Liberalisation, privatisation and regulation of postal services in Europe – First international experiences in the run-up to new European regulations
Read MoreAgility, TNT and UPS, three leading logistics and transport companies, are joining forces to help the humanitarian sector with the logistics of emergency response to large-scale natural disasters. The World Economic Forum has facilitated these initiatives by offering a neutral platform for the development of partnerships between the humanitarian relief sector and member companies.
The first initiative is a set of ten high-level Guiding Principles designed to guide both the private sector and humanitarian community as they work together to provide effective relief to those in need. The second initiative is a unique, pioneering example of collaboration between several companies and the humanitarian relief sector.
The three companies and the United Nations Global Logistics Cluster today on guidelines and conditions for the intervention of joint ‘Logistics Emergency Teams’ (LETs). LETs’ support includes providing logistics specialists (e.g. airport coordination, airport managers and warehouse managers), logistics assets (e.g. warehouses, trucks, forklifts) and transportation services. LETs will intervene for the first three to six weeks following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or storms.
The companies stand ready to deploy Logistics Emergency Teams worldwide upon request from the United Nations Global Logistics Cluster. The nature of the request, local situations and the companies’ available resources will dictate the teams’ size and composition. As a general rule, they will serve in countries where member companies already operate, thereby leveraging their knowledge of local constraints. A committee representing the member companies is to answer requests from the Global Logistics Cluster led by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and decide on the deployment of LETs.
Read MoreSwiss Post is continuing to pursue its international niche strategy. Its international unit, Swiss Post International (SPI), has acquired the Swedish letters processing company IMS Europe AB. It is thus expanding its presence in Scandinavia and will become a key provider in the Swedish postal market. IMS Europe AB, which has a staff of five, generated sales of around CHF 3.6 million in 2007.
The takeover of IMS Europe AB by Swiss Post International (SPI) took place with effect from 1 January 2008. IMS Europe AB is an independent letters processor based in Limhamm, near Malmö in southern Sweden. The company operates with the product groups marketing mail, business mail, business to consumer as well as press and packaging, and generated sales of around CHF 3.6 million in 2007 with five employees. With the takeover, SPI has gained a second foothold in Sweden in addition to its branch in Stockholm. SPI is thus strengthening its position in southern Scandinavia and is advancing to become a key provider in the Swedish postal market. It was agreed that the purchase price will not be disclosed.
With the acquisition, Swiss Post is continuing its strategy of generating growth in international niche markets, in line with the strategic objectives set by the Federal Council. In the meantime, Swiss Post already generates 20 percent of its sales abroad and in its cross-border business. Swiss Post International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Post and currently employs 1,200 people in eleven European countries, four countries in Asia and the USA. For 2007 SPI is predicting sales of over 1.1 billion Swiss francs. SPI is now number five on the cross-border letters market after Deutsche Post, United States Postal Service, Great Britain’s Royal Mail and France’s La Poste.
1 US Dollar = 1.09657 Swiss Franc
Since 1 January 2008, Swiss Post draws its energy from hydraulics. In December 2007, it signed an agreement with “Swisspower” and committed to using 100% of renewable electricity. As a result La Poste is already reducing its CO2 emissions by 8%. This effort places the company in a good position to achieve the objective of PostEurop’s Green House Gas reduction programme which Swiss Post joined last year.
Read MoreDHL Express has started a new service: with DHL US Next Day time-sensitive goods and documents from the most important Swiss economic regions will be delivered to the US, Canada and Mexico on the following day.
DHL Express is offering delivery before 10.30am (DHL Express 10.30), before 12.00pm (DHL Express 12.00) or before the close of business (DHL Express Worldwide). With US Next Day DHL can deliver to almost anywhere in the US as well as commercial centers in Canada and Mexico by the next day.
This new service is made possible by the DHL hub in Wilmington, Ohio, one of the largest private airports in the world, as well as four further international gateways. More than 34,000 staff in the US work around the clock to distribute the items. In recent years DHL has invested 1.2 billion US dollars in the comprehensive network and in expanding the hub in Wilmington.
The commercial centers of Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Basle, Lucerne, Zürich and Wil (St. Gallen) all benefit from DHL’s US Next Day service. A customer in the Geneva area can have his US Next Day item collected by DHL as late as 12.45pm. Customers in the Basle region have the last collection time at 3.45pm because a dedicated DHL plane is used for this service to fly from Basle via East Midlands to Wilmington. Duty is paid on these items while in the air.
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