Country sheet: United Kingdom – Main developments in the postal sector (2006-2008)
Country sheet: United Kingdom – Main developments in the postal sector (2006-
2008)
Tag: UK Mail
Amtrak Express Parcels Receivership Update
Joint Administrators from Ernst & Young LLP were appointed by the directors of Netfold Limited on Friday 22 August 2008.
Netfold Limited trading as Amtrak, specialises in national and international parcel freight. The business is head quartered in Aldridge, West Midlands, and operates two distribution hubs in Aldridge and Warrington together with 36 distribution depots across the UK, employing over 900 people.
One of the Joint Administrators from Ernst & Young commented, “Amtrak has found trading in the current economic climate challenging. It is a business led by consumer demand and as consumer spending power has weakened Amtrak’s business has suffered.
Further to this an announcement on Amtraks website states that Business Post – UK Mail are offering to take on Amtrak’s customers work on their current terms.
This time it is highly unlikely that anyone will buy-out/save the company.
On Friday evening (22nd August) all staff were contacted to be told that they no longer had jobs until further notice. They employed nearly 1,000 workers with countless other self-employed workers in driving positions.
It is unknown whether workers will receive their last due pay. Self-employed drivers are highly unlikely to receive the money due to them.
Read MoreAffiniti selects UK Mail specialist services for time-critical operation
Affiniti, the network solution and communications integrator, is working with same-day expert UK Mail Specialist Services to provide round-the-clock repair and maintenance support to blue-chip clients including major financial institutions. Under the GBP 1 million strategic storage contract, UK Mail Specialist Services will play a vital role in supplying time-critical parts to field engineers, so essential work can be carried out without delay and operational disruption.
More than 10,000 different parts will be stored at 18 UK Mail Specialist Services sites, providing complete coverage across the UK. Effective inventory management with safe storage and accurate stock control will enable release of goods within 30 minutes, resulting in the delivery to field engineers within 2.5 hours of the order being placed. UK Mail Specialist Services will liaise direct with the engineer via SMS to coordinate delivery to fit within their job allocation schedule.
Orders will be placed online via an inventory management system that dovetails into UK Mail Specialist Service’s distribution system. This sophisticated technology solution will interface with Affiniti’s own back-office systems to create a seamless supply chain process that provides complete visibility over the company’s service management operation.
Read MoreA long and stony road to European postal competition
Following full liberalisation in four European countries (UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland), about 54 pct of the total EU mail market in volume terms is now completely open to competition, Alex Dieke, head of Postal Services and Logistics for German-based market research institute wik-Consult, told last month’s World Mail & Express Europe conference in Budapest organised by Triangle Management Services. But experience from these four liberalised markets showed that “it will take a long time for effective competition to arrive”, he commented. In the long-term, competitors might be able to gain up to 20-25 pct of larger markets, he forecast.
In Britain, which liberalised in 2006, competitors such as UK Mail and TNT Post had gained a 10 pct market share in terms of “upstream” volumes collected from customers but there was still no major competitor to Royal Mile for “last-mile” deliveries to businesses and consumers, Dieke said. In Sweden, where the market was opened in 1993, competitor CityMail still only had about 10 pct of the market. In Finland, which liberalised in 1997, high entry barriers meant there was no real competitor to Itella. In the Netherlands, which along with Slovakia might open its market before the official EU-wide liberalisation date of January 2011, competitors Selektmail and Sandd had gained 12 pct of the market despite TNT’s remaining monopoly, he noted.
Iain McLure, CEO of Spring Global Mail, criticised European postal operators for the repeated delays to liberalisation in recent years. “How long does the postal sector need to get prepared for competition?” he asked. In future, postal operators would have to focus on offering products in line with customer demand, better customer service and opportunities to achieve cost savings, the experienced postal manger forecast.
Spring, the TNT/Royal Mail/Singapore Post subsidiary, regularly used alternatives to national postal operators in some markets in order to provide quality services and lower costs, McLure pointed out. But he stressed: “As a broker, we are more of a customer (to postal operators) than a competitor.” Spring had been profitable for the past eight years, he noted.
Read MoreBusiness Post Group plc – AGM / interim management statement
AGM of Business Post Group plc, Chairman Peter Kane will announce the following statement to shareholders covering the period 1 April 2008 to 30 June 2008.
“Group revenues for the period increased by some 16 pct on the equivalent period last year.
Parcel revenues showed satisfactory improvement on last year. In particular, we continue to see good growth in our B2B parcels business which represents in excess of 80 pct of parcels revenues.
Our Mail business, UK Mail, continues to achieve strong growth, driven by new business wins together with further mail volumes from existing customers.
Revenues in Specialist Services for the period were up significantly on last year. In particular our Courier business has benefited from the contract with Orange which commenced in the period.
We have made a good start to the financial year with continued revenue growth and with trading performance in line with management expectations.”
Business Post Group plc announces that Dennis Clark, Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director, retires from the Board following today’s AGM.
Philip Stephens has now taken up the role of Senior Independent Director.
The Board is well advanced with the process of appointing a successor to Dennis and expects to make an announcement on this matter in due course.
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