Tag: UK

Postcomm recommends privatisation of Royal Mail (UK)

Posted by | May 19, 2008 | |

Postcomm, the UK postal regulator, has said that it has proposed to an independent review committee on postal services, to partly privatize Royal Mail to bail it out from financial deterioration.

The BBC News has quoted Nigel Stapleton, Chairman of Postcomm, as saying: “Postcomm wants to see the government and Royal Mail embrace a partnership approach with the private sector to secure a universal service.”

Postcomm has said that Royal Mail required capital to restructure itself and become profitable. Mr Stapleton has said that Royal Mail may require a subsidy if the government decides against privatisation.

Royal Mail was the only mail service in the UK till 2006, when the gates were opened for private players to deliver mails. But it still controls 90% of market share, the BBC News has said.

Postcomm has also proposed that the controller of post office network, Post Offices, be separated from Royal Mail.

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Pitney Bowes New VariSort(TM) Mixed Mail Sorter Helps Mailers Achieve Greater Postal Discounts

Posted by | May 19, 2008 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc announced the introduction of the new Pitney Bowes VariSort(TM) Mixed Mail Sorter, a flexible sorting solution that helps mailers, mail consolidators and private posts automatically process all types of mail–even difficult-to-process materials–to maximize postal discounts.

The VariSort(TM) solution is the latest in the growing family of sorting solutions from Pitney Bowes. It automates the presorting of all types of mail pieces including clean or complex flats, hard-to-process materials including polywrap, bound printed matter, padded envelopes, small parcels and even irregular-shaped pieces. Automating more types of mail allows mailers to realize increased USPS(R) workshare discounts for presorting flats, while mail consolidators and private posts can offer expanded services to their customers.

The VariSort(TM) solution is designed to automate scanning, weighing, labeling and sorting of mixed mail pieces at speeds up to 8,000 pieces per hour to provide mailers with improved accuracy, increased productivity, greater integrity, and reduced labor costs, while they realize postal discounts.

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Local MP Launches Work On PalletFORCE’s State-Of-The-Art New Logistics Hub

Posted by | May 19, 2008 | |

PalletFORCE CEO, Michael Conroy and Janet Dean, MP for Burton upon Trent, formally cut the first sod at the site of PalletFORCE’s new Hub.Janet Dean, Member of Parliament for the Burton constituency, was guest of honour at the sod-cutting ceremony held to officially launch the building of PalletFORCE’s new state-of-the-art logistics hub recently.

After meeting senior PalletFORCE staff, Chief Executive Michael Conroy and Operations Director Carl Worgan, Janet Dean formally cut the sod on the new site, which is anticipated to be completed by late 2008 and operational by January 2009.

The GBP 30 million investment will deliver a 379,400 sq ft site, which PalletFORCE believes can handle up to 4 million pallets per annum. There could also be additional employment opportunities in the Burton area.

The hub is being built by leading national contractor John Sisk & Son Ltd, with the assistance of the Derbyshire-based ‘Independent Stabilisation Company’.

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Sell-off of Royal Mail 'doomed'

Posted by | May 18, 2008 | |

A plan by regulator Postcomm to partly privatise Royal Mail will fail because of the company’s huge and growing pension deficit, according to a leading independent consultant.

John Ralfe said Royal Mail was technically insolvent with a GBP 3bn pension hole. ‘No trade or equity investor would even consider taking a stake unless Royal Mail could be shorn of its pensions,’ he said in a research note for RBC Capital Markets.

Ralfe said that even if the Government, Royal Mail’s owner, could be persuaded to run the pension scheme, it would be illegal because it would be a clear breach of the EU Treaty that bans anti-competitive state aid.

Postcomm’s suggestion that Britain should follow the lead of the Danish and Swedish postal services in allowing partial privatisation was not valid because neither had to cope with such huge pension liabilities.

The Postcomm plan has run into further opposition, with the Communication Workers Union, the main postal workers’ union, suggesting that the proposals overstepped the regulator’s remit.

And the Government would face opposition from its own MPs with close links to the CWU. Royal Mail announced last week that it made a GBP 279m loss in the year to March. And the company has two new and emerging problems.

First, mail volumes are starting to decline. And second, Royal Mail has been forced to open up its business post services to competition.

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Local MP launches work on Palletforce’s state-of-the-art new logistics hub

Posted by | May 16, 2008 | |

Janet Dean, Member of Parliament for the Burton constituency, was guest of honour at the sod-cutting ceremony held to officially launch the building of PalletFORCE’s new state-of-the-art logistics hub recently.

After meeting senior PalletFORCE staff, Chief Executive Michael Conroy and Operations Director Carl Worgan, Janet Dean formally cut the sod on the new site, which is anticipated to be completed by late 2008 and operational by January 2009.

Janet commented, “I am delighted that PalletFORCE has chosen Burton upon Trent for this exciting new venture. Burton’s excellent transport infrastructure and well motivated workforce make the town the ideal location for the PalletFORCE network to provide an outstanding logistics service for its members across the country.”

PalletFORCE is one of the country’s leading players in palletised distribution, and the new Burton-based hub is designed to be a flagship for the sector, providing a bespoke environment that will offer faster throughputs and higher quality of operation. The £30 million investment will deliver a 379,400 sq ft site, which PalletFORCE believes can handle up to 4 million pallets per annum. There could also be additional employment opportunities in the Burton area.

The hub is being built by leading national contractor John Sisk & Son Ltd, with the assistance of the Derbyshire-based ‘Independent Stabilisation Company’.

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