Tag: Sweden

Europe’s post faces law of the jungle

Posted by | Oct 2, 2007 | |

UNI-Europa Post & Logistics has condemned the decision by the Council of European Union Ministers meeting in Luxembourg to go ahead with total de-regulation in the postal sector by 2011/13.

Without clear provisions to fund the universal postal service and without secure provisions in the new directive to protect wage dumping, UNI-Europa Post & Logistics warns that post faces the law of the jungle.

Ministers agreed to full market opening of postal services by 31 December 2010 and for 11 member states by 31 December 2012. The 11 exceptions are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
This is in line with the decision taken by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 11 July.

The Council’s common position is due to be finally adopted at a forthcoming meeting after the second reading of the directive in the European Parliament.

Protection for some mail services, which have allowed traditional operators to cross-subsidise services to rural, mountain and island communities will disappear.

The question of financing the universal postal service obligation will be up to individual member states with the risk of adding extra burdens on taxpayers.

Individual governments and regulators will now be the focus of union pressure to ensure funding for a universal postal service and to strengthen directive provisions to prevent unfair competition.

Unions want common employment and social standards build into regulations and operating licenses to stop wage dumping and head off the replacement of decent jobs by precarious work.

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EU Agrees on Postal Competition Starting in 2011

Posted by | Oct 1, 2007 | |

European Union governments agreed to start local mail competition in 2011, two years later than Deutsche Post AG, TNT NV and other providers were seeking to expand into new countries.

Countries must open their markets to foreign competitors for delivering standard letters, in the compromise reached today at a meeting of national ministers in Luxembourg. Still, 11 of the 27 EU countries get two extra years, until 2013, to prepare their current providers.

The compromise won over France and other nations that opposed an earlier plan for competition in 2009. The initiative will end monopolies such as that of France’s La Poste in standard letters, which are two-thirds of the region’s 88 billion-euro (USD 125 billion) postal market, according to the EU executive agency.

Deutsche Post will continue to examine postal markets in Europe and elsewhere, Uwe Bensien, a spokesman in Bonn, said by telephone.

Letters up to 50 grams (1.8 ounces) are the final piece of the mail industry being opened, after a decade of phased-in deregulation. That business is more profitability than package or express delivery, according to the European Commission, the EU agency where McCreevy oversees internal market policy.

EU countries that allowed postal competition before the 2011 deadline include the U.K., Finland and Sweden. Germany and the Netherlands plan to follow suit Jan. 1.

Countries eligible for the extra two-year delay include Luxembourg, the country of half a million people whose service would be dwarfed by neighboring rivals, and Greece, with territory spread over hundreds of islands. Nine of the 12 countries that joined the EU since 2004 also gained the extra time. Estonia, Bulgaria and Slovenia will adhere to the 2011 deadline.

Portugal, holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, drafted the compromise in line with a European Parliament vote in July. The initiative still needs final approval by majorities in both the Parliament and the national governments, whose votes are weighted by country population, to become law.

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Express Europe adds Nordic partners

Posted by | Oct 1, 2007 | |

Net Express Europe (NEE), an alliance of independent parcel carriers, has added new partners to cover the Nordic region.

Nordic Express, based in Malmö, has been appointed the organisation’s agent for Sweden, Norway and Finland. NEE described the company as one of Sweden’s fastest-growing transport companies.

Denmark is now covered by 1Step, a Copenhagen-based parcels carrier with operating centres across the country.

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DHL Sweden opens terminal of the future in Örebro

Posted by | Sep 27, 2007 | |

Today DHL is opening an Express terminal at Törsjö, in Örebro, which means that forwarding companies will be able to offer even quicker deliveries than previously. DHL now hopes to attract many new customers in and around the area.

“Örebro is a central demographic point for haulage in Scandinavia because we can reach the greatest number of people within the smallest possible radius. This imposes considerable demands on the business and I am happy to announce that with the new terminal at Törsjö we can offer both existing and potential customers a high level of delivery accuracy”, says Anders Ekwall, Director of Operations at the DHL Express installation in Örebro.

Törsjö was the natural choice. Besides the fact that the area is situated away from the centre of Örebro and located close to the motorway, DHL Exel Supply Chain has already established a major storage facility in the area. This means that DHL can offer its customers even more effective freight management.

A key role in this context is played by a new method of sorting which involves all shipments to and from the Örebro terminal being sorted in accordance with a computer-generated distribution model. This allows professional drivers to make as few unnecessary journeys as possible. And as well as the reduced impact on the environment, this saves a considerable amount of time.

DHL’s new terminal was built by Peab and the land is owned by Brinova. The terminal covers an area of 7,600 qm, and has some 60 gates. The total ground area under asphalt is 28,000 qm, but DHL has an option to use an additional 10,000 qm for expansion when the need arises.

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DHL in Sweden offers international parcels service to private customers

Posted by | Sep 24, 2007 | |

November sees the launch of DHL’s assault on a completely new area – the private market. Competitive prices combined with rapid delivery are designed to persuade Swedes to send their parcels with DHL. In the first phase, the new B2C service covers Sweden only. From next year, Swedes will be able to send their parcels all over the world via DHL.

Until now, DHL Express in Sweden has focused on the business-to-business market. But now the company is breaking new ground and taking on the private market. The recipe for success is based on a completely new business model.

Initially, the service will be available in 1,000 posting and collection centres in Sweden. Apart from signing a number of contracts with local dealers in various industries, DHL has also established a cooperative agreement with a nationwide franchise chain in the service sector. But this is just the beginning. Access to the so-called SERVICEPOINT for private individuals and for the existing 50,000 business customers will be exceptionally good. In future, it will be just as common to see a sign advertising SERVICEPOINT as a yellow and red DHL van.

The concept of SERVICEPOINT has been around for some time in places like Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy and the Benelux countries. As early as 2008, DHL expects to be able to offer Swedish customers shipments worldwide. There is great demand for the concept from existing customers and also from private individuals who need a quick and easy way to send parcels to relatives and friends all round the globe.

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