Tag: UK

TNT builds up its Green Fleet Worldwide

Posted by | May 15, 2008 | |

TNT is doubling its effort to cut carbon emissions of its road fleet with the introduction of over 100 electric trucks in the UK, China, and Australia.

TNT Express and Smith Electric Vehicles last Monday launched in London the world’s largest fleet of zero emission electric vehicles. TNT’s new 100-strong fleet of battery-powered ‘Newton’ delivery trucks will replace diesel equivalents over the next 18 months. The 7.5 ton lorries will prevent the release of up to 1,299,000 kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere of towns and cities in the UK each year. The first tranche of 50 trucks will operate from TNT locations in London, Basildon, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Enfield, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Northampton, Oxford, Paisley, Preston, and Wolverhampton. The partnership with Smith – the world’s largest manufacturer of road-going commercial electric vehicles – follows an 18-months trial in London. TNT is looking into piloting electric vehicles in all major European cities.

Last week, TNT and Dong Feng Motor Co., China’s largest automaker and manufacturer of electric vehicles, began a trial of two battery-electric delivery vans in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. The trial involves two light electric vans designed, manufactured and assembled in Wuhan by Dong Feng Motor Co. It is TNT’s first zero-emissions test outside of Europe. The vans have a top speed of 80 kph (50 mph), a range of 160-200 km (100-124 miles) and can carry a one ton load.

At the end of April, TNT Express Australia introduced 10 Hino hybrid trucks, becoming the first business in Australia to start operating a fleet of diesel-electric hybrid as replacements for conventionally powered vehicles. The new trucks will reduce TNT’s greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,600 kilograms of CO2 a year per vehicle. They emit 14 percent less CO2 and 50 percent less nitrous oxides than a conventional diesel truck of equivalent size.

“Greening our road fleet is a must to achieve TNT’s quest to become the first zero emissions express and mail company,” says TNT CEO Peter Bakker. “TNT is renewing its operations to reduce their environmental impact. Examples range from greener offices and depots to electricity sourcing and innovative electric vehicles.”

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Funding from the private sector will help Royal Mail deliver a valued universal service (UK)

Posted by | May 14, 2008 | |

Postcomm said that a universal service that is financially viable and safeguarded for the future is most likely to be achieved through a radical transformation of the governance and structure of Royal Mail.

Postcomm concluded in its first submission to the independent review of the postal market that Royal Mail’s current business model is unsustainable and that, unless some bold actions are taken very quickly, it is highly likely that its letters business will move to a position of managed – but accelerating – decline.

In its second submission Postcomm says:

– With the mail market now in structural decline, because of the increasing impact of e-mail and the Internet, Royal Mail needs access to private capital and a stronger set of incentives to enable it to restructure and become more profitable;
– Partnerships with the private sector, such as we are seeing in some European countries, could serve as a catalyst to more rapid transformation and greater efficiency from the universal service provider;
– As competition develops in segments of the market, it can replace regulation as the force which protects customers’ interests. This – and the need for much more transparency about the costs of Royal Mail’s business – will be a major theme of Postcomm’s proposals for the regulatory framework post April 2010;
– The transformation of Royal Mail will ensure a more dynamic mail market that can respond quickly and effectively to changing customer needs as mail increasingly is challenged by electronic media.

Postcomm believes competition and liberalisation should continue to be promoted as they are delivering far better customer focus and strong incentives for all mail operators to innovate and to become more efficient. Competition has already benefited large customers, and choice is now becoming available to smaller businesses. The regulator also urges the removal of artificial barriers to postal market entry – including the removal of new entrants’ VAT disadvantage – which could encourage wider competitor involvement in the collection, sorting and delivery of mail.

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Semi-private Royal Mail?

Posted by | May 14, 2008 | |

The Postal Regulator is calling for Royal Mail to be partly privatised.

Postcomm is making the highly contentious proposal – which could lead to Royal Mail being owned in part by a private-equity firm – to an independent review on the future of postal services that has been set up by the government.

It says that Royal Mail’s financial difficulties are likely to worsen considerably, without the injection of private-sector capital and management expertise into the state-owned business.

Nigel Stapleton, the chairman of Postcomm, has warned in an interivew with me that in the absence of part-privatisation the government may be required to inject a big new subsidy into Royal Mail, which it won’t wish to do.

The risk of not bringing in the private sector or a subsidy would be a significant deterioration in the quality of Royal Mail’s service under its obligation to deliver letters to and from anywhere in the UK at a uniform tariff, he said.

Only last week Royal Mail announced that it had made a loss on providing this so-called universal service for the first time. Royal Mail estimated that the loss for the last financial year on this its core activity was GBP 100m.

The government will find it hard to dismiss the suggestion out of hand, especially since analysts believe the independent review led by Richard Hooper is expected to come to the same conclusion.

However the Prime Minister is likely to be irked that such a divisive issue is being forced back on to his agenda.

Privatisation in any form, whole or part, is strongly opposed by the CWU, the main postal workers’ union – which is also a leading funder of the Labour Party.

The CWU’s opposition is shared by many Labour MPs.

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Understanding the postal needs of small businesses (UK). L13982

Posted by | May 14, 2008 | |

The UK’s 4 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are an important sector – rightly described as the engine room of the economy. This sector has, however, been largely ignored in terms of developments in their postal services since competition was introduced. The competitive battle ground has, until now, been tightly focussed on winning the business of the bulk mailing companies.

Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, commissioned RS Consulting to research the way SMEs both use the postal services and how they could see them changing. Postwatch has today published on its website the results “SMEs’ current and future postal needs”. Visit www.postwatch.co.uk/research to see the report.

Speaking at a Postcomm seminar organised to discuss last year’s strike action by Royal Mail employees Millie Banerjee, CBE, Chair of Postwatch said; “The research Postwatch publishes today highlights that as well as their ‘sending’ needs SMEs also rely heavily on the mail they receive. For these businesses the cheques really are in the post and they want them delivered as early as possible. They also want there to be a significant gap between the daily delivery of post and the last collection of the day, so that they can respond in day.

“Last year’s strike action would have been very worrying for many small businesses. If it had continued some small businesses may have struggled to recover. Royal Mail has to find a better way to resolve its disputes.

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Industry chiefs to debate key issues at World Mail & Express conference

Posted by | May 14, 2008 | |

Over 40 leading senior executives from the express and parcels industry in Europe and around the world head the speakers’ list for the World Mail & Express Europe Conference in Budapest on May 19-21, 2008.

The agenda at the 2008 conference includes two days of critical debate, high-level discussion and excellent networking opportunities for all sections of the industry. The overall theme of the conference will be “Re-defining Mail & Express” with topics under discussion such as globalisation and liberalisation, new business models and new revenue opportunities, the environmental challenge, and how ‘intelligence’ needs to be built into new products and services.

Among the top-level speakers are host Pal Szabo (CEO Hungary Post), Ulrich Gygi (CEO Swiss Post), Massimo Sarmi (CEO Italy Post), Jürgen Höfling (CEO DHL Global Mail), Dr. Andreas Taprantzis (CEO Hellenic Post), Motshoanetsi Lefoka (CEO South Africa Post), Hans Boon (CEO HayPost) and Avi Hochman (CEO Israel Post).

The World Mail & Express Europe Conference, which is accompanied by the World Mail & Express Europe Exhibition, is targeted at decision-makers in the express and parcels industry, industry suppliers and customers from all industries. CEP-Research is an official Media Supporter for the event.

On the eve of 19 May the 2008 World Mail Awards will be presented to the industry’s top performers and innovators. Widely acknowledged as the industry’s opportunity to reward and recognise best practice, the World Mail Awards gala dinner attracts around 300 of the top executives from the postal world. 12 award categories ensure that winners come from over 120 applications from 38 different countries.

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