Tag: North America

UPS Celebrates it's 100-Year Anniversary

Posted by | Aug 28, 2007 | |

UPS Inc. celebrates it’s 100-year anniversary later this month, it now is the world’s largest shipping carrier – a USD 47 billion business with a fleet of trucks, an airline and operations in 200 countries.

Increasing competition for delivery of goods has meant the company has had to broaden its global reach and expand its business beyond small package delivery to shipping heavy freight and providing logistics services for companies.

But even as the Internet has made it easier to send, receive or download items electronically instead of paying a service to deliver them, the breaking down of trade barriers has given shippers like UPS overseas opportunities they haven’t had in the past.
the global economy.

These days, the U.S. small package delivery market has slowed along with the economy. As a result, UPS has been increasingly looking beyond U.S. borders for business, offering faster delivery to worldwide destinations. International growth has helped the company’s bottom line.

Last month, UPS reported a 4.1 percent rise in second-quarter earnings on a modest increase in sales. The company’s shares, on an adjusted basis, are up more than 14 percent over the last year.

A century from now, Chief Executive Mike Eskew expects that delivering small packages will still be an important part of the Atlanta-based company’s business, but he isn’t sure it will be the largest part. In 2001, the company expanded its services by acquiring the Mail Boxes Etc. chain. Most of the stores were later renamed The UPS Store.

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UPS Express Critical launched

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

UPS launched UPS Express Critical, a service that allows customers to manifest and track urgent shipments with a single call center, one bill and one Web site.

UPS Critical allows package shippers to bill their shipments on their package account.

The new service can also offer shippers transportation combinations of planes and trucks – in one case, UPS said, an auto parts wholesale distributor in Ohio was able to take orders late into the evening and still reach dealers with shipments before normal business hours the next morning.

UPS competitor FedEx has a similar service, FedEx Custom Critical.

Urgent shipping customers can use the single-point system whether they”re using UPS SonicAir, UPS Airlines or UPS Freight.

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World Courier targets Chinese pharmaceutical shipments

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

World Courier World Courier, the US-based international courier network, is targeting the booming Chinese pharmaceutical sector by extending its cold chain network to 36 major cities in the country, including provincial capitals.

“China is poised to become the fourth largest pharmaceutical market by 2012,” said Henning Voss, director for World Courier North Asia. But he noted: “China presents many infrastructure challenges for temperature-controlled and clinical trial shipments. Domestic transport companies do not yet fully understand the many international standards at play in handling these types of shipments. As such, the real concerns and requirements of major pharmaceutical clients in China have not been adequately addressed until now.”

With its new operational network, World Courier could help pharmaceutical companies, central labs and clinical research organizations improve their supply chain efficiencies, Voss said. All temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical and clinical trial shipments are handled by trained personnel according to established operating practices and IATA transportation standards. Only validated packaging complete with industry-accepted cold-pack mediums and temperature recording devices are used.

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DHL opens new facility in Baltimore, Maryland

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

DHL announced the opening of a new facility at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport to better-serve the growing needs of shipping customers. DHL’s previous operations at the airport have been enhanced with the opening of a new, USD 1.6 million on-airport facility serving Baltimore and surrounding areas. Improved material handling equipment for aircraft container loading and unloading as well as a 25 percent larger facility now provide for a significantly more efficient operation.

The new 18,663-sq.-ft. facility will also handle additional routes, providing deliveries for more customers in Baltimore, as well as various locations in Howard County, Md., including Columbia, Elkridge, Hanover, and Jessup, and features additional load positions to accommodate more vehicles and volumes of freight.

The facility employs approximately 30, including couriers, administrative staff, managers, sales and security personnel.

The new Baltimore facility investment is one of many initiatives that DHL has undertaken to improve U.S. network efficiencies and connectivity system-wide. DHL has recently enhanced its presence in cities across the country through new facilities in New York City, Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.; Charlotte, N.C.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Charleston, S.C.; White River Junction, Vt.; and Atlanta, Ga. DHL also recently completed a USD 1.2 billion build out of its U.S. domestic network and infrastructure, including an expanded primary air and ground hub in Wilmington, Ohio, seven new Regional Sort Centers located throughout the country, and the development of new, state-of-the-art distribution facilities for the east and west coasts in Allentown, Pa., and Riverside, Calif.

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Rival postal operators eat into Royal Mail profit

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

When Royal Mail blamed its first operating loss in six years on increased competition, eyebrows were raised across the industry.

But new figures from Postcomm reveal that the 15 alternative licensed postal operators are clawing their way deeper into Royal Mail territory.

End-to-end delivery is still largely unfeasible for most of the newer service providers, with only 1 per cent of mail currently not handled by Royal Mail. However, according to Postcomm’s latest figures, access volumes have gone from 2.4 billion items at the end of the last financial year, to 4 billion between April and August. This now accounts for one in five items of business mail.

And with GBP 700m a year being earmarked for Royal Mail’s troubled pension scheme, and the fact that bulk business volumes are down 12 per cent, Royal Mail’s predicament starts to look pretty sticky.

But not all Royal Mail customers are willing to lend a sympathetic ear. Stephen Bentley, chief executive of response management and fulfilment house Granby Marketing Services, believes that Royal Mail’s troubles are due to a failure to keep costs under control. He is nervous the only way for Royal Mail to recover financially will be to increase prices.

“We’ve lost GBP 44 m this year on access mail that we’re handling on behalf of competitors,” says Budd. “The reality is that we are subsidising their businesses.”

But other parts of the business are looking up. In the first half of last year the regulatory report figures show that Royal Mail made a profit on first class mail, including franked mail.

Andy Fruin, external relations director at Postwatch, does not believe Royal Mail’s future is terminal. He concludes/ “Royal Mail has gone through a dramatic recovery before, and it will become a healthy company again.”

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