Tag: South America

Latin America to dodge weak U.S. economy

Posted by | Apr 1, 2008 | |

Latin America and the Caribbean could dodge U.S. economic weakness because of the diversity of its exports and bilateral trade agreements, the regional head of package delivery giant FedEx Corp said on Tuesday.

FedEx is betting on Latin America because the region is growing at its fastest pace in three decades and because of solid economic fundamentals of regional powerhouses Mexico and Brazil.

The firm is also closely watching big commodity producers Peru, Chile and Argentina at a time when metal, oil and grain prices are at record highs.

Some analysts believe a U.S. recession would hit demand for commodities and other products from Latin America. Juan Cento, FedEx’s president for Latin America and the Caribbean, disagrees.

“A weaker U.S. economy is not paralyzing the economies of Latin America,” Cento told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in a telephone interview from Miami.

FedEx, which employs 3,400 workers in 50 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, is seen as an indicator of economic health, because a fall in demand for its services is a symptom of a weak economy.

“We are noticing that the change in dynamics of markets, in which exports are being pushed to other areas, has brought a new stability and position of strength (to regional products) in the global economy,” Cento added.

Trade alliances with China, other eastern countries and Europe will help avoid a slowdown in demand for goods and commodities produced in Latin America, he said.

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TTPost spending USD 4.7m to upgrade its delivery service

Posted by | Mar 26, 2008 | |

The Trinidad and Tobago Postal Corporation (TTPost) is set to improve its delivery network at a cost of USD 4.7 million within the next three months.

TTPost communications manager, Simone Farmer, said yesterday that the company, currently involved in wage negotiations with the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Workers’ Union, had met recently and identified solutions to several issues.

Postal workers in South and Central have been protesting in recent times over a series of problems, including defective mail bags, unsafe conditions at the workplace and general “unsatisfactory working conditions”.

Recently in Chaguanas, Couva, Marabella and San Fernando, workers downed tools in protest of these conditions.

The buildings occupied by the Chaguanas and Marabella workers were deemed unsafe and the workers also protested insufficient motorcycles for the delivery officers.

Workers at San Fernando, Couva and other areas also complained about defective mailbags.

Farmer said in a statement that the company’s decision to spend millions to improve its delivery network was a result of concern raised by the workers.

Among the challenges faced by TTPost, Farmer said, was the inadequacy of staff facilities at premises rented by the company for its delivery operations.

Farmer said April 25 was identified as the deadline date for repairs to the Chaguanas and Couva/California delivery offices, while defective mail bags and other old materials currently in use by workers will be replaced by April 30.

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The Cuban postal service has received a deluge of letters and packages in recent years

Posted by | Mar 3, 2008 | |

The Cuban postal service has received a deluge of letters and packages in recent years.
To get an idea of the magnitude of the growth, the number of deliveries in 2007 was 47.6 percent higher than those of 2006. Meanwhile, at the end of January, statistics showed a 59 percent increase with regard to the same period of the previous year.

The postal service’s international exchange office’s first vice-president, Eliecer Blanco, explained that providing mail security includes two main aspects: investment and the human factor. With regard to the first, he assured that they are working hard to materialize projects aimed at improving organization.

The second one, he stressed, is essential. “We are currently evaluating the issue with Aero Varadero (the mail cargo company with which we process the customers’ claims to the airlines), TRASVAL (the main transport contractor for the postal service) and with Postal Customs, to guarantee that all parties fulfill their obligations.”

Blanco said that in the delivery process from sender to recipient the final movement corresponds to the Post Office, ultimately responsible for losses and plundering of mail. However, he noted that external entities participate in this process: “If we don’t organize ourselves and each individual doesn’t fulfill his or her obligations, problems are created. This leads us to the adoption of technical and organizational measures.”

He said some of the answers include an assessment of the flow from air terminals to Post Office units to minimize the time the mail is at these facilities; simplification of customs processes to speed up reception and distribution; automation of the process, and reaching agreement with the Astro Bus Co. for transporting postal cargo since the vehicles currently used to carry out that service are insufficient.

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Cost of postal services goes up by 25 pct in Samoa

Posted by | Mar 3, 2008 | |

The prices of domestic and international postal services in Samoa have gone up by 25 pct

Samoa Post’s acting general manager, Tupe Ualolo Nun Yan, says the tariff increase is inevitable and long overdue.

He explains that postal costs have gone up considerably since the postal tariff review for international mail in 2006, and the domestic mail review in 1994.

The increase is to offset the higher postal costs which have been caused by rising overseas and domestic delivery charges, freight, VAGST and inflation.

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TNT extends fleet after one year of Mercurio’s acquisition

Posted by | Jan 14, 2008 | |

The Expresso Mercúrio, acquired one year ago by Dutch group TNT Express, intends to buy more 100 trucks this year to attempt the projected growth of the demand for the road load transport because of the good moment of the Brazilian economy. ‘In 2008 the market goes to grow above two digits. It goes to be a better or at least equal as 2007’, believes the president of the TNT/Mercúrio, Robert Rodrigues, who esteem that the market of express deliveries has grown about 15 pct in 2007.
In 2007 97 trucks and 88 pick up/ delivery vans had been bought and, with the acquisition of this year, Mercúrio will have 1,5 a thousand proper vehicles, approximately, between trucks and vans. The company still uses about two thousand third-party vehicles, depending on the time of the year.
Last year Mercúrio also constructed a new hub in Joinville (SC) and this year intends to raise new ones in Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza and Recife. Rodrigues, however, prefers not to disclose the value of the investment to be made in 2008. ‘But will be at least higher than 5 pct of our liquid invoicing ‘, inform.
According to Rodrigues, last first year Mercurio had as goal the improvement of the management, nomination of the new direction and adjusting the management stile to TNT’s one, as sending systematic reports to the Head Office. From now on, as Rodrigues affirms, all the attention is focused to the business. ‘We will increase the performance to speed up the growth’, says.

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