Tag: Italy

EU approves 1.1 bln euro compensation for Poste Italiane

Posted by | Apr 30, 2008 | |

The European Commission said it has approved the 1.1 billion euros compensation Italy granted Poste Italiane SpA between 2006 and 2008 to meet the costs of fulfilling its universal postal service obligations.

Universal service ensures citizens and businesses located in rural areas get a comparable service to their urban counterparts.

The state support is in line with EU rules on public service compensation because it does not over-compensate Poste Italiane for providing these services, and therefore does not allow for cross-subsidies for other activities, the Commission said.

Poste Italiane is the universal postal service provider in Italy.

Over the period 2006-2008 Poste Italiane received 1.1 billion euros compensation for providing this public service.

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TNT Express Italy wins contract and upgrades customer service

Posted by | Apr 21, 2008 | |

TNT Express Italy has renewed a distribution contract with leading direct sales company Amway based around its growing B2C network and invested EUR 1.4 million to improve its customer service offer with an automated system for pick-ups and new help teams.

US-owned Amway, which markets mostly cosmetics, healthcare and home products to consumers via independent retailers, will use the nationwide network of 1,200 TNT Points to distribute products to its salesforce.

Goods will be transported by road from the Amway hub in the Netherlands to TNT’s branch at Rho, near Milan, and then distributed throughout Italy through the TNT Point network. Amway salespersons can pick up their parcels at a convenient TNT Point instead of having to await courier delivery.

The B2C retail network, using a “shop-in-shop” concept in cooperation with retailers such as newsagents, tobacconists and office supply shops, is due to grow from 1,200 outlets to 1,500 by September.

Alessandro Sabato, managing director of Amway Italia, said 22,000 persons were selling Amway products each day in Italy, and they would now have rapid and comfortable access to their sales products.

Meanwhile, TNT Express Italy said it had completed a €1.4 million investment to upgrade its customer service offering under a contract with BT Italia. Following a successful test phase, TNT Express Italy has fully implemented the self-service speech application known as “Victoria” to handle standard calls from customers requesting pick-ups.

The Interactive Voice Responder (IVR) system requires just 3 – 6 standard questions to book a pick-up. Such calls were previously a “significant” proportion of the 36,000 daily calls handled by 500 call centre staff, TNT pointed out. “Victoria” is indistinguishable from a real person, and if problems arise, the customer is immediately transferred to a human operator, the company added.

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FS enters the logistics market

Posted by | Apr 17, 2008 | |

Italian Railways has set up a joint venture with the Italian post office aimed at securing a share of the market for transporting high-value goods and packages. Italia Logistica was launched on February 28 when FS and Gruppo Poste Italiane announced that they were merging the activities of their respective subsidiaries Omnia Logistica and SDA Logistica following the signing of a letter of intent last year.

Italia Logistica will use the strengths of the two parent organisations to offer door-to-door services using pick-up and collection by road and long-haul transport by rail. The company plans to use the latest IT to manage and track consignments and to develop a range of new services.

Chief Executive Mauro Moretti said FS had added a new activity to its range of products and that the business would operate in a ‘very competitive market’. The move followed rationalisation and relaunch of the freight business which included plans to work more closely with Italian ports. Italia Logistica will focus on integrated services for high-value distribution including urban logistics, ‘reverse logistics’ when customers return products to suppliers, and the catering sector.

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Sixteen Postal Operators Sign REIMS III Terminal Dues Agreement

Posted by | Apr 1, 2008 | |

After two years of negotiations European postal operators have reached a new agreement on terminal dues payments replacing the REIMS II Agreement in force since 1997.

The REIMS III Agreement took effect on 1 January 2008 with sixteen European postal operators committing to it. REIMS stands for Remuneration for the Exchange of International Mails. The sixteen posts that are now part of REIMS III are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Additional posts are expected to sign the agreement, which will remain open for signature for all present and former parties of the REIMS II Agreement and the REIMS East Agreement that participated in its negotiation.

REIMS III continues with quality of service standards much more ambitious than the targets under the EU Postal Directive. The individualized penalties in REIMS III for not reaching the J+1 standard and a target of 93 percent will continue to produce quality of service benefits. Transitional rules have been outlined that will continue to raise targets for those parties that have not yet reached 93% J+1.

A second benefit in the REIMS III agreement is that ensures that terminal dues as stipulated in the EU Postal Directive are cost-based, and are based on regulated domestic tariffs in the delivering country.

The parties to REIMS III have the firm commitment to continue to offer Third Party Access in line with the EU Commission’s 2003 Exemption Decision.

With the REIMS East transitional arrangement and the REIMS and REIMS East IDM Agreements incorporated into the REIMS III Agreement, it is expected that more REIMS East parties will sign the REIMS III Agreement during 2008.

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Poste Italiane targets logistics growth with rail JV

Posted by | Mar 27, 2008 | |

Poste Italiane, the Italian postal group, is aiming to expand in the logistics sector with the formation of a joint venture with Italian Railways (Ferrovie dello Stato/FS).

The two groups announced they will merge their small logistics businesses, SDA Logistica (Poste Italiane) and Omnia Logistica (FS), into a single company to be called Italia Logistica. This will initially have revenues of some EUR 70 million, putting it among the top ten Italian logistics companies, according to the two groups. They hope it will grow into a market leader by 2010.

SDA Logistica, founded in 2000, is currently a unit of SDA Express Courier, Poste Italiane’s express and parcels delivery subsidiary, and uses its operational network of 96 depots, six distribution hubs and two air gateways. SDA Express Courier, with some 3,100 staff, had revenues of EUR 460 million in 2007.

Italia Logistica will focus on offering long-distance intermodal freight transportation using both rail and road, combined with door-to-door delivery services. It will use the two groups’ acceptance and distribution facilities. Additional services will include return logistics and hotel/catering logistics.

Poste Italiane director general Massimo Sarmi said that the two groups were combining their logistics and technological experience in order to create a national logistics operator able to compete with the leading European players.

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