Year: 2007

Research and Markets: The UK Road Haulage Market

Posted by | Jan 29, 2007 | |

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Road Haulage Market Report 2006 to their offering.

The road haulage industry is a vital part of the UK’s freight-transportation system, although it is a mature market and one that has little real growth potential. This is demonstrated by the fact that, in 2005, the volume of goods lifted by road by GB-registered goods vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes in Great Britain increased by 0.1% to 1.75 billion tonnes, while the volume of goods moved by road increased by 0.3%, to 152.7 billion tonne kilometres.
The market consists of three main sectors: own-account distribution, contract distribution and shared-user distribution. Contract distribution and shared-user distribution are collectively known as public haulage or ‘hire and reward’ haulage. Contract distribution companies are often involved in the broader market for logistics or supply-chain management.
Advances in vehicle technology, such as improvements to fuel efficiency and the better reliability of new trucks, have contributed significantly to the developments made in the operational efficiency of the haulage companies. Also important has been the trend by the operators to develop strategies to improve the efficiency of their assets by, for example, improving vehicle utilisation through better planning of journeys.
Leading companies within the road haulage industry are under pressure from their customers to establish and develop global logistics networks. This demand has led to a spate of acquisitions and mergers among the leading companies, such as the acquisition of Exel PLC, the UK’s leading freight-distribution company, by Germany-based Deutsche Post, and the merger between haulier ACR Logistics and Kuehne + Nagel, another Germany-based logistics operator.

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Network Delivery and Now Courier merge operations

Posted by | Jan 28, 2007 | |

Network Delivery and Now Courier, both headquartered in Providence, merged on January 23, 2007 to form one of the largest employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) courier companies in the country, NOW Delivery – www.nowdelivery.com.

With a dedicated staff of drivers and a management support team with over 200 years of transportation and logistics experience, NOW Delivery will be able to provide an unparalleled level of service in the New England area.

“Our goal is to merge together to form a rock-solid base which can serve as both the foundation and springboard for our future expansion plans,” says Stephen Wright, COO of the newly-merged corporation. “This is an exciting time in the history of both companies. We are looking to expand within the New England marketplace, and beyond.”

Don Smith, president of Force One Trucking, Valley Stream, NY, and former president of Airborne Express subsidiary, Sky Courier, Sterling, VA, will act as the newly-named CEO, and Christopher Halkyard will fill the role of Chief Administrative Officer. No layoffs are planned.
About Network Delivery – Now Courier NOW Delivery, headquartered in Providence, R.I., provides time critical transportation and logistics services throughout New England. Robert Halkyard of Now Courier and Stephen Wright of Network Delivery will serve as directors of the newly-merged company.

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30,000 Royal Mail jobs under threat

Posted by | Jan 28, 2007 | |

More than 30,000 postal employees face redundancy over the next 18 months as the Government and Royal Mail finalise details of a ‘phantom’ share scheme, which will give every worker a stake worth up to Pounds 5,000.

The windfalls are expected to make the latest round of redundancies more palatable for the 200,000 workforce. All of the cuts will be voluntary. A similar scale of losses was introduced two years ago.

Redundancies are inevitable because part of the restructuring of Royal Mail will be Pounds 1 billion in cash from the Government, which will be used to install sophisticated sorting machines. The restructuring will also allow Royal Mail to reduce the size of its Pounds 5 billion pension deficit.

Modernisation will mean fewer workers are needed. The job cuts are expected to start in six months to a year after the new machines have been installed and are running efficiently.

Details of the share scheme will be unveiled in the next two weeks and it will resemble the one operated by Unipart. But unlike workers at the Oxford logistics company, who have to buy their shares, Royal Mail staff will initially be given theirs free.

The postal workers, who will own 20 per cent of the business, will be allowed to trade shares twice a year at a price to be set by an independent body.

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Improvement in Nepal postal service stressed

Posted by | Jan 28, 2007 | |

All staffers affiliated with post office has stressed the need of timely improvement in postal service by increasing efficiency of the service.

They stressed this view at a one-day interaction programme organized by the Disrict Postal Office with an aim of improving postal services in the days to come.

Speakers, on the occasion, also stressed the need to modernize postal services while developing its efficiency as per the demand of the time.

Senior officer of the Department of Postal Office, Gopal Katuwal stressed the need for strengthening postal service on massive scale by developing its efficiency while providing autonomy to the department.

Various speakers also spoke at the programme organized by Postal Officer of the district postal office in Bhaktapur, Ram Bahadur Khadka.

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Algerian Minister visits the UPU

Posted by | Jan 26, 2007 | |

Boudjemaâ HAÏCHOUR, Algerian Minister of Posts, Information Technology and Communications, Edouard DAYAN, Director General of the UPU and Kamel HOUHOU, Algerian Ambassador to Switzerland, meet at the UPU’s headquarters.

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Italy TNT Post generates 147 mln euro sales 2006

Posted by | Jan 26, 2007 | |

Italian private mail operator TNT Post, a subsidiary of Dutch mail and express deliveries group TNT NV, generated sales for 147 mln euro (USD189.9 mln) in 2006, up by 10.5 pct year-on-year.

TNT Post will target its sales to rise by over 20 pct year-on-year in 2007. The company renewed its cooperation agreement with Italian state-owned postal services company Poste Italiane.

TNT Post plans to focus its activity on direct marketing postal services and business postal services. The company plans to make new acquisitions in 2007.

[Editor’s note: TNT Post has acquired mail operator TWM Italia, specialised in distributing door-to-door or unaddressed advertising material, ANSA reported on May 17, 2006. Even before TWM Italia’s acquisition, TNT Post was one of the leading door-to-door distribution companies in Italy. The acquisition will allow TNT Post to double its share of the Italian market for door-to-door distribution which had an estimated value of some 250 mln euro (USD323 mln) for 2005.]

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Correos launches personalised 30 cent stamps for one euro

Posted by | Jan 26, 2007 | |

Spain’s online post office – www.correos.es – has just launched a new service which so far has received a great response: more than 600 orders in the first 20 days, mainly from small businesses. The new product, known as “Tu sello” (Your Stamp), allows both companies and private individuals to obtain their own personalised stamps, with images they provide themselves.

Nevertheless, not all photographs are valid. As the website explains they must not “show people, or violate morality, good habits or public order”; the photographs must respect “fundamental rights and public liberties, and not extol crime or discriminate by sex, race or religion”. Neither is illegal advertising allowed or images that breach copyright regulations.

The post office has established a minimum order of 200 stamps and a maximum of 3,000, and each stamp costs one euro. This includes the costs of postage.

The ordering process can be done entirely by internet. The first thing customers have to do is register on the Correos website; then go into the “Tu sello” section, upload the photograph to be used (in .jpg format and no bigger than 500 Kb) and select the field to declare that the user has the rights to the image. Then the user will be able to preview the stamp, edit the image and add a title or date. Finally payment can be made using a credit card, ePagado or PayPal. Then Correos will verify that the image complies with regulations.

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