Tag: UK

TNT delivers world's largest zero emissions fleet (UK)

Posted by | May 12, 2008 | |

TNT launched the world’s largest fleet of zero emission vehicles, enabling it to reduce its carbon footprint by 1.3 million kg of CO² a year.

TNT’s new 100-strong fleet of unique battery-powered ‘Newton’ style delivery trucks will replace diesel equivalents over the next 18 months. The amount of CO² saved by the environmentally-friendly 7.5 tonne lorries will be enough to fill Wembley Stadium.

The Newton models, manufactured by Smith Electric Vehicles in Tyne and Wear, are the first ever pure electric vehicles in their class that can compete in performance terms with diesel equivalents and, at the same time, deliver a 100 pct reduction in CO² emissions and exhaust air pollutants at the point of use.

The first tranche of 50 trucks will initially operate from TNT locations in London, Basildon, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Enfield, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Northampton, Oxford, Paisley, Preston and Wolverhampton. In addition, TNT is also piloting other Smith Electric battery powered vans and trucks in the Netherlands, with a view to rolling them out across its wider European operations.

In 2007, TNT topped the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index achieving an overall rating of 91 out of a possible 100 – the highest recorded score of any company on the DJSI. The feat was all the more remarkable given the nature of TNT’s business.

TNT Express Services, in partnership with vehicle manufacturers, Smith Electric Vehicles, is unveiling the first trucks in the GBP 7 million ‘green fleet’ at the London Wetland Centre.

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Axis optimistc about UK growth

Posted by | May 12, 2008 | |

Axis Intermodal, the European transport equipment contract hire group, increased turnover and profits last year, and remains confident of further growth within its UK operations. Preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2007 show turnover increased by 32 pct to GBP 12m, with pre-tax profits and share-based payment increasing to GBP 646,000, compared with GBP 601,000 in 2006.

Early indications show that the December launch of its marine containers lease business, SeaAxis, has been successful and allowed penetration into the Far East and US markets. Its UK performance was in line with expectations its contract hire fleet grew by 93 pct for the year and its customer base by 43 pct.

Axis Intermodal was established in 1995 to take advantage of the growing market for intermodal swapbodies. Its customers include DHL Exel, Geopost and Kerry Logistics.

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UPS Freight accelerates shipping for customers in 11 States (U.S)

Posted by | May 12, 2008 | |

UPS Freight announced it has reduced transit times on nearly 1,000 traffic lanes originating in metropolitan areas in the Southwest and Southeast to points across the United States.

Transit times have been reduced by one or two days from points in 11 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. The customer improvements are being made without adjusting rates.

The latest round of enhancements follow the more than 8,000 lanes that were improved nationwide by the company in 2007.

Similar network improvements, in a phased plan, will be made throughout other regions of the country later this year. Specific lane enhancements and updated time-in-transit maps may be viewed on ltl.upsfreight.com.

Examples of the network enhancements include placing all of New England under a two-day delivery umbrella from Memphis, Tenn., and shipments from Charlotte, N.C., reaching destinations as far as Dallas and Columbia, Mo., in two days.

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Postcomm refutes Daily Telegraph article suggesting an end to Saturday deliveries (UK)

Posted by | May 10, 2008 | |

Postcomm has today totally refuted the suggestion in today’s “Daily Telegraph” that it is to recommend a reduction in postal deliveries from six days to five and is asking the newspaper to publish a retraction.

Postcomm’s stance is that the only threat to Saturday deliveries, for as long as customers need them, is from Royal Mail failing to be an efficient provider of the universal service.

The Saturday delivery is enshrined in law, in the Postal Service Act 2000, and so this, in any event, is not an issue over which Postcomm has any powers. Our commitment to secure a universal service valued by customers is just as strong as Royal Mail’s and we do not want to see any denigration of the service.

Although the universal service made a loss for the first time last year (2007/08), the size of that loss has been increased by GBP 30m by a change in cost allocation by Royal Mail that now charges all freehold property at market rents.

Royal Mail should focus on becoming more efficient in managing the national asset of the universal service.

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Royal Mail cuts may end Saturday post

Posted by | May 10, 2008 | |

The proposal to reduce deliveries to five days a week will also see fewer first class letters arrive the day after they are sent.

The recommendations, to be submitted in the next 10 days as part of a review into the future of the postal sector, are included in a radical plan by the regulator Postcomm to shore up finances at the Royal Mail.

It hopes to secure the future of the “universal service”, which means the company promises to deliver letters to each of the 28 million add-resses in Britain for the same price.

Moving from a six-days-a-week delivery would mark a further reduction of services by Royal Mail, which has already been allowed to end twice-daily deliveries in an effort to restore profitability.

The average delivery time has slipped and post boxes are no longer emptied on a Sunday. Any attempt to drop the Saturday delivery would be fiercely opposed, not least because it is enshrined in law under the Postal Services Act of 2000. Politicians, consumer groups, businesses and the unions say Postcomm’s proposals would lead to a further diminution of the service.

It is the first time that the Royal Mail has ever made a loss from this service.
Postcomm’s recommendations about cutting the six-day service are included in its submission to the review, the Telegraph understands.

The regulator also suggests that the Royal Mail’s delivery targets should be lowered.

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