Tag: Europe

Spanish express market grew 9.4 pct in 2006

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

The Spanish express market grew by 9.4 pct last year, compared to 2005, reaching nearly 6.69 billion euros.

Business parcels grew by 10 pct to almost EUR 3.8 billion and industrial courier services by 8.6 pct to EUR 2.9 billion.

The better coverage of Spanish territory, the good services of consolidation companies (due the fusion and acquisition processes of express Spanish companies in 2006) and also the higher prices are one of the main reasons of the growth of this sector.

According to DBK research, “EU enlargement was a factor behind increasing international parcels and courier growth, with less trade barriers, improved transit times and cheaper shipment costs”.

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TNT uses strikes to put pressure on Royal Mail

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

TNT said the wave of industrial action hitting Royal Mail underlined the need for it to develop a full-blown rival service.

The Dutch-owned company, which uses Royal Mail to provide “final mile” postal delivery, said its customers were suffering disruption from the action by the union but it would not be suing the Post Office because it accepted that the state-owned group was protected by “force majored” contractual clauses.

TNT is the only company known to have been developing concrete plans to launch a complete rival service including the use of its own postal delivery staff. Its British boss, Nick Wells, said the impetus to proceed with such a project was higher than ever.
TNT has been undertaking full-scale trials of next day door-to-door deliveries in Glasgow and Manchester although the vast bulk of its daily mail is distributed to homes through Royal Mail under the specially licensed “final mile” system used by several private operators.

TNT’s group chief executive, Peter Bakker, said recently that Britain was one of its most important markets, showing healthy growth. The company is distributing more than 1 billion items of mail a year in the UK and many customers have migrated from Royal Mail, including telecoms group BT, which recently signed a contract worth up to £ 90m.

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Postal users left with mixed feelings by delay in postal liberalisation

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

The Postal Users Group (PUG) expressed disappointment about the further delay in the liberalisation of the postal market following the vote in the Plenary of the European Parliament yesterday in Strasbourg. MEPs rejected the Commission’s proposal of 2009 as the deadline for removing the remaining “reserved area” (i.e. monopoly by the national postal operator, which is now for letters of 50 grams or less) and opted for market opening by 31 December 2010, with an exemption for the new Member States and Member States with a “difficult topography” who can liberalise their markets by 31 December 2012.

The European Parliament’s Plenary has also adopted some amendments that confirm a more user oriented focus for the European postal sector. The Postal Users Group is particularly happy with the proposal for a reimbursement scheme for stolen, damaged or lost postal items by the Member States and the guarantee of affordable postal services, as well as the increased transparency and efficiency of the European postal sector, which will be of benefit to the users of postal services in Europe – both consumers and businesses.

Throughout PUG has stressed the need for the Public Postal Operators (PPOs) to focus on user needs – such as small and large publishers, e-commerce providers and direct marketers – to achieve the full potential of the sector. This is a message that PPOs working in liberalised – or soon to be liberalised – markets have take to heart, and are working with users to launch innovative new products and services that help grow mail as a viable communication with a healthy and sustainable future.

Per Mortensen, Chairman of the PUG, expressed mixed feelings about the outcome of the vote: “It’s a shame that the deadline for liberalisation has been postponed. However, I am happy that there is now a fixed date and that we, the users, can prepare for the further development of a healthy business relationship between the Posts and its customers. Users will enjoy the full potential of a liberalised postal sector and the efficiency and innovation that comes with it”.

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European postal operators take stock of Parliament’s improvements

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

12 European postal operators take stock of the European Parliament’s improvements brought to the proposal for a third postal directive.

The European Parliament has adopted, with a broad majority, amendments bringing significant changes to the initial proposal of the Commission.

Taking into consideration the great uncertainty of universal service financing and the risks of social dumping, the European Parliament has proposed substantial improvements on these two points and asks for the postponement of the date of realisation of the Internal Market in order to cope with them. The repeated reference to the economic role of universal postal services as well as to their contribution to the territorial and social cohesion is to be welcomed. It recalls one of the original objectives of the Community postal policy, thus balancing the liberalisation process.

However, the postal operators from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia want to stress that the postponement alone does not address the many legal, economic and technical questions which remain as acute as ever.

It is therefore extremely important to deepen the discussions on those points.

As a consequence, the signatories call the Council to follow the cautious approach adopted by the European Parliament and to enrich the directive proposal by addressing the remaining issues in order to properly manage the next liberalisation steps.

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Itella to buy the Swedish Logistics Company PS Logistics AB

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

Itella is to buy the Swedish logistics company PS Logistics AB. The turnover of the company, located in Borås, is around SEK 80 million. It has 22 employees, whose positions won’t be affected by this deal. The vendor is a holding company owned by the company’s Managing Director Stefan Pettersson and Transekspedicija of Lithuania.

PS Logistics AB provides freight warehousing, storage and contract logistics services. The deal will strengthen the position of Itella Logistics AB in Sweden, particularly in freight bound for the Baltic States and Eastern Europe. The operations of Itella Logistics in Sweden will also be expanded to cover contract logistics.

“The home market of Itella Logistics covers the Baltic area, where we are currently one of the leading logistics companies. Buying PS Logistics will improve our market position in Sweden by strengthening our current business and by introducing new business areas. At the same time, we will strengthen our Baltic operations,” states Joni Sundelin, Vice President, Itella Logistics.

The company will transfer to the ownership of Itella Logistics on 1 August 2007.

In Sweden, the Itella Group currently comprises the transport and freight forwarding company Itella Logistics AB and the information logistics company Itella Information AB.

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