Tag: FedEx

UPS pushes envelope on downtown service

Posted by | Oct 12, 2006 | |

Starting late last month, UPS began cutting nearly one hour off its morning delivery time for overnight mail guaranteed to arrive in downtown Cleveland by 10:30 a.m.

So instead of an average arrival time of 9:45 a.m., packages delivered by UPS are being signed for, on average, at 8:50 a.m., said Tom Nolte, director of sales for the Northern Ohio district of UPS.

The expedited delivery targets three downtown ZIP codes and comes with no additional guarantee, but with no additional cost either. It’s the first such initiative throughout the UPS system, Nolte said, and it’s designed to capture more office business from places like banks, law firms and insurance companies that rely heavily on overnight correspondence.

If it works in Cleveland, it could be rolled out in other cities. UPS has added 13 part-time delivery personnel and redeployed six of its signature brown trucks to allow for earlier deliveries. But the process really begins at company hubs in Louisville, Ky., and Rockford, Ill., where packages destined for downtown Cleveland are sorted and packed inside igloo-shaped containers that conform to the insides of UPS cargo planes.

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Interview – Aramex aims to be world's number 5 express operator

Posted by | Oct 9, 2006 | |

Aramex, the Middle East-based independent express company, aims to grow into the world’s fifth-largest express operator through selective acquisitions and by expanding its partner network, a senior executive told CEP-Research.

Although the “Big Four” – DHL, FedEx, UPS and TNT – were clearly “in the premier league”, Aramex wanted to head the “second division” of regional players, Adrian Horsley, Vice-President Express Services, said on the sidelines of last week’s Asia Pacific Mail & Express 2006 conference in Singapore.

The Jordan-based and Dubai-listed company expects its 2006 revenues to grow to US$330 million from USD232 million in 2005, largely due to acquisitions of smaller freight companies in the Middle East and Europe over the last year, Horsley said. In 2005, it generated about 55% of revenues from international and domestic express transport, and about 33% from freight forwarding. The company, whose key markets are the Middle East and India, has some 260 offices in 45 countries in total.

“Our mission is to be recognized as the fifth-largest global distribution player by 2008. With the Global Distribution Alliance, Aramex has a true global international express distribution system that is 95% managed and controlled by us,” Horsley declared.

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China's draft postal law angers private firms

Posted by | Oct 6, 2006 | |

Local and foreign express delivery companies have denounced the latest draft of China’s Postal Law, saying it would create unfair competition, violate trade agreements and destroy non-state businesses employing hundreds of thousands of people.

A meeting last week between industry representatives and officials from China’s State Council, or cabinet, and other departments failed to ease fears over the likely impact of the long-delayed law, express delivery company executives said.

They say one clause of the draft would give a unit of state-owned China Post a total monopoly over deliveries of parcels weighing less than 150g, which account for more than 90 per cent of the intra-city business of private delivery companies. The monopoly on small package deliveries would not have any immediate direct affect on international companies, but they would be hit by other provisions favouring China Post, tightening licensing controls and compulsory payments to subsidise universal postal services.

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DHL becomes a contender

Posted by | Oct 1, 2006 | |

When considering carriers for overnight express packages, shippers may now have three legitimate options: FedEx, UPS and newcomer DHL Express. DHL commissioned a transit study this summer that demonstrates the carrier is performing as well or better than its veteran U.S. competitors.

The study tracked 14,400 overnight express shipments between 44 major U.S. cities across 480 lanes during July. The results showed UPS and DHL tied at a 90% reliability rate for 10:30 a.m. delivery, followed closely by FedEx at 88%.

“For two or three years, we’ve battled quite a degree of skepticism,” says DHL Americas CEO John Mullen. This study, he says, vindicates DHL’s efforts to break into the UPS/FedEx duopoly. “It has been a difficult road but we have come through it, and we think our customers can feel safe that they are not taking a chance on a niche player with us.”

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TNT re-emerges as possible takeover target

Posted by | Sep 29, 2006 | |

Dutch mail and logistics company TNT has become the subject of renewed takeover speculation after the European Union’s highest court ruled that the Netherlands is breaking the law in owning a “golden share” in the global mail and express delivery company.

The European Court of Justice said the government’s stake, which gives it veto power over TNT’s mergers and acquisitions, is incompatible with the free movement of capital in the 25-nation EU.

The Dutch government has held the stake since the 1980s when the former state-owned post and telephone company was privatized and split into a telecommunications group and a mail operator. The company subsequently expanded into logistics and express delivery.

TNT shares rose 3 percent immediately after the court ruling on speculation that the decision would make it easier for companies such as UPS, FedEx and Deutsche Post to take over the group. La Poste, France’s state-owned mail monopoly, also has been named as a likely suitor.

TNT was at the center of takeover speculation last November when Cornelius Geber, a former executive of Swiss logistics giant Kuehne & Nagel, said he was trying to organize a consortium to launch a bid.

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