Year: 2007

Austrian Post wins European football championship contract

Posted by | Jan 25, 2007 | |

Austrian Post said it has been contracted to provide postal and logistics services for the European football championships 2008 which will take place jointly in Austria and Switzerland.

The company said that it would support the UEFA EURO 2008 event with postal, parcel and logistics services in Austria. A high standard of postal delivery with a 95% next-day delivery rate would ensure communications between the championship organiser, partners and viewers, it commented.

Special “fan zones” away from the stadiums would be set up for live public viewing. Selected fan items for the European football championship would be sold through the network of 1,334 post offices and 609 partner outlets, and there would be special stamps celebrating the event.

The UEFA EURO 2008 championship will take place from June 7-29, 2008. Matches will be held in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt along with Zurich, Basel, Berne and Geneva in Switzerland.

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GLS achieves strong growth for new European express service

Posted by | Jan 25, 2007 | |

The new European express parcel service of GLS has grown strongly since its launch last October, according to the Royal Mail division, and new customers have been won for 2007.

GLS Germany subsidiary Der Kurier, which operates the express service for its parent company through its own network, said in a statement that volumes have grown tenfold in just ten weeks since the new product was launched in October 2006.

Der Kurier provides a 24-hour express service from Germany to seven continental European countries: Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Hungary. The UK was integrated into the express network with the launch of daily flights by newly-created in-house airline GLS Air from Kassel, close to the Der Kurier hub at Neuenstein in central Germany, to Coventry.

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Mail handlers union members approve five-year contract

Posted by | Jan 25, 2007 | |

Members of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) have voted to ratify a new five-year contract. The new contract will run through Nov. 20, 2011, and affect approximately 55,000 career U.S. Postal Service employees who are engaged in bulk transfer, loading and unloading of mail.

The agreement provides for the following retroactive and future general wage increases (based on salary in effect on Sept. 2, 2006):

* Effective Nov. 25, 2006 – 1.2 percent increase.
* Effective Nov. 24, 2007 – 1.2 percent increase.
* Effective Feb. 16, 2008 – 0.6 percent increase.
* Effective Nov. 22, 2008 – 1.2 percent increase.
* Effective Nov. 21, 2009 – 1.2 percent increase.
* Effective Nov. 20, 2010 – 1.2 percent increase.

Effective Nov. 25, 2006, a new step (Step P) is added to the top of the Mail Handler pay schedule, and effective Feb. 3, 2007, a new entry step (Step AA) will be added to the beginning of the Mail Handler pay schedule.

The contract also contains continuation of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) at current levels and a reduction in the Postal Service contribution rate for health insurance by one point during each year of the contract.

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Government gives green light to Royal Mail 'phantom' share sale

Posted by | Jan 25, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is to press ahead with a scheme to give “phantom shares” worth up to GBP5,000 to each of its employees after the Government formally vetoed a plan to hand 20 per cent of the organisation to its employees.

The decision, which was announced to a committee of MPs by the Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling, is a blow to the Royal Mail chairman, Allan Leighton, who had personally promoted the scheme to give equity to its 190,000 employees.

It is unclear what the initial value of the shares will be and it is not thought that Royal Mail will pay a dividend on them. Crucially, they will not carry any voting rights, nor will it be possible to sell them to anyone outside Royal Mail.

Unions welcomed the move as “great news” for postal workers, saying Mr Leighton’s original plan would have been tantamount to back-door privatisation of Royal Mail. “The Government is keeping its manifesto commitment on public ownership of Royal Mail,” Billy Hayes, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said.

However, the Liberal Democrats attacked it as a “cowardly move” which could seriously destabilise the company.

Approval for the phantom share scheme will pave the way for the Government to go ahead with a GBP2bn financial rescue of Royal Mail, which is designed to provide money for investment, fund post office closures and ease the GBP5.6bn deficit in the organisation’s pension fund.

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DHL USA announce shipping system enhancements

Posted by | Jan 25, 2007 | |

DHL announced enhancements to its DHL EasyShip family of PC-based shipping solutions. The new upgrades provide customers with a number of value-added features and enhancements, including access to more DHL services, faster installation and setup, and improved rate visibility.

“These enhancements were developed in close collaboration with our shipping customers,” said Keith Lovetro, EVP of Marketing for DHL. “Keeping a close pulse on our customers’ needs help us to continually enhance our systems to fit their specific requirements and grow with the pace of a changing business environment. Our upgrades to DHL EasyShip will improve the DHL customer experience by offering more options and making automated shipping faster and easier,” added Lovetro.

The new upgrades include:
– Improved rate visibility for shipment processing
– Simplified import/export to more easily upload large data files for mass shipping distributions
– Enhancements to increase speed and ease of EasyShip Professional installation
– Option to request DHL signature delivery service
– Addition of expedited DHL@home business-to-residential delivery service.

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TNT completes euro 1 billion share buy-back programme

Posted by | Jan 24, 2007 | |

Further to the share buy-back programme announced on 6 November 2006, TNT N.V. announces that:

on 18 January 2007, it purchased 361,000 TNT N.V. ordinary shares at an average price of euro 35.4013 per share,
on 19 January 2007, it purchased 225,000 TNT N.V. ordinary shares at an average price of euro 35.2250 per share,
on 22 January 2007, it purchased 209,000 TNT N.V. ordinary shares at an average price of euro 35.1995 per share,
on 23 January 2007, it purchased 32,809 TNT N.V. ordinary shares at an average price of euro 35.1530 per share,
during the period from 6 November 2006 until and including 23 January 2007, it purchased 30,947,707 TNT N.V. ordinary shares at an average price of euro 32.3126 per share, and

as the total amount of the share buyback until and including January 23, 2007 therefore amounts to the announced maximum of euro 1 billion, the share buy-back programme has been completed.
TNT’s issued share capital consists of 422,767,601 shares. This number includes 30,947,707 shares, repurchased as part of the buy-back programme, and one Special Share repurchased from the State, all of which TNT intends to cancel at the next shareholders’ meeting. Furthermore, it includes 2,856,091 million shares held to hedge employee share schemes. This leaves 388,963,802 million shares which are entitled to dividend per 24 January 2007.

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Leong's role in DHL expands to Brunei

Posted by | Jan 24, 2007 | |

DHL Express Malaysia country manager Sam Leong’s role has been widened to include the international express and logistics company’s operations in Brunei as a result of its regional restructuring programme to improve geographic focus upon trade lanes within Asia Pacific.

In a statement on Jan 24, DHL said under the restructuring programme, DHL Express Brunei country manager Hardy Diec has begun reporting to Leong since Jan 1.

“I am honoured to take up this expanded portfolio and look forward to overseeing our progress in Brunei.

“With the exciting activities being planned for DHL Malaysia in 2007, I hope to continue the momentum generated here and build on our reputation as the world’s leading express and logistics company in Brunei as well,” Leong said.

DHL’s restructuring consisted of two areas – the South Asia and Indochina Area and Southeast Asia.

It said the Southeast Asia area, led by DHL senior vice president Southeast Asia, Yasmin Aladad Khan, had expanded to include Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, in addition to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

DHL said the South Asia and Indochina Area had been renamed South Asia Area and covered India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

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International Post Corporation re-elects U.S. Postmaster General as Board Vice Chairman

Posted by | Jan 24, 2007 | |

U.S. Postmaster General John E. (Jack) Potter has been re-elected as vice chairman of the International Post Corporation (IPC) Board. The IPC, a cooperative association of 23 national postal operators in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, accounts for 80 percent of the world’s mail.

“Being part of the IPC is an excellent way for international postal leaders to share best practices,” said Potter. “Our cooperative efforts benefit postal customers in every country and help strengthen international trade and commerce.”

Improving postal service quality around the globe continues to be a key IPC strategy, according to Potter. “The IPC helps members accurately and consistently measure quality of service and upgrade their operations,” he said. “The U.S. Postal Service is a leader and innovator in these areas, and I look forward to continuing to share our expertise with the international community to benefit postal customers worldwide.”

Potter and IPC Board Chairman Jean-Paul Bailly, chairman of France’s La Poste Group, were re-elected to their positions in a unanimous vote during yesterday’s annual IPC Board meeting. Both were first elected in 2006.

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