Tag: Deutsche Post

Dutch 'not backtracking' on mail opening

Posted by | Jul 3, 2008 | |

Speaking to EurActiv, Dutch state secretary for economic affairs Frank Heemskerk rejected allegations that his country was “backtracking” on liberalising its postal market, saying he was committed to the fight for a level playing field across Europe.

According to him, full opening of the Dutch mail market – originally planned for 1 January 2008, but postponed due to Dutch objections to the introduction of a German minimum hourly wage for postmen – simply cannot take place until three conditions are met.

“The first condition is a formal one, which is that the Dutch Senate has not approved the postal law yet so it cannot be introduced yet,” he said.

The two other criteria include “a level playing field in Europe, in particular in the major markets such as Germany and the UK” and “fair” labour conditions.

In Germany, “the postal market may be formally open but in practice it’s not,” he said, urging the German government “not to take a protectionist approach but to open up their market to newcomers”.

Asked whether it is contradictory to oppose the introduction of a German minimum wage while, at the same time, seeking to enforce a similar practice in the Netherlands, the minister said the situation was “totally different”.

He stressed that “there are indications that newcomers are even paying below the minimum wages and that’s against the law. So, I want to have 100 pct certitude that they do not pay below minimum wage,” he explained, pleading for unions and employers to find agreement on “a gradual, step-by-step growth model” where newcomers improve the wages they pay as the market is opened and they increase their market share.

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State aid: Commission endorses EUR 1.6 million training aid for DHL in Leipzig-Halle and rejects EUR 6.1 million operating aid

Posted by | Jul 3, 2008 | |

The European Commission has endorsed EUR 1.6 million of training aid at DHL’s new site in Leipzig-Halle, Germany but rejected a further EUR 6.1 of aid which would have acted as an illegal operating aid. The Commission’s decision follows an in-depth investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules launched in June 2007. The Commission concluded that the EUR 1.6 million would genuinely lead to additional training which goes beyond legal requirements and operational needs, and therefore complied with the EU state aid rules on training aid.

However, the Commission rejected as incompatible a further EUR 6.1 million of funding that would have served to finance training activities that DHL would have carried out anyway, even without aid, and concluded that the aid would be used finance ordinary operating costs of DHL. Such operating aid would have given DHL an unfair advantage over its competitors, who don’t receive such aid, and so seriously distorted competition.

Germany notified its intention to grant subsidies of EUR 7.7 million to DHL for a training project concerning certain jobs such as ground handling of airfreight, security agents, pre-flight and ramp mechanics. Following its relocation to Leipzig-Halle, DHL, with the support of regional aid approved by the Commission in April 2004,, built a new delivery and airfreight centre, where it employs around 1500 new staff, of which 480 are concerned by the training project.

The Commission is in favour of supporting training activities, because they benefit the European economy by broadening the pool of skilled workers. However, it is necessary to ensure that such aid actually motivates companies to carry out additional training activities and is not simply used to subsidise the cost of training that the company would in any case have to undertake. This is particularly necessary in a globalised economy, where companies decide to relocate to new sites and where unjustified aid can give rise to considerable distortions of competition.

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DHL and TNT boost association of European airlines’ membership to 35

Posted by | Jul 1, 2008 | |

From 1st July 2008, the Association of European Airlines expands its horizons, following the decision of the AEA Presidents’ Assembly in May to welcome the express cargo carriers TNT and DHL, as AEA’s 34th and 35th airline members.

The accession of DHL’s European airlines (European Air Transport and DHL Air UK) and TNT Airways to AEA membership will bring still one more dimension to the Association. The express air carriers’ business model integrates different modes of transport into one system; it is based on network planning and coordination centred around one or more hub airports to which express freight is forwarded either by road or by air.

DHL traces its origins to the early 1970s in the US, but with expanding worldwide operations, Deutsche Post World Net bought the company in 2002. DHL has its main European operating hub at Leipzig in Germany, from where it operates regular direct daily services to 30 European destinations, as well as services to Africa and the

Middle East. DHL airlines operate 33 Boeing 757s and 18 Airbus A300s for the DHL Express network to every major city in Europe.

TNT Airways, founded in 1999, is a Belgian licenced air carrier based in Liège. Its parent company, TNT n.v. has its headquarters in the Netherlands. From its Liège hub, TNT operates 47 aircraft (B747s, A300s, B757s, B737s, BAe146s) to more than 70 European destinations and has traffic rights to 12 intercontinental destinations. For long haul transport, the company also has agreements with commercial passenger airlines.

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Deutsche Post to receive 1 bln euro repayment after court ruling

Posted by | Jul 1, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net will receive a repayment of around 1 billion euros after the European Court of the First Instance in Luxembourg today overturned a 2002 decision by the European Commission.
The European Commission in 2002 ordered Deutsche Post to repay 907 million euros in purported state aid and interest. Deutsche Post in 2002 appealed the decision and will now receive a repayment.
Responding to the decision, Deutsche Post said the court had confirmed the company’s legal position.
The company expects to receive the cash inflow in several weeks’ time and would prefer to earmark the amount for returning to shareholders, pending clarity regarding other cash-relevant issues.
In June 2002, the Commission determined that Deutsche Post from 1994 to 1998 covered a cost deficit in the competitive business parcel segment through improper cross-subsidization with State aid funds earmarked for the financing of the universal service. Deutsche Post has always disputed this claim.
Furthermore, no cross-subsidization was found in Commission antitrust proceedings completed a few months earlier. In September 2002, Deutsche Post brought an action for annulment of the Commission’s state-aid decision before the European Court of the First Instance.
As a result of the Commission’s decision, however, Deutsche Post had to repay 572 million euros that was determined to be state aid plus 335 million euros in interest to the Federal Republic of Germany at the beginning of 2003. Germany will now repay this amount with interest to Deutsche Post.

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Deutsche Bank and Lloyds TSB only remaining bidders for Deutsche Postbank

Posted by | Jun 30, 2008 | |

Deutsche Bank AG. and Lloyds TSB Group Plc. are the only remaining suitors interested in taking over Deutsche Postbank AG. as the German retail bank moves on to disclose selected data on its business to the potential buyers on Monday, a person familiar with the procedure said.

The source said that Postbank has adopted a relatively restrictive stance in supplying information in the so-called data room, a metaphoric term for divulging privileged information in an advanced stage of the selling process.

Deutsche Post World Net AG., which owns 50 percent plus one share in Postbank, last Wednesday said it has entered into a “more intensive phase” of negotiations over the future of its banking subsidiary.

A spokesman for the German postal-services giant said at the time that potential buyers would not be given a specific set of data and that “individual talks” would be held instead. Deutsche Post is 31 percent-controlled by the German government through its development bank KfW Bankengruppe.

German securities trading laws would require a buyer of Deutsche Post’s majority stake to also make a mandatory offer for the remaining Postbank shares in the free float.

Recent media reports said that companies interested in Postbank, Germany’s biggest retail lender, also include Banco Santander of Spain, BNP Paribas of France and Belgian lender Fortis.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Boersen-Zeitung last Wednesday cited financial sources as saying that Deutsche Post eliminated Commerzbank AG. and Allianz SE.’s Dresdner Bank unit from the list of potential buyers.

Shares in Postbank were last week buoyed by speculation among traders that Lloyds TSB could be willing to pay as much as 11 billion euros for Postbank.

The lender currently has a market value of about about 9.1 billion euros.

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