Year: 2008

UPS places largest order ever for Hybrid Electric trucks (U.S)

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

UPS “Green Fleet” to Expand with 200 Hybrid Electrics in Addition to 300 Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles

UPS announced it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) – the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company – in addition to another 300 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet.

The purchase of the 500 additional vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet – already the largest such private fleet in the United States – will grow 30 percent from 1,718 to 2,218 low-carbon vehicles.

UPS’s “green fleet” operates in the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom and has traveled nearly 144 million miles since 2000. The fleet includes electric, hybrid electric, CNG, liquefied natural gas and propane-powered vehicles. The company also is continuing work with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.

The 200 hybrid electric vehicles will be deployed in 2009 and join 50 HEV delivery trucks already in operation. The 200 trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 1,786 metric tons each year. That is the equivalent of removing almost 100 conventional UPS trucks from the road for a year.

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Itella to team up with IVANAhelsinki: Personal IVANAhelsinki patterns for Post Products

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

Itella Corporation and IVANAhelsinki have concluded a licence agreement giving Itella exclusive rights to use IVANAhelsinki designs in selected Post products and services, such as postcards and packaging materials and supplies. This agreement will enable Itella to develop a novel product family, based on the material licensed by IVANAhelsinki, while IVANAhelsinki will have the opportunity to sell its products through the post office network, at first in the Helsinki General Post Office. Itella made a similar licence agreement with Marimekko in 2007.
Consumers represent an important customer segment to whose changing needs Itella is seeking to respond. Itella is dedicated to providing its customers with opportunities to send greetings and other messages using both conventional and new methods. The product range based on IVANAhelsinki designs has the aim of encouraging Finns to send personal greetings to their nearest and dearest by post.
The personal and inspiring IVANAhelsinki patterns will be used, for instance, in the Post’s packaging materials and supplies as well as electronic consumer products, such as ePostcards and Mobile Postcards. The first prints included in the agreement will make their entry into the Post’s product range in early 2009.

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DHL trials new eco vehicles (UK)

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

DHL Exel Supply Chain is offering retailers within its UK Fast Fashion Network the opportunity to trial its latest electric vehicle, a specially fitted nine tonne Smith Newton truck.

The vehicle runs on four batteries, which are recharged while in use through braking, with each providing up to 100 miles. It has a top speed of 50mph and is designed for city centre operations where roads are busy and there is a lot of stopping and starting involved.

The new truck had its first three-month trial with Burberry Retail UK, delivering to its central London, West End and Heathrow stores and there are plans for further trial to take place with Ben Sherman and Selfridges towards the end of the month.

Although more expensive to run, the low emission truck is exempt from the London Congestion Charge, London parking costs and the road fund licence.

The move comes as DHL aims to improve the carbon efficiency of its operations by 30 per cent by 2020 and follows the introduction of its first fully electric vehicle last year.

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DHL Express France launches new domestic delivery service

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

DHL France has launched a new domestic delivery service “D12” for parcels and pallets to be delivered within France before 12 a.m. either within 24 or 48 hours to respond to customer needs for increasingly precise delivery times.

With “D12”, the shippers can rely on exact delivery times for delivery to French cities with more than 5000 inhabitants. The service guarantees delivery of parcels and pallets up to 1000 kg within 1 or 2 days according to the scheduled delivery times of DHL Express.

To use “D12”, DHL customers only need to paste a label on the urgent shipment to signal its priority. There is no need for any advance notice, and items will be picked up together with other national or European shipments and charged for in a standard way without a special invoice. With this label, the shipments have the priority at all stages including loading, transit and delivery. The “D12” shipments can be traced online including signed delivery confirmations and delivery times.

Patrick Aguirregaviria, managing director of DHL Express France’s parcel business, said: “The legal restrictions concerning the speed limits for vehicles in France have re-drawn the borders between courier and domestic express. The express operators have had to review their transport plan and have added surcharges to their service price. Parcel delivery is becoming an alternative but with a new demand for ensuring guaranteed delivery times which D12 responds to.”

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DHL plans new parcel products in Germany

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

DHL is responding to customer wishes in Germany by testing new parcel services and plans to simplify its portfolio by re-branding products from next January, a senior manager said.

One innovative new service was parcel deliveries in the evening, Uwe Brinks, managing director DHL Parcel Germany, told last week’s KEP Kongress in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne. The parcels company, with revenue of EUR 2.6 billion in 2007, is the German parcel market leader.

Research among 1,500 existing and potential B2B and B2C customers had shown that top priorities included high reliability, low damage, understandable products and good customer service based on “convenience”, Brinks said.

At the same time, competition was intensifying as more parcels operators broadened their portfolios towards a “universal” range of B2B, B2C and C2X products, he pointed out. All parcel operators were also affected by rising costs, he added.

In response to the changing environment, DHL Parcel Germany had adopted the slogan of “ Simple, Always, Everywhere”. In January 2009, it would simplify its complex product branding to “ DHL Paket” for deliveries within Germany, with various add-on options, and to “DHL Europaket/Weltpaket” for international parcels, Brinks said.

Availability was being enhanced with services such as 24/7 self-service parcel drop-off and collection points (Packstations, Paketbox), and parcel tracking by mobile phone.

The KEP Kongress, the 14th annual conference event for the postal, parcels and express sector, was organized by Hamburg-based Deutscher Verkehrs-Verlag.

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DHL Express Singapore renames product portfolio

Posted by | May 13, 2008 | |

DHL has completed an across-the-board portfolio renaming of its products in Singapore, part of the company’s global alignment of product portfolio, which began in January 2008 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The move has enabled DHL Express Singapore to harmonise a variety of product names to a single set of standard and self-explanatory product names that reflect the time-specific nature of shipments to their destinations.

Customers can now choose product services that offer flexibility and reliability based on speed (choice of time-definite delivery), destinations (from major business centres to remote areas worldwide) and weight (from lightweight envelopes to heavyweight pallets).

– StartDay Express has been renamed DHL EXPRESS 9:00
– MidDay Express has been renamed DHL EXPRESS 12:00
– Worldwide Document Express and Worldwide Parcel Express are now DHL EXPRESS WORLDWIDE
– Import Express is now DHL IMPORT EXPRESS WORLDWIDE
– Economy Select and Value Heavy Weight are now DHL ECONOMY SELECT

The names of DHL JUMBO BOX, DHL JUMBO JUNIOR, DHL EXPRESS PALLET, DHL AIRCROSS, DHL AIRPORT TO DOOR EXPRESS and DHL BREAKBULK EXPRESS remain unchanged.

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Royal Mail to carry on fight for zonal pricing (UK)

Posted by | May 12, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is seeking a judicial review of Postcomm’s decision to reject plans for the introduction of a retail zonal pricing scheme.

As competition increases in the commercial postal market, Royal Mail proposed zonal pricing to reflect its obligation to deliver anywhere in the UK.

Royal Mail’s ‘zonal pricing’ refers to a system where senders of postal items would be charged variable rates depending on the geographic location of the recipients.

Direct mail and magazine printers have been eagerly watching developments as they could impact on the cost of campaigns

In most cases, the zonal pricing structure will make rates higher for deliveries to rural areas and lower for deliveries to urban areas and business districts.

The changes would affect the pricing structures of bulk mailers using Royal Mail’s Mailsort (120, 700 and 1400), Presstream and Walksort services, while not affecting the pricing for regular stamped mail.

Neither Postcomm nor Royal Mail would comment further, but the regulator said it had not ruled out any future moves towards zonal pricing and was open to alternatives that overcame the problems in the recent application.

Royal Mail already applies a zonal pricing structure to some of its independent agreements, under which it delivers mail the final mile for large customers and other postal operators.

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