Tag: Maltapost

Malta privatizes postal company

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

The Maltese government said on Monday it was privatizing Maltapost, the Maltese postal company, transferring the majority shareholding to Lombard Bank Malta and floating 40 percent of the shares on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt said that the bank, which already has a 35 percent stake, will buy a further 25 per cent stake for 2.4 million euros. The remaining government shareholding will then be floated.

Maltapost currently enjoys a monopoly in addressed mail items of under 50 grams and is the biggest operator in the delivery of heavier postal articles. It has post offices all over Malta.

Lombard Malta is Malta’s third largest bank but accounts for only a tiny fraction of Maltese banking business with just four branch offices.

The Maltese banking sector is dominated by HSBC Malta and Bank of Valletta, but a Portuguese bank, the Banif group, recently announced plans to involve itself heavily in Maltese retail banking.

Read More

European postal operators take stock of Parliament’s improvements

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

12 European postal operators take stock of the European Parliament’s improvements brought to the proposal for a third postal directive.

The European Parliament has adopted, with a broad majority, amendments bringing significant changes to the initial proposal of the Commission.

Taking into consideration the great uncertainty of universal service financing and the risks of social dumping, the European Parliament has proposed substantial improvements on these two points and asks for the postponement of the date of realisation of the Internal Market in order to cope with them. The repeated reference to the economic role of universal postal services as well as to their contribution to the territorial and social cohesion is to be welcomed. It recalls one of the original objectives of the Community postal policy, thus balancing the liberalisation process.

However, the postal operators from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia want to stress that the postponement alone does not address the many legal, economic and technical questions which remain as acute as ever.

It is therefore extremely important to deepen the discussions on those points.

As a consequence, the signatories call the Council to follow the cautious approach adopted by the European Parliament and to enrich the directive proposal by addressing the remaining issues in order to properly manage the next liberalisation steps.

Read More

Malta: Competition in postal services sector uncertain

Posted by | Jul 10, 2007 | |

As the European Parliament prepares to vote on a draft directive for the full market opening of postal services this month, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) told MaltaMedia that “It is still early to tell if anyone would be interested in setting up shop following liberalization” in Malta.

Recently that Transport Committee said that the deadline for remaining postal service monopolies in European Union (EU) member states, such as Maltapost in Malta, should expire by 31st December 2010, two years later than the 1st January 2009 deadline proposed by the European Commission.

The two-year postponement was a compromise to get the proposal through.

Some Members of the European Parliament had argued that in parts of the EU, more time is needed to create a stable regulatory framework for ensuring that post continues to be delivered EU-wide at an affordable cost, and to enable postal operators to adapt to new market conditions.

Full market opening should mean that national operators will no longer have a monopoly on mail below the maximum weight of 50 grams, known as the reserved area.

In this light, a spokesperson for the MCA told MaltaMedia that Malta is not “among the ‘laggards’, having rationalised its postal operation some time back.” While noting that “it is debatable whether an additional two year ‘closed-shop’ will bring about added efficiency” to post services operations, the spokesperson added that in the other sector that it regulates, it was the actual market opening that served to spur the relative operators to adapt to open market conditions.

In fact, a new operator recently entered the market providing full territorial coverage within the universal service area, specifically seeing to the delivery of summons in line with the Local Tribunals Regulations. This service already falls outside the area currently reserved for Maltapost.

Read More

Maltapost and workers association sign collective agreement

Posted by | Jun 14, 2007 | |

A dispute between Malta Postal Workers Association and Maltapost management, which led to postal operators striking at end of May, came to an end on Wednesday with the signing of their collective agreement.

The collective agreement package was approved by the Maltapost workers both in Malta and Gozo. Proposals the management had set forward in May were deemed unacceptable by the union, leading to industrial action.

The new collective agreement includes family friendly conditions and has increased the number of allowances such extra beat allowance. Maltapost workers¡¯ salaries were also upped.

Read More

Compensation to be paid for lost or delayed mail in Malta

Posted by | Jun 13, 2005 | |

Maltapost has pledged to speed up the delivery of letters and compensate senders for lost or delayed mail in a series of improvements to its service that could go a long way to resolving the public’s complaints. The revisions the company will undertake are contained in a document on Quality of Service Requirements published by the Malta Communications Authority as required by the Postal Services Act. The document pledges to set right most of the concerns aired in a customer perceptions survey carried out last November, which had indicated general dissatisfaction with the time taken to deliver mail and with Maltapost’s overall performance. A compensation scheme for local ordinary mail will come into force in October.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest