Year: 2005

UK Royal Mail’s monopoly to end on 1 January 2006

Posted by | Feb 18, 2005 | |

Britain’s postal service market will be fully liberalised from 1 January 2006, Postcomm announced today. The move completes the process of removing the monopoly enjoyed by Royal Mail for more than 350 years. Nigel Stapleton, chairman of Postcomm said: “After three months of consultation, a substantial majority gave the thumbs-up to competition. We can now look forward to a more innovative and efficient postal industry focused on providing customers with the services they want, rather than being told by a monopolist what services they can – and cannot – have.” The decision means that from 2006 – fifteen months earlier than originally planned – licensed companies other than Royal Mail will be able to collect, transport and deliver letters and charge customers for the service. It follows extensive consultation in which a large majority of respondents said they favoured an early introduction of full market opening.

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Growth falling, say UK Pallet networks

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

Palletised freight networks have been the star growth performers of the transport industry in recent years but sector sees signs that growth is slowing as market matures.

Pallet networks are seeing the first signs that the strong growth in the sector is starting to weaken. Demand is still growing – but not as quickly as many networks had forecast. Palletline managing director Glyn Jones has revised the firm’s growth forecast for this year from double-digit to single-digit. “Our pallet volumes aren’t down; they are just not increasing anything like they were. There has been a significant reduction in growth since the autumn last year. “The reasons are a slow down and reduction in stock turnaround – our members have full warehouses. Also, the slowdown in the housing market is having an impact, a lot of transhipments are domestic and consumer goods, and if people are not moving neither are these types of goods.

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DHL announces development of major new USD107 million East Coast distribution facility

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

DHL today announced plans to locate a new, state-of-the-art East Coast Distribution Facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania. DHL expects to invest USD107 million in the development of the new facility, which will serve as a key distribution center for DHL’s network in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Planned as the principal DHL distribution center on the East Coast of the United States, the new Allentown facility will serve all major metropolitan areas in the region, including Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C. The facility will also provide additional capacity to serve the needs of DHL’s growing customer base in the U.S. and enhance service levels for DHL customers across the country and around the world.

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Takenaka eyes postal loan business after privatization

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

The company that will take over the state-backed Japan Post’s postal savings operations in the nation’s postal reforms is expected to enter into the loan business, postal privatization minister Heizo Takenaka said Thursday. But the government failed to elaborate on how the planned privatization of Japan Post will improve its operations during separate meetings later in the day with the ruling parties, lawmakers said.

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French bank CDC could provide 1.6 bln euros for postal bank

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

The quasi-official French state bank Caisse des Depot et Consignations (CDC) could provide 1.6 billion euros of capital to help set up a bank run by the French post office, a source told AFP on Thursday. CDC, which has extensive interests in private companies and regional development, could also transfer 40 billion euros (52.32 billion dollars) of assets to La Poste, the state-owned post office, the source added, confirming a story in French business paper Les Echos. Talk of transferring the assets to La Poste “follows a decision from the public authorities to create a postal bank between now and January 1 2006”, the source said.

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India Post seeks return to monopoly on letters

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

In a move that will have serious implications for the Rs 2,500-crore courier industry, the United Progressive Alliance government has revived the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2002 that seeks to regulate private courier and express companies. If the Bill is enacted, all courier companies would be barred from carrying letters, to be defined as packets below a certain weight. The draft Bill proposes to vest the government’s postal department with the exclusive privilege of carrying all letters. The amendment is also likely to include regulatory provisions including imprisonment and penalties for courier firms, which already fall under the purview of various legislations like the Consumer Protection Act and Customs Act. When contacted, department of posts secretary R Ganeshan refused to comment. A source in the department, however, confirmed that the draft Bill was being finalised.

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Postcomm issues a long term licence to Mail Plus

Posted by | Feb 17, 2005 | |

Following consultation, Postcomm today issued a long term licence to Mail Plus Ltd to provide bulk mail and consolidation services. The licence contains a requirement for Mail Plus to maintain separate accounts for its UK licensed business to show that it is not being unfairly cross-subsidised by its parent company, La Poste.

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