Tag: Asia

What's good for the post office

Posted by | Nov 15, 2006 | |

There is both a similarity and a critical difference between what China and India are contemplating. The similarity is that officialdom in both the countries wants to reserve postal mail below a certain weight for the state-owned service, amidst strong protest from private operators in the field. The private courier services in India and China have pointed to the most important consequence that such a monopoly for the incumbent is likely to have_kill a large number of low-skill jobs with the couriers, which governments can hardly afford to allow.

In the case of India, the website where the draft Bill to sanction this monopoly is posted for public discussion says in support of its move that such monopolies exist in other countries. But what it does not say and which is relevant is that in one part the world, for example the European Union, where such a practice still exists, it is set for sunset under the European Commission’s ongoing reform programmes. India should surely conform to the future, not the past.

China and India are both examining the future of their post offices in the wake of some of the leading earlier fully state-owned European postal services successfully transforming themselves. It is important for India to get things right but as of now there are no signs that it will be able to do so.

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FedEx calls for greater flying rights

Posted by | Nov 15, 2006 | |

Express cargo carrier Federal Express has called on the Hong Kong government to provide more fifth-freedom rights to US air cargo operators to run freighter services between Hong Kong and other northeast Asian cities.

“The Hong Kong government has opened up more of the skies in the past few years, but it needs to speed up more bilateral talks with foreign countries in the future,” said Clifton Chua, FedEx Express, managing director for Hong Kong, Macau and Philippines. FedEx Express is a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.

In October 2002, Hong Kong and the United States agreed to expand passenger and air cargo services under a pact which set the stage for a large increase, in three phases, in US airline rights to provide all-cargo services between Hong Kong and third countries, also called fifth-freedom rights. Opportunities have opened up for US carriers under the pact, but some restrictions on frequencies and routes still remain.

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DHL opens B825m facility

Posted by | Nov 14, 2006 | |

DHL, a leading international express and logistics company, has invested 825 million baht to develop its regional logistics hub at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

It was five times larger than DHL’s former facility at Don Muang International Airport, he added.

Maximum handling capacity had also increased 30% to more than 23,000 shipments per hour (15,000 documents and 8,000 parcels) or six million shipments per year, noted Mr Price.

He expected 65% of shipments at the new facility to be delivered within Asia-Pacific and 20% to be transported between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The rest would move between the United States and Asia.

Indochinese countries have seen healthy economic growth in the last decade. For example, trade value between Thailand and other countries in Indochina had increased 40% to 190.30 billion baht in 2005 from around 135.93 billion baht in 2004, said Mr Price.

He said DHL expected to enjoy a two-digit growth rate in Thailand again this year as the political situation and the stronger baht had not affected its businesses.

DHL would continue to invest in infrastructure improvement in Thailand in order to retain its market share of 50% in the local market, said Mr Price.

The market value of the logistics industry in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow to 47.58 trillion baht in 2020 from 25.62 trillion baht at present.

Asia would continue to lead the global air-freight industry with an average annual growth rate of 10.8% and air-express volume would double in comparison to other kinds of air transport in 2020, said Mr Price.

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DHL abandons Blue Dart buyback plan as stock soars

Posted by | Nov 14, 2006 | |

DHL Express Singapore, which bought out domestic courier company Blue Dart in ’04, has backed out from its decision to buy back the balance 19% of Blue Dart’s equity held by minority shareholders. The buy back would have resulted in delisting of Blue Dart Express from the BSE. DHL has decided to scrap the process, because the price of Rs 950 per share arrived through the reverse book-building, was much higher than the company’s offer price of up to Rs 550 a share.

In Blue Dart’s case, it is believed that institutional investors, who hold a significant chunk of the outstanding 19% equity, were unwilling to tender the shares at Rs 550, as they expect the organised logistics business to grow rapidly over the next 4-5 years.

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India: Postal dept gets capitalist mail

Posted by | Nov 13, 2006 | |

It was one department which withstood privatisation in the public sector for years. But now, the Government is planning to experiment with the franchisee system in the postal services.

About 100 licenses are being given out to private players willing to run post offices in the country.

“The Bill to amend the Postal Act will come in the winter session,” says Minister of State, Communications, Dr Shakeel Ahmed.

The franchisees will provide all the counter services including speed posts and money orders. They will also be allowed to execute a number of banking services done across the counter in post offices like cheque collection, delivery (for the moment) and transmission facilities will be carried out only by the postal department.

So while the Government wants to review this scheme after six months, trade unions say this could mark the entry of private players in the oldest service provider in the country.

“It certainly is moving towards privatisation,” says Secretary General, National Federation of Postal Employees, C C Pillai.

However, despite these objections the Government has asked its 19 postal circles to identify suitable locations. Initially big cities and towns are being considered and the scheme could start from the early next year.

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