Tag: Europe

Logistics hot spots go East

Posted by | Jun 16, 2008 | |

A European study shows Poland and the Czech Republic are new logistics ‘hot spots’

Retailers looking to improve their pan-European logistics networks should consider countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland, according to new research from supply chain consultancy Total Logistics www.total-logistics.eu.com and logistics property business King Sturge www.kingsturge.co.uk. The study shows that several eastern European countries have overtaken Germany in the race to be the location of choice for European businesses.

The study assessed the relative attractiveness of each country, taking into account such issues as warehousing costs, labour rates and road transport costs.

Kenneth Porter, partner at Total Logistics, said: “Working through a number of different scenarios was a fascinating exercise as it demonstrated the relatively poor performance of Germany from a warehousing perspective, given its central location and otherwise excellent reputation. Even when we factored out the comparatively high cost of labour in the country, Berlin, Bonn and Dusseldorf came out relatively poorly against other cities such as Prague, Warsaw, Katowice and Vilnius.”

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Post offices may be reopened under council subsidy plan (UK)

Posted by | Jun 15, 2008 | |

An agreement between the Post Office, the Government and local councils means that, in theory, every one of the 2,500 branches earmarked for closure under a cost-cutting plan could be saved.
Ministers ordered cuts to the network to reduce its GBP 150 million-a-year subsidy. However, councils have been looking for ways to avoid closures in the face of a growing public backlash.
The first post offices to be reprieved are in Essex, where the county council is expected to announce in the next 10 days that it has saved at least 15 of 31 branches closed this year.

The council has set aside up to GBP 1.5 million for the scheme. Some post offices will be reopened on the same premises, while pubs, cricket clubs, libraries and shops will become home to a post office in other cases.
The pilot has attracted interest from councils, with 100 local authorities contacting the Post Office. Half of those are already in talks to follow suit.
However, Alan Cook, the managing director of the Post Office, said the obstacles had been overcome. “We have got to the point where we have established a model that will work for local authority funding,” he said.
The news was welcomed by the postal watchdog. Howard Webber, the chief executive of Postwatch, said: “I feel qualified joy that there could be any extra post offices which offer more services to customers, providing it does not have a damaging impact on the post offices that are remaining in the network.”
Last year, the Government ordered Royal Mail, which owns the Post Office, to close 2,500 branches. By the middle of last week, 764 branches had been shut and 41 saved.
Earlier this month, post office managers told a Commons committee that a further 4,000 branches could be closed.

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Deutsche Post to gradually give up own outlets

Posted by | Jun 13, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net AG. plans to gradually give up running its own postal service outlets over the coming years to reduce costs, a spokesman for the company said, confirming an earlier report in German newspaper Westfalen-Blatt.

But the spokesman said that the branches will not be closed. Instead, they will be run as ‘partner branches’, which are commonly integrated into retail stores.

The company previously said it will retain about 100 of its 750 own branches.

There are some exceptions, though, the spokesman said, in places where there is no retail outlet or gas station that could house a postal service desk.

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Internal Market: Commissioner McCreevy to host high-level conference on postal market reform

Posted by | Jun 13, 2008 | |

On 24 June 2008 Internal Market and Services Commissioner McCreevy will host a high-level conference on postal market reform: “The EU Internal Market for Postal Services – creating it together”. The conference will mark the start of the final and decisive phase of EU postal market reform and is the Commission’s immediate follow-up on the adoption of the new Postal Directive 2008/6/EC earlier this year.
After gradual market opening in recent years, remaining legal monopolies on postal markets are set to be abolished by 31 December 2010. The vision of sustainable and open postal markets with high-quality postal services that contribute effectively to growth, employment and competitiveness can now become a reality. Commissioner McCreevy will deliver a strong message at the conference that creating a sustainable postal internal market is a joint responsibility and that it takes more than the abolishing of the legal monopolies to meet this target. Key-note speakers at the conference include Competition Commissioner Kroes, MEP Ferber, Portuguese Minister Lino and Greek Minister Hatzidakis. All relevant players in the postal sector reaching from Member States to operators will be represented at high level.

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An Post response to ComReg quality figures

Posted by | Jun 13, 2008 | |

An Post will be examining the detail of the results closely. Improving our next day delivery service remains our key focus and is at the very heart of An Post’s national quality improvement programme.
An intensive national change and modernisation programme centring on how mail is collected and organised for local delivery is being implemented by An Post staff across the country. New ways of working were still being bedded down in a number of the larger Dublin Postal Districts during the early part of this year, and impacted on next-day delivery performance in Dublin.
An Post continues to invest heavily in improving the quality and reliability of its collection services. All postboxes and other posting facilities now display better, easy-to-read information panels on which the latest time of posting is clearly visible. New electronic scanning equipment will be introduced shortly to verify collection times, and to assist in process planning by capturing data on the volume and type of mail being posted. This will enable An Post to drive quality improvement and next day delivery performance throughout its processing and delivery operations.

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