Tag: Middle East

DHL and Fedex providing service in Iraq

Posted by | Jul 22, 2007 | |

Two of the world’s biggest express transport companies, FedEx and DHL, opened in Iraq months after Saddam Hussein’s regime fell. DHL began operations here in May 2003, and FedEx followed in August of that year.

Both companies serve much of Iraq with drop-off locations in most major cities, and home or office delivery.

Much of their business comes from international shipments in and out of U.S. military bases in Iraq, but drivers make local deliveries as well.

Ahmad Mahmoud, a contractor who runs FedEx’s small desk in a central Baghdad hotel, says he or one of the local FedEx drivers tries to deliver most packages to people’s homes or offices, but they won’t go to certain neighborhoods.

According to FedEx’s website, the Memphis-based company relies on Falcon Express, a cargo carrier, to fly packages into Iraq as well as to other Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

FedEx boasts 33 pickup locations in Iraq, about half of them at U.S. bases, according to its website, which also lists Iraq’s import prohibitions on liquor, jewelry, political material, vitamins, Viagra and other items.

DHL has 13 package drop-off sites throughout Iraq, mostly at airports, according to its website.

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Bahrain tries to allay postal workers' fears

Posted by | Jul 22, 2007 | |

Bahrain’s government has tried to allay postal workers’ fears that the impending privatisation of the service will lead to job cuts.

Assistant Under-Secretary for Post Shaikh Bader bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said the move to privatise Bahrain Post would not lead to downsizing, and claimed that it would in fact lead to growth in the sector and more jobs created.

“We can introduce financial services, transport, logistics and all these will need more employees. It will also perhaps liberate the market.

“The telecommunications industry has shown us that once the market is opened, the workers in the field have grown and the same could be applied to the post office,” he added.

Shaikh Bader’s comments follow a demonstration by around 250 workers in Friday to highlight fears over privatisation.

Approximately 450 people work for Bahrain Post, with around 85 pct of them Bahraini nationals.

Shaikh Bader said the government was still investigating how best to implement the privatisation, and that it was unlikely to go ahead until next year.

Bahrain first began studying plans to privatise its postal service in 2005.

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Pakistan Post planning to expand utility bills payment service

Posted by | Jul 19, 2007 | |

The news that post offices in Rawalpindi will soon be providing the service of collection/payment of utility bills through cheques at the customers’ doorstep will definitely bring relief to the ordinary citizens considering the hardships they have to endure in the payment of bills at banks. A similar scheme is already in operation in Karachi. But unfortunately it has not been much of a success as only a limited number of post offices are said to be offering this service. It is sincerely hoped that the government will expand the range of this facility in Karachi by including more post offices under this scheme, including other cities such as Rawalpindi.

The postal department has levied a service charge of Rs20 (0.16 pence) on collection of bills through checks from homes. This amount might seem paltry to some, but for those from low-income groups, even this amount will seem high considering that their bills might only be a few hundred rupees. The fee structure should be restructured in such a way that it also takes into consideration this aspect. While this scheme is definitely a welcome development vis-a-vis the utility bills collection/payment system, more needs to be done to further facilitate the citizens. In this context, the government cannot only increase the bank branches collecting utility bills but also make the bill collection timings more flexible.

Moreover, the deadline for payment of bills should be more expansive, that is deadlines should be varying for different customers as this will solve the problem of everyone rushing to pay their bills on the same deadline.

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Q-Post stamps sales soar

Posted by | Jul 18, 2007 | |

Postal and revenue stamps sale in Qatar during the last quarter of 2006 witnessed a huge rise compared with the previous three months, a Q-Post report said.

Stamps worth QR 7.51mn were sold in the last quarter of 2006 against QR 6.26mn the earlier quarter, the report said.

While the Q-Post collected QR 3.44mn through postal stamps sale, revenue stamps accounted for QR 4.02mn.

The figures do not include sales at the General Post Office. Among the other post offices, the Labour Department branch sales accounted for QR 2.79million. In the previous quarter, the sale at the office stood at QR 2.15mn.

1 British Pound = 7.42998 Qatari Rial
1 US Dollar = 3.64040 Qatari Rial

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Aramex signs courier service agreement with Qatar Foundation

Posted by | Jul 11, 2007 | |

Aramex has recently signed a significant courier service agreement with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

Through this agreement Aramex will establish an implant office on the Qatar Foundation premises; The Education City, to offer domestic and international delivery of time-sensitive documents, parcels and shipments through its extensive domestic, regional and international network.

Khalid A. Al-Sulaiteen, Director, Materials and Contracts Directorate, Qatar Foundation said: ‘At Qatar Foundation, our mind is set on making Qatar a leading centre of innovation in education and research that will transform the country into a knowledge-based society. Our supplier selection process is governed by key criteria including the merit of the supplier, its capacity to provide innovative solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner. Once on board, we deal with our suppliers with the utmost professionalism and transparency.”

Aramex provides a successful portfolio of express services in Qatar. The company’s online tracking system allows customers to have access to up to the minute information on the delivery and collection of their shipments.

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