FedEx Corp., by any estimation, must be classified as one of the biggest success stores in the history of American business. Yet while FedEx is often mentioned in the same breath as United Parcel Service and, increasingly, Deutsche Post World Net, it has been moving in a distinctly different direction from those companies. Today it has a portfolio that in some ways barely resembles that of its two larger rivals.
Read MoreEurope may be treading a long and painful path towards postal liberalisation, but at least private companies will feel they have some prospect of competing on an equal footing with the public postal operators (PPOs) once the European Commission has decided its final strategy.
In China, by contrast, doors appear to be closing in the face of express companies such as UPS and FedEx, which have invested heavily in the parcel and document market. China Post announced its intention in February to extend its monopoly to items weighing up to 500g. It will ban private operators from undercutting its EMS express arm on price for heavier items, and from making any deliveries to government offices.
NPA has said foreign courier companies could not handle parcels of less than 18 ounces and that their prices must be listed higher than its own. The has NPA set a May 6 deadline for all foreign couriers to apply to the government for permission to continue their operations under the new terms or otherwise cease their business operations.
Article about effects of proposed changes.
Market Size data: According to industry estimates, foreign couriers handle more than 60 percent of parcels in China weighing under 18 ounces and their prices are often 15 percent lower than NPA’s courier service.
International express delivery companies are close to resolving a festering dispute with China’s postal monopoly that is threatening their business in the country, an industry association said Tuesday. Both foreign and domestic express delivery companies have been negotiating with China Post over new regulations that require them to stop handling letters and packages weighing under 500 grams, and register with the government body to continue their other businesses. Those rules are widely seen as an attempt to shield China Post’s own express delivery business, EMS, from competition by the likes of FedEx Corp. (FDX), United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), DHL Corp. (X.DHL) and TPG N.V. (TP), which now operate in China through local partners. ‘We will reach an agreement fairly shortly,’ said Li Limo, president of the China International Freight Forwarders Association, a local industry group that is representing the express delivery companies in the talks. ‘Both sides will make some compromises,’ Li said.
Read MoreDeutsche Post, the German postal and logistics group, reported a 22 per cent drop in net profit for the first quarter, but gathered global strength from last year’s acquisition of express postal group, DHL International.
The group, which earlier in the month announced that it planned to buy back shares in an attempt to boost its falling share price, said it had been unable to escape the grip of the ongoing economic downturn during the first quarter ended March 31.
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