Tag: Europe

Local MP launches work on Palletforce’s state-of-the-art new logistics hub

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

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.

Janet commented, “I am delighted that PalletFORCE has chosen Burton upon Trent for this exciting new venture. Burton’s excellent transport infrastructure and well motivated workforce make the town the ideal location for the PalletFORCE network to provide an outstanding logistics service for its members across the country.”

PalletFORCE is one of the country’s leading players in palletised distribution, and the new Burton-based hub is designed to be a flagship for the sector, providing a bespoke environment that will offer faster throughputs and higher quality of operation. The £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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Royal Mail to merge sorting sites (UK)

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has announced the closure of two mail distribution centres in the Thames Valley.

After a period of public consultation the company has decided to press ahead with a plan to consolidate its centres in Oxford, Reading and Swindon.

The new Thames Valley Mail Centre will be based at an expanded Swindon site.

Building work at Swindon is due to be completed by October and the transfer of work from Reading and Oxford is scheduled for June 2009.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said it was unclear at this stage how jobs would be affected but he said they would be carrying out consultations with staff.

In a statement, the company said: “In a fully competitive postal market Royal Mail needs to change and this project represents a big step forward in making changes that will benefit our customers, our business and our people.

“Some GBP 20 million is being invested in this project and once complete, the new Thames Valley Mail Centre at Swindon will be the largest, state of the art mail centre in the country.”

Reading’s mail centre was “no longer fit for purpose” said the company as it was high maintenance, outdated and unsuitable.

Instead a new delivery office for central Reading will be developed.

The company added that delivery and collection operations across the Swindon and Oxford postcode areas would not be affected.

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Dutch government decides against opening Dutch postal market on July 1

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

The Dutch government decided on last Friday 16 May against opening up the Dutch postal market to competition on July 1, stressing there are too many uncertainties to allow for full liberalisation.

The Cabinet said in a statement the wage accord agreed between unions and a number of new postal operators still offers insufficient certainty regarding a postal sector collective labour agreement.

The government also said the situation in the German postal market and the impediments for Dutch companies there means there is insufficient reason to agree to an opening of the Dutch market.

The Cabinet will continue to urge the European Commission to undertake action to allow competition in various European postal markets.

It added that the decision to delay liberalisation in the Netherlands does not mean the country’s postal market will remain closed to competition as an EU agreement stipulates that all countries open up their postal markets by December 31, 2010.

Newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad earlier reported on Friday that a parliamentary majority was in favour of opening up the Dutch market from July 1, a decision that would see former state company TNT NV lose its monopolist position for parcels less than 50 grams.

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Richard Bacon MP unveils CitySprint’s new Norwich Service Centre following acquisition of 24/7 Direct

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

On Friday (9th May 2008), Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, was on hand to officially open CitySprint’s Norwich ServiceCentre. CitySprint is the UK’s largest privately owned SameDay Courier network and, with ServiceCentres already in Cambridge and Ipswich, it will now have an even greater presence in East Anglia.

The new ServiceCentre follows the purchase of local courier company 24/7 Dispatch for an undisclosed sum and is based in Ernest Gage Avenue, Longwater Business Park.

Through CitySprint’s leading-edge technology, staff operating at the ServiceCentre have visibility of the entire fleet of CitySprint couriers and are able to offer excellent service levels to clients in the area.

CitySprint’s comprehensive technology solution enables clients to access quotes, book OnLine and, through its leading-edge facility, CourierLocator, access a real-time map location of the courier doing their SameDay Courier job.

Brothers and former owners of 24/7 Dispatch, Jim and Rick Jackson, will manage the operation and look forward to being part of the CitySprint network of 30+ ServiceCentres around the UK.

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City Link parent pledges to turn fortunes around

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

The boss of Rentokil Initial – parent company of City Link – has vowed to turn around the fortunes of the parcel delivery firm, despite Rentokil receiving “numerous offers” for City Link.

Alan Brown, who became chief executive of Rentokil in March, says he is pleased with the progress City Link is making at improving its customer service levels and confident the parcels firm can return to profitability.

City Link posted an operating loss of GBP 15.4m for the three months to the end of March.

At the same time, Rentokil Initial revealed its first quarter operating profit dropped to GBP 28.7m, from GBP 54m the previous year.

City Link has experienced integration problems following its merger with Target Express last year. The process is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Brown says City Link’s turnaround plan will focus on improved customer service, integrated information systems and an optimised hub and depot network.

He adds: “We have broken the back of the operational problems, but there is still a long route back”.

In February, Petar Cvetkovic was appointed City Link’s new managing director.

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