Tag: Korea

Integrators change course as clients go for ocean transport

Posted by | Sep 1, 2008 | |

This summer, FedEx opened two new gateways on the US West Coast for traffic entering its home market from Asia by ocean vessel. The integrator’s trade networks unit created gateway offices at the ports of Seattle and Oakland for traffic that moves in consolidations to the US and after breakdown is fed into the domestic FedEx network.

The focus on waterborne traffic is indicative not only of the weakness of the US economy and the impact of high oil prices on supply chain costs and strategies, it also shows a change in strategic thinking at FedEx.

Fred Smith said that FedEx was reviewing its strategy in order to position itself better to deal with an expected change in the way how its clientele was doing business. He outlined a new situation, where reliance on aircraft for shorter hauls is diminishing further. Increasingly, customers are cutting back on premium services.

The integrators remain bullish about their international express package business, particularly in Asia. FedEx and UPS are due to open their new Asian hubs in Guangzhou and Shanghai respectively this year.

Elsewhere in Asia, UPS bought out Korea Express’s share in their joint venture to assume full control of its express business in Korea.

According to some unconfirmed reports, FedEx is about to take a giant leap to boost its strength in the market, particularly on intra-European and Asia-Europe trade lanes. The integrator is allegedly seeking to acquire TNT. Both sides declined to comment on what they described as “speculation”.

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Good results for the EMS Cooperative

Posted by | Aug 4, 2008 | |

At its extraordinary General Assembly held during the UPU Congress, the EMS Cooperative announced on Monday 4th August a set of very positive results: volumes rose by 23 pct between 2004 and 2006; 88 pct of items were delivered on time; and the EMS Cooperative now boasts a membership of 149. The EMS Cooperative was created in 1998 to develop and strengthen the EMS service.

A succession of countries were awarded certificates in recognition of their efforts to meet the main EMS standards. To ensure high quality service, independent consultants analyze the performance of the various operators each year.

For 2007, 13 countries received gold, silver or bronze awards for the excellence of their EMS services (deliveries, tracking of items and customer service). Azerbaijan, Hong Kong (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore took gold; the Czech Republic, Great Britain, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States were awarded silver; and Australia, Brazil and Canada received bronze awards.

Hungary, Russia and Spain also received awards for exceptional customer service.

EMS is a high quality, competitive, affordable international express postal service for sending documents and goods the world over. In most countries EMS is the only operator offering universal access to international express services for private customers and small and medium enterprises.

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International Freight Industry to shift from air transport to sea and rail

Posted by | Jul 15, 2008 | |

Australia Post’s Managing Director, Graeme John, foresees cutbacks on flights and a shift towards sea and rail deliveries with regard to the annual meeting of the Kahala Posts Group last week.

John said that growth in international freight from consumer goods such as electronics had been managed on a “just in time” basis, with air delivery preferred to other means of transport due to its speed advantage. But that approach was no longer viable as global warming would have an enormous influence on the postal industry worldwide increasing the pressure to shift towards less environmentally-damaging modes of delivery.

The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) which is the alliance of nine national postal administrations in Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Britain, was founded five years ago and named after a resort the members stayed at during their founding meeting in Hawaii. The postal operators have since launched an upgraded, guarantee-based international service between their respective countries and territories.

Therefore, Kahala Group focused instead on reliability of delivery. But to keep the reliability of the service, 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 time window during which a parcel would be delivered, Brisbane Times further reported.

While the private couriers already offered that service and faster delivery, the Kahala members undercut their prices by 40 pct to 50 pct to stay competitive in price.

John further said that 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, Brisbane Times added.

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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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Brunei Postal Services, Korea Post Sign MoU

Posted by | Jul 5, 2008 | |

Brunei Postal Services and the Korea Post yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Ministry of Communications.
Signing on behalf of the Brunei government was Brunei Postal Services Postmaster General Haji Abd Kadir Tengah, while Korea Post President Kyung-Won Jung represented the Republic of Korea.
Present to witness the signing was Minister of Communication Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kema Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong.
Under the MOU, the Brunei Postal Services and Korea Post will have the opportunity to strengthen existing cooperation relations in various postal services related fields in order to develop and upgrade the quality of postal services.
Both sides agreed to develop cooperation in various fields which included providing expertise and exchanging information of their respective Mail Processing System, operating EMS cooperation (Expedite Mail Service), exchanging information and practices in the areas of Parcel Service and Cash on Delivery Services, operating International remittance service and promoting/encouraging the sale of each other’s philatelic products.

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