Tag: Europe

Postcomm recommends privatisation of Royal Mail (UK)

Posted by | May 19, 2008 | |

Postcomm, the UK postal regulator, has said that it has proposed to an independent review committee on postal services, to partly privatize Royal Mail to bail it out from financial deterioration.

The BBC News has quoted Nigel Stapleton, Chairman of Postcomm, as saying: “Postcomm wants to see the government and Royal Mail embrace a partnership approach with the private sector to secure a universal service.”

Postcomm has said that Royal Mail required capital to restructure itself and become profitable. Mr Stapleton has said that Royal Mail may require a subsidy if the government decides against privatisation.

Royal Mail was the only mail service in the UK till 2006, when the gates were opened for private players to deliver mails. But it still controls 90% of market share, the BBC News has said.

Postcomm has also proposed that the controller of post office network, Post Offices, be separated from Royal Mail.

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Local MP Launches Work On PalletFORCE’s State-Of-The-Art New Logistics Hub

Posted by | May 19, 2008 | |

PalletFORCE CEO, Michael Conroy and Janet Dean, MP for Burton upon Trent, formally cut the first sod at the site of PalletFORCE’s new Hub.Janet Dean, Member of Parliament for the Burton constituency, was guest of honour at the sod-cutting ceremony held to officially launch the building of PalletFORCE’s new state-of-the-art logistics hub recently.

After meeting senior PalletFORCE staff, Chief Executive Michael Conroy and Operations Director Carl Worgan, Janet Dean formally cut the sod on the new site, which is anticipated to be completed by late 2008 and operational by January 2009.

The GBP 30 million investment will deliver a 379,400 sq ft site, which PalletFORCE believes can handle up to 4 million pallets per annum. There could also be additional employment opportunities in the Burton area.

The hub is being built by leading national contractor John Sisk & Son Ltd, with the assistance of the Derbyshire-based ‘Independent Stabilisation Company’.

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Deutsche Post supports the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn

Posted by | May 18, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net is actively supporting the UN environmental conference in Bonn, where the parties to the convention on biological diversity will meet from on May 19. A central element of Deutsche Post World Net’s engagement will be supporting the opening event on May 19, which will be attended by UN representatives, German Federal Environmental Minister Sigmar Gabriel and the Mayor of Bonn, Bärbel Dieckmann.

Deutsche Post World Net is actively supporting the success of the UN environment conference as part of its commitment to the city of Bonn, where ts headquarters is located and as direct part of its own climate protection program, GoGreen. As the first company in its industry to implement a measurable climate protection target, the Group aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 30 percent for every letter mailed, every container shipped and every square meter of space used by 2020.

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Sell-off of Royal Mail 'doomed'

Posted by | May 18, 2008 | |

A plan by regulator Postcomm to partly privatise Royal Mail will fail because of the company’s huge and growing pension deficit, according to a leading independent consultant.

John Ralfe said Royal Mail was technically insolvent with a GBP 3bn pension hole. ‘No trade or equity investor would even consider taking a stake unless Royal Mail could be shorn of its pensions,’ he said in a research note for RBC Capital Markets.

Ralfe said that even if the Government, Royal Mail’s owner, could be persuaded to run the pension scheme, it would be illegal because it would be a clear breach of the EU Treaty that bans anti-competitive state aid.

Postcomm’s suggestion that Britain should follow the lead of the Danish and Swedish postal services in allowing partial privatisation was not valid because neither had to cope with such huge pension liabilities.

The Postcomm plan has run into further opposition, with the Communication Workers Union, the main postal workers’ union, suggesting that the proposals overstepped the regulator’s remit.

And the Government would face opposition from its own MPs with close links to the CWU. Royal Mail announced last week that it made a GBP 279m loss in the year to March. And the company has two new and emerging problems.

First, mail volumes are starting to decline. And second, Royal Mail has been forced to open up its business post services to competition.

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Deutsche Post seeks tie-up in U.S. for Express, but not with UPS

Posted by | May 18, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post AG. is seeking to solve problems at its loss-making Express business in the United States by forming a cooperation with a partner in that country, with Fedex Corp and the U.S. Postal Service as likely candidates, Euro am Sonntag reported, citing sources.

It said Deutsche Post has ruled out United Parcel Service Inc as a potential partner.

If Deutsche Post does not find an appropriate partner, it would let its DHL Express unit operate key hubs in the United States and then work with regional-based companies to deliver the parcels, the report said.

Deutsche Post chief executive Frank Appel told the AGM on May 6 that a complete exit from the U.S. market is not an option for the company.

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