Tag: Europe

Norway Post is planning to launch new brands in 2008-2009

Posted by | Sep 30, 2007 | |

Norway Post’s goal is to establish leading Nordic positions in the postal and logistics sectors. In order to achieve this goal, Norway Post has acquired a number of companies in and outside Norway over the past few years, and an increasing share of the Group’s income comes from operations outside Norway. The new brand strategy is intended to support this goal and make things easier for customers.

– “We’ve acquired many companies and want to make the full range of our Nordic postal and logistics services visible through a new brand strategy. Our intention has always been to achieve synergies from our acquisitions. This will become more apparent through more uniform branding,” says Dag Mejdell, Norway Post’s CEO.

Following the acquisitions made during the past few years, the Norway Post Group currently has a portfolio of more than 10 brands.

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EU may open up postal markets by 2011

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

European Union countries are likely to agree to a delayed opening of the bloc’s postal markets to full competition, a French minister said yesterday.

The European Commission has proposed stripping away the remaining barriers to competition from 2009 but the measure needs approval from the bloc’s member states and the European Parliament.

The measure has sparked protests by postal workers in many EU nations, particularly France, who fears job losses.

EU transport ministers meet in Luxembourg on Monday with the aim of reaching a political agreement.

Under parliament’s first-reading compromise, full liberalization would not start until 2011 with the 12 mostly eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004 and after having until 2013 to implement the reform.

Parliament also effectively allowed Luxembourg and Greece to delay liberalization until 2013.

The EU assembly’s compromise is expected to form the basis of the text adopted by ministers.

The market for letters weighing up to 50 grams is currently shielded from competition. Mail above that weight is fully liberalized.

The measure contains safeguards to ensure a range of everyday services, such as letter collection and delivery, known as the universal service, is maintained even in the most thinly populated areas.

Parliament also inserted a reciprocity clause so a country that is fully liberalized does not have to authorize competitors from states that have yet to open their own sectors.

Swedish and British postal markets are already fully liberalized.

Germany and the Netherlands are due to open theirs to full competition next year.

The sector employs 5.2 million people, who deliver 135 billion items a year to the European Union’s 490 million consumers.

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Fortec launches new dedicated scheduled 24 hour daily pallet delivery service to Ireland

Posted by | Sep 29, 2007 | |

The Fortec Pallet Distribution Network has today announced the launch of a new scheduled premium 24 hour daily pallet delivery service to Ireland using the resources of the existing Fortec licensees. The new service will offer deliveries through the Fortec network into both Dublin and Belfast on a next day basis

Freight bound for Ireland from around the UK will reach the new 140,000 sq ft Fortec Hub at Watling Park near Rugby by midnight each day and be transhipped to Ireland via Holyhead the next morning enabling next day delivery of those urgent palletised goods in Dublin and Belfast.

This service complements the existing Fortec 48 hour service throughout the rest of Ireland. The major benefits for the new Fortec 24 hour Ireland service include: –

” Express service for urgent palletised freight
” Economy service still available
” Reliable delivery service from Fortec licensees
” Scanned PODs on line within 24 hours
” Competitive rates

Neil Hodgson, Fortec’s Business Relationship Manager for Ireland who is spearheading the new service commented:

“The launch of the new 24 hour pallet delivery service into Ireland by Fortec is another example of Fortec providing improved services for licensees so they can offer their customers the right solutions to meet their requirements.

“Customers can be sure of the Fortec reputation for reliability and a quality delivery service together with a number of other benefits including PODs on line and highly competitive rates.

“Ireland is a very large market and the facility of a 24 hour dedicated daily service will no doubt help our licensees’ customers to build their businesses in the country” he added.

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Bar Code Cameras: Accu-Sort Camera Systems Help Finland Post Process Faster, Cut Cost

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

Accu-Sort Systems announced that it has installed an AV4000(2.0) camera-based sortation system at the Finland Post Parcel Sorting Center in Helsinki. The new system eliminates manual handling by handing off camera-captured images to an optical character recognition (OCR) imaging system that reads parcel address labels.

Multi-side camera tunnels over an FKI tilt tray system capture parcel dimensions, bar code data, and high-quality images for an OCR and Video Coding System supplied by Prime Vision. This is the first high-speed parcel sortation application able to send full-resolution images including embedded tracking data across a standard Ethernet network.

Prior to this system, the Finland Post used a manual process in which every label was read and manually keyed into the system. This process was slow and introduced numerous opportunities for error.

In addition to the AV4000 camera tunnel system, Finland Post also installed a mobile image capture solution to read labels on roller cages, pallets, and non-conveyable items coming into the facility. Unlike any other hand-held readers, the Accu-Sort AccuVision HandsFree CCD camera provides an image good enough to be read by an OCR system. At Finland Post, the camera reliably reads carbon copy labels which include handwriting. Another unique advantage is a reading field large enough to capture an A5 label (8.3″ x 5.8″). Because the camera has an exceptionally deep depth of field, operators do not need to position the camera precisely, enabling faster processing.

Technicians installed the camera on a movable overhead arm so operators can move the camera in a five meter radius. This increased productivity and safety: operators can move out of the way of forklifts and continue working.

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Greek state to seek strategic alliance for Greek Postal Savings Bank reports

Posted by | Sep 28, 2007 | |

The Greek Minister of Finance, George Alogoskoufis, said that the state will seek a strategic alliance with a similar foreign European financial institution for Greek Postal Savings Bank (GPSB), according to several local press reports.

The reports noted that the state will not proceed with a new placement soon since its focus is on the banks transformation process.

The minister also reiterated that the government has no intention to sell GPSB to a local bank, the reports added.

The government sold a 20 pct stake in GPSB in July and now controls 44.4 pct.

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