost.

He said Canada Post expects within the next 18 months to examine whether service to 5,500 rural mailboxes should be restored.

Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong isn’t certain what Canada Post’s solution will entail, but said rural Canadians expect home delivery.

Canada Post has been given a monopoly on mail delivery and in return residents should expect to get their mail, Chong said.

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UPS, Airbus Revise A380 Agreement

Posted by | Feb 23, 2007 | |

UPS and Airbus signed an agreement yesterday that sets out a timetable for deciding the status of UPS’s order for the freighter version of the A380. The agreement specifies changed delivery dates for the A380F and provides for possible termination of the original purchase agreement by either party later in 2007.
Deliveries of UPS’s first 10 A380s were originally scheduled to begin in 2009 and run through 2012.
“UPS’s decision to purchase the A380 freighter was based on a lengthy evaluation of our future network needs to meet customer demands across a variety of global trade lanes,” said Bob Lekites, UPS’s vice president of Airline and International Operations. “Those needs still exist and UPS has been carefully evaluating various options since Airbus announced production delays late last year. This agreement will provide us additional time to evaluate our network requirements and make a decision once and for all as to how best to ensure service to our customers.”

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