Tag: France

Geodis is acquiring Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L)

Posted by | Oct 29, 2007 | |

Geodis is acquiring Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L), its main freight forwarding partner, for EUR 77 million. Reinforcing its strength in the freight forwarding business, Geodis is taking positions in the German and South African markets and deepening its Latin American network.

Rohde & Liesenfeld (R&L), the Geodis network’s main partner since 2002, is a German-based international air and sea freight forwarding group. Its 2007 net revenue is forecasted to be EUR 270 million (excluding Customs revenue), attributable to both freight forwarding and industrial projects. R&L operates mainly in Germany (34 pct of revenue), Latin America (17 pct), South Africa (16 pct) and Australia/New Zealand (14 pct) and has 710 employees.

The acquisition of R&L will broaden the geographic reach of the Geodis Wilson network, which will gain a significant position in Germany, thereby making Geodis Wilson a major player in German freight forwarding. This acquisition will also enable Geodis to serve new international markets – particularly South Africa, where R&L is well established – and substantially deepen its presence in Latin America. In addition, the Group will benefit from R&L’s expertise in handling industrial projects, especially in the oil and gas industry.

On this basis, R&L’s enterprise value has been estimated at EUR 90 million and Geodis will acquire its shares for EUR 77 million.

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EU probes La Poste

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

European Union regulators on Tuesday began an investigation into the French government’s unlimited guarantee for La Poste, that allows the state-run postal service to borrow money on better terms than privately held rivals.

If it uncovers evidence that France is unfairly subsidizing La Poste in a way that would damage rivals, it can order Paris to end the guarantee under threat of court action and daily fines.

La Poste’s special status as a publicly owned company means it is exempt from ordinary bankruptcy and insolvency procedures and the state could ultimately be held liable for its debts.

“Because its competitors do not enjoy the same advantage, the guarantee is likely to distort competition … at a time when the postal sector is being liberalized,” the European Commission said.

France failed to obey an EU order last year to end the guarantee, regulators said. Follow-up negotiations failed to convince the EU executive that France would terminate the guarantee, they said.

La Poste’s guarantee has limits on duration or amount and is provided free of charge. It covers the basic mail delivery La Poste provides in the public interest and – with state payment – the commercial business La Poste is supposed to run without government help.

The Commission said it was not calling into question La Poste’s position governed by public law or its public ownership.

After a similar EU demand, France withdrew an unlimited guarantee in December 2003 that had been granted to Electricite de France SA.

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DHL Express France launches Pharmaplus for health industry

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

DHL Express has launched a new product range and service in France called “DHL Pharmaplus” to ensure faster transportation of pharmaceutical products.

The new service offers mass delivery of shipments for wholesalers, distributors or pharmacies, along with express transport of temperature-controlled samples to destinations around the world, DHL France said in a statement.

DHL Pharmaplus provides specific solutions for the health sector, including:
* Clinical samples via international air express
* Transportation of shipments and full loads within France and across Europe
* Distribution of pharmaceutical products by express parcel
* The DHL Pharmadesk customer service for tracking all pharmaceutical shipments

Based on cooperation with pharmaceutical laboratories, DHL Pharmaplus corresponds to the sector’s logistics demands in terms of research and development, production, distribution and customer service, DHL claimed.

Patrick Aguirregaviria, director general of DHL Express France’s express parcels business, pointed out: “With DHL Pharmaplus we have proved to the pharmaceuticals industry but also to the whole market that we know how to integrate specific demands of a market and to adapt our means to help our customers respond to them.”

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Transport strike brings France to a halt

Posted by | Oct 19, 2007 | |

The French walked, used bikes, shared cars, or took the day off yesterday for the biggest national public transport strike since 1995. Unions said the strike will continue today.
Service on most trains on the national network, metros in Paris, and buses in major cities ground to a halt after public workers went on strike to oppose a government plan to roll back their pension privileges. About 319,000 people at railroads, power and gas utilities, schools, and the postal service failed to turn up at work. The special pensions cost the state about USD 7.1 billion a year.
The stoppage marks the first union challenge to President Sarkozy, elected in May on a platform of cutting taxes, reducing the cost of pensions, and liberalizing labor. The pension changes require employees to work 40 years instead of 37 1/2 years to earn a full pension. Pensions will also be linked to the national statistics institute’s price index. Mr. Sarkozy wants the plan completed by 2012.

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IPC leads environmental sustainability initiative

Posted by | Oct 19, 2007 | |

The International Post Corporation (IPC) announced today at its bi-annual Board meeting in New York City, its plans to develop a three-tier program to address environmental sustainability among its member posts. The program will focus on developing common sector-wide definitions and measurement systems; conducting stakeholder research and communicating sector-wide advances in environmental sustainability throughout the postal industry.

“Climate change is no longer an issue of debate,” said Jean-Paul Bailly, chairman and CEO of Groupe La Poste in France and chairman of the IPC Board. “Two prominent areas for concern to postal operators and our industry stakeholders are the operation of extensive road and air transport networks and issues related to direct mail, a strategically critical business for posts.”

Mr. Bailly added, “Because of the sector-wide urgency of the issue, the IPC Board will devote its annual conference this May to develop a common environmental sustainability initiative and map the way forward for the postal industry.” The conference, Leadership through Sustainable Development: Postal Industry Challenges and Opportunities will take place on 29 and 30 May, 2008 in La Chapelle en Serval, France. CEOs representing 24 member postal organizations and several selected CEOs from both inside and outside the industry are expected to attend.

Last month, IPC conducted a members’ forum on the subject of environmental sustainability, where it was decided that IPC should take a leadership role in providing the platforms for members to come together to define the way forward for the sector.

IPC has been a leader in providing postal delivery measurement systems for nearly 20 years, we are the natural partner for the postal industry and it makes sense that we are the organization to develop a common system for environmental measurement and research among the posts,” said Herbert-Michael Zapf, CEO and president, IPC.

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