Tag: International

DHL Express expands network and services in Asia

Posted by | Feb 8, 2008 | |

DHL Express has unveiled a number of moves to expand its network and services in Asia over the past few weeks.

In Taiwan, DHL has announced a 17pct rise in operating profits for 2007 based on a 10pct rise in import volumes and 5pct rise in exports. Revenue figures were not disclosed. Expansion of the operations centre at the Farglory Free Trade Zone near Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in northern Taiwan is scheduled for completion in October and operational start in early 2009. This will triple cargo handling volumes at the site. DHL also won the Taiwan Ideal Brand in the ‘ International Express & Logistics’ category for the seventh consecutive year in an annual survey conducted by Taiwan’s Management Magazine.

In Bangladesh, DHL has launched an Airport to Door Express service for local customers importing from overseas suppliers under Free Carrier (FCA) Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) that do not require door-to-door transport.

In Malaysia, DHL extended its presence in the hi-tech Klang Valley region by opening three more Servicepoints in partnership with retail partners to offer express services to small companies and private individuals.

Meanwhile, Malaysian newspaper The Edge Financial Daily has reported that DHL is giving local cargo airline Transmile, with which it has a strategic cooperation alliance, time to restructure and build its reputation following financial problems last year.

DHL Asia Pacific chief executive officer Dan McHugh told the newspaper DHL has a “good, open relationship” with Transmile, and the two companies were in regular talks on network issues. Transmile was still a component of its global aviation strategy, operating routes such as Bangkok-Singapore, Singapore-Jakarta and Beijing-Hong Kong for DHL, he noted.

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DHL Express reported interested in Romanian parcels firm Cargus

Posted by | Feb 8, 2008 | |

DHL Express is interested in acquiring one of the leading domestic parcels companies in Romania to strengthen its business there, according to a recent media report.

The Romanian business newspaper Ziarul Financiar reported that DHL is in talks to buy a stake in privately-owned Cargus, citing market sources. The information was not confirmed by company officials. Cargus is owned by two low-profile business people, Augustin Plesea and Carmina Dumitrescu, the newspaper said.

The Romanian company, with turnover of EUR 29.7 million in 2007, is valued at EUR 50 million and aims to grow by 50 pct this year, the newspaper wrote.

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DHL signs national agreement with grocery chain ICA

Posted by | Feb 8, 2008 | |

DHL and the ICA Group have signed a framework agreement covering all retailers in the country. The agreement means that individual retailers can now offer their customers the facility to post and collect DHL parcels of various sizes.

DHL continues herewith to invest in the private market. DHL Express can already offer private individuals and companies over 1,150 posting and collection points across the country, the so-called SERVICEPOINTS. By the end of the year, DHL expects to have almost 1,500 outlets.

“ICA is Sweden’s largest grocery chain, and now that we are increasing our cooperation, we expect to achieve a denser geographical coverage for our SERVICEPOINT concept”, says Lars Jordahn, CEO of DHL Express (Sweden).

DHL Express launched the SERVICEPOINT concept at the end of last year, providing private individuals and companies with a simple way to send domestic parcels at times that suit them.

There are posting and collection points in shops of various kinds, from gas stations, kiosks and video stores to grocery stores, Pressbyran and 7-Eleven outlets. A common feature of all SERVICEPOINTS is that they are located in places where a lot of people pass by and that they have generous opening hours.

As well as posting and collection in the stores, DHL Express also allows transport to be booked and goods to be tracked over the Internet, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The entire flow of information is handled electronically.

The packaging is included in the total price and is available in the following sizes: 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 kg. All boxes can be reused and recycled.

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Royal Mail: Delivering easier ways to work for disabled people (UK)

Posted by | Feb 8, 2008 | |

Royal Mail Group has formed a new partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions as part of the Jobcentre Plus Access to Work programme, which aims to make it easier to bring more of the 6.8 million disabled men and women of working age into employment.

Access to Work currently helps thousands of workers and their employers to overcome barriers resulting from disability by offering practical advice and funding.

Royal Mail will build on the successful scheme by creating a dedicated national team which will respond to managers’ questions relating to the recruitment or the ongoing needs of disabled employees.

Working within a new ‘one-stop-shop’ Accessibility Resource Centre, advisors will support individual team leaders with the application process. Royal Mail will also pay all claims under GBP 1,000 incurred under the scheme, including premises adaptation, travel and ongoing support workers, and will share any costs in excess of this with Access to Work.

In the past, some employers have struggled to take advantage of the benefits of the scheme, but it is hoped that Royal Mail’s pilot will streamline the process considerably, galvanizing other business leaders to invest in similar, simplified arrangements.

Kay Allen, Head of Social Policy and Inclusion at Royal Mail Group, said: “Facilitating the employment of disabled workers is a key priority for us as a diversity-aware business. The best way to do this is to make it as easy as possible for our people to become “disability confident”.

“We’re aiming to use this pilot to demonstrate new ways in which large employers can take advantage of the Access to Work scheme: helping to ease some of the country’s 3.3 million economically inactive disabled people into work.”

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TNT's Henk van Dalen – A CFO preaches the importance of 'employee engagement,' traditionally a subject left to HR

Posted by | Feb 7, 2008 | |

Henk van Dalen has been busy on the M&A front. The CFO of TNT, a €10 billion Dutch logistics company, has overseen the acquisitions of ARC India-one of the countries major road express companies-in 2006 as well Brazil’s Mercúrio of Brazil and Hoau of China in 2007. These deals are part of TNT’s plan to become the number-one logistics company in emerging markets.
But along the way, the acquisitions present van Dalen with a challenge. Now that TNT operates across more than 200 countries and in 37 languages, how can he persuade a diverse group of employees to work towards a common strategic goal?
As the CFO sees it, part of the solution lies in ’employee engagement,’ getting employees to go the extra mile for the company. At TNT, this now includes an annual online survey to measure engagement levels, external benchmarking and making engagement levels a component of management bonuses.
Giving the programme’s acceptance among TNT’s rank and file a boost are studies from the likes of Towers Perrin-ISR-an employee-relations research firm-that draw a link between employee engagement and financial performance. Van Dalen concedes he needs a bit more time to see that link with TNT’s programme-which was launched a few years ago—but recently discussed with CFO Europe why he believes the initial results are encouraging.
Why did TNT decide to focus on employee engagement?
Employee motivation and engagement have always been important to the kind of work that TNT does. An enormous commitment is required from people to do their job effectively and efficiently with a focus on service and the right attitude.
At the same time, we recognised that it is important to work on this subject more precisely by having indicators available that enable management to target actions to get the best possible engagement. This more formal part started two to three years ago. It’s part of a wider focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, which focuses on three elements: people, planet and profits.
How does TNT measure employee engagement?
We measure engagement in three areas: employees’ perception of the group, such as the principles they believe it adheres; their views on the quality of leadership at TNT, and their views on various elements of the working relationship-for example, learning and development or reward and performance evaluations.
These areas are covered in an anonymous online survey, which is conducted by an external company. This allows us to benchmark ourselves against our sector and against the leading 10% in the world in terms of employee engagement.
How would you describe the current level of engagement at TNT?
We started the online survey in 2006 so I think it’s still too early to identify real trends. What we can clearly see is a lot of interest in the survey-the participation rate is high. Management is picking up on the outcomes and developing action plans for the next year. The outcomes are also being discussed with employees within each department.
How do you score in the benchmarking exercise?
We’re not able to share our benchmarking figures now. We will, however, give a little bit more detail for the first time in our annual report this year. I can say that the latest survey-conducted in 2007-found that our employees are more engaged than the average in the postal, transport and logistics industry, which makes me proud. Engagement figures appear particularly high in areas such as customer focus, social responsibility and diversity.
The benchmarking exercise has highlighted areas where we can improve. A case in point: the enormous focus required in terms of communicating with employees about the future. And that means not only telling but also listening.
Continuous and consistent efforts to promote engagement are also important. If you focus on engagement only once a year or once every two years, people think, ‘Oh no, here it comes again.’
Have you identified a link between employee engagement and finan

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