Tag: FedEx

Postal chief sees freight returning to rail and sea (Australia)

Posted by | Jul 7, 2008 | |

The international freight industry will face increasing pressure to cut back on flights and revert to sea and rail deliveries because of environmental concerns, the head of Australia Post predicts.
Australia Post’s managing director, Graeme John, who will be chairman of an annual meeting this week in Queensland of nine of the world’s biggest postal groups, said the problem of global warming would have an increasing influence on the way the global postal industry is run.
Mr John said growth in international freight from consumer goods such as electronics had been managed on a “just in time” basis, with air travel preferred to other forms of transport because of its speed advantage. But that approach was no longer viable.
The postal groups meeting this week – Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Britain – are members of the Kahala Post Group, a consortium created five years ago to help them compete with private freight companies.
Mr John instigated the consortium because he “wanted to do something about the dominance of the DHLs and the FedExs and UPSs in the international parcel network”, as did other former monopoly postal groups.
The Kahala group – named after a resort the members stayed at during their founding meeting in Hawaii – conceded they could not compete with the private companies on speed, so instead focused on reliability of delivery.
But to guarantee that reliability the Kahala members had to upgrade their tracking systems.
It also required the creation of a “delivery calculator” – a database of eight billion postcodes that allows a customer to walk into any postal outlet, list their destination and be told a precise window during which a parcel would be delivered.
While the private couriers already offered that certainty, and faster delivery, the Kahala members undercut their prices by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.
As well as pressure to shift towards less environmentally-damaging modes of transport, Mr John said a worsening economic environment could prompt a trend to slower “deferred” delivery services.
The Kahala partnership is also moving beyond postage, with Australia Post, China Post and the US Postal Service preparing to launch a group-owned money transfer service to compete against Western Union.

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TNT on course for growth

Posted by | Jul 4, 2008 | |

TNT says it is well-placed to ride out the effects of any global economic downturn thanks to minimal exposure to the US domestic market.

Last week, rival FedEx reported a fourth-quarter net loss of USD 241m (GBP 121m) and full-year net income of USD 1.13bn (GBP 568.3m), down some 44 pct on the previous year, mainly caused by the weak US economy.

And fellow US-based operator UPShas already warned of falling domestic demand.

However, Marie-Christine Lombard, group MD for TNT’s Express division, says: “We are not affected by the US slowdown – we have no exposure in the US, in some ways to our great regret and in others not.”

In a reference to DHL, which has recently announced large-scale cutbacks in its US operation, she adds: “[DHL] has paid for it – and now you see what the result is. When you have very strong operators in very mature markets it is very hard to enter the market late.”

Despite the sell-off of its logistics arm in 2006, TNT is still targeting growth in the plus-30kg consignment sector, such as pallets and other oversized express freight, says Lombard.

“What we have found is that clients trading on express flows have other flows that they would like to use TNT for. We want to capture those and arrange solutions for our clients.”

Marketing and Sales Director Jan-Willem Breen says that a broad product offering, particularly what it describes as “Economy Express”, is also helping the firm to survive the downward economic pressure by allowing its customers to switch traffic to cheaper ground-based options.

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FedEx ranked highest in Customer Service

Posted by | Jul 3, 2008 | |

FedEx Corp. is ranked No 1 in the category of customer service in the esteemed Harris Interactive Reputation QuotientTM (RQ) survey.

The Harris Interactive study confirms that if you work to make every customer experience outstanding, at every point of interaction with your company, your customers will reward you with their trust,” said T. Michael Glenn, FedEx Executive Vice President, Market Development and Corporate Communications. “Reputation is the most precious asset a company has and the 290,000 FedEx team members worldwide strive to build on our strong reputation through each and every customer interaction.

Overall, FedEx ranked No 12 with an RQ score of 78.04. A score of 75 – 79.9 symbolizes a “good-excellent” reputation. This is the ninth consecutive year that FedEx has achieved this rating.

Out of the 60 companies ranked in the survey, FedEx also placed #4 in the category of “practices highest ethical standards.” In the “highest trust” category, or of those saying they would definitely trust the company in the event of a problem, FedEx ranked seventh. FedEx ranked #12 as both a good company to work for and company with good employees.

Not surprisingly, the RQ found that a strong statistical correlation exists between a company’s overall reputation and the likelihood that consumers will purchase, recommend or invest in a company or its products and services.

The RQ surveys more than 20,000 American consumers in a two-step process, through online and telephone interviews, to first identify the 60 most visible companies and then to rank these companies based on their reputation in six different categories: Emotional Appeal, Products & Services, Social Responsibility, Vision & Leadership, Workplace Environment and Financial Performance.

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Copenhagen Airports A/S and FedEx sign partnership agreement

Posted by | Jul 2, 2008 | |

Copenhagen Airports A/S announces that they have signed an agreement with FedEx Express to provide a purpose-build cargo facility, including office space in a partnership which will run through to at least 2023.
At approximately 1,600 square metres, the cargo facility will be tailored to suit the needs of FedEx Express and will have both airside and landside access. In addition, a 770 square-metre office building will be built for FedEx Express.
The contract between Copenhagen Airports A/S and FedEx Express highlights the Copenhagen Airports focus on customers, developing a tailored solution together with the customer, which will also deliver benefits for the airport in the longer term:
“By investing in projects that create value for our customers, we achieve a satisfied customer and a better product specially designed for the customer. In addition, we have better utilisation of the airport’s capacity in the longer term,” said Brian Petersen, CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S.
“The new facility will boost our service to customers in and around Copenhagen, and will help facilitate Denmark’s growth in the global market” said David Canavan, Managing Director Northern Rim Operations. “Copenhagen is a strategic market for FedEx Express in Europe, and FedEx helps drive global trade by enabling Denmark’s’ businesses to quickly and reliably express deliver their shipments around the world” said Mr. Canavan.
It is expected that the new cargo facility and office building will be ready for use in the spring of 2009.
The 4.1 pct growth in cargo volumes in 2007 emphasised that Copenhagen Airport’s role as Scandinavia’s largest hub for cargo traffic. In 2007, 395,506 tonnes of cargo was handled at Copenhagen Airport, up from 380,024 tonnes a year earlier.

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FedEx Named to ComputerWorld Best Places to Work in IT List

Posted by | Jul 1, 2008 | |

IDG’s ComputerWorld magazine today announced that FedEx Corp. has made the Computerworld Best Places to Work in IT list for the 7th time. The Best Places to Work feature story noted the innovative Purple Pipeline program as a reason to work for the global transportation, e-commerce and business services company.
“The competitive edge sought by the best and smartest companies is no longer information technology itself,” said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld. “After all, IT has permeated the business processes of almost every department of virtually every enterprise. The new competitive edge is finding and retaining the very best people to chart and implement your IT strategy.”
The Best Places to Work in Information Technology (IT) list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals compiled by IDG’s Computerworld, the “Voice of IT Management.” The lists are compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention. In addition, Computerworld conducts extensive surveys of IT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

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