Tag: UK

Postal services liberalisation: MEPs back market opening by 2011

Posted by | Jan 31, 2008 | |

The European Parliament confirms that remaining postal service monopolies should expire by 2011 – or 2013 for some Member States. In a second reading deal with Council, the European Parliament sticks to the compromise already endorsed by the Council on the opening up of EU postal services to competition.

In its common position, the Council had incorporated all major elements of the European Parliament’s position at first reading. The European Parliament approved the common position without amendments.

Among the key points was the date for market opening: by 2011, two years later than the Commission had proposed, with the possibility for Member States which joined the EU after 2004 or with a difficult topography, such as Greece to postpone market opening by a further two years to 2013. The following Member States may postpone implementation until the end of 2012: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. For Luxembourg, the Council agreed with the European Parliament first-reading position which said that Member States that acceded to the EU after the entry into force of Directive 2002/39/EC or Member States with a small population and limited geographical size could postpone to 2013.

MEPs also agree with Council on the principle of reciprocity: in order to avoid market distortion and unfair competition, those Member States having opened their markets should be able to refuse authorisation to operators still protected by a national monopoly in another Member State.

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Home Delivery Network Limited helps deliver thousands of visitors to the Spring Fair

Posted by | Jan 31, 2008 | |

Home Delivery Network Limited (HDNL) will literally be ‘delivering’ visitors to the Spring Fair 2008. HDNL is sponsoring the Circle Line shuttle bus service which will offer the show’s 73,000 visitors a quick and easy way of getting around the Spring Fair’s twenty halls.

At the event, the HDNL team will be launching new services including 24 and standard 48 hour services, which will be available to retailers for products under 25kg of all volumes, shapes and sizes. For the first time HDNL has also lowered minimum parcel volumes to offer their award winning service to smaller retailers.

This year the continued roll out of the latest supply chain technology, including state of the art Hand Held Terminals will enable retailers to offer ‘real time’ delivery information to their customers, online customer support and online proof of delivery.

HDNL Chairman Walter Blackwood said “Over the last year we have been meeting with retailers to compile a ‘wish list’ of features they want from their carrier. This included ‘real time’ parcel visibility and lower minimum parcel volumes. 2008 is set to be an exciting year for HDNL as we implement these new services.”

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EU to vote on mail monopolies

Posted by | Jan 30, 2008 | |

The European Parliament is expected to approve a plan today to dismantle remaining national monopolies for postal delivery by 2011, allowing cross-border competition in a sector that has until now been closely guarded by national operators.
A group of nine new EU member states, Greece and Luxembourg will get the option of an additional two-year grace period to prepare for a full opening of the delivery of letters under 50 grams (1.75 ounces) – the last category where national postal companies face no rivals – under the plan to be voted on by European Union lawmakers.
A universal public service ensuring every European – not just in big cities but also in remote areas – gets at least one delivery and collection a day, five days a week, even after rival companies move into the market, will be guaranteed and can be subsidized by governments if it is loss-making.
The issue of outside competition for domestic mail-carriers is a heated one in many EU countries. While parcel and package deliveries have already been liberalized across the 27-nation bloc, national governments may still reserve the market for delivering letters under 50
The postal reform – first considered more than 15 years ago – is part of a drive to liberalize the EU services market. The plan could lead to job losses in the 88 billion euro sector that employs more than 5 million people.
Full liberalization of the sector should lead to more reliable and better-quality mail deliveries, according to EU officials.
Many countries have been slow to open up their postal market to competition. Only Sweden, Britain, Finland have scrapped all legal monopolies. Germany has also allowed cross-border competition, but the government has set a minimum wage for postal workers.
Ninety percent of European mail is sent by businesses, and this is where most new entrants are likely to target new, lower-priced services – ignoring unprofitable consumer services in remote or rural areas.

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MaxBox expands into Ireland, Australia

Posted by | Jan 30, 2008 | |

The MaxBox is back and expanding rapidly.

Shortly after announcing the launch of MaxBox Digital Retail Ltd., a rebranding of MaxBox’s original home, Felix Corp., the new company is showing signs of life thanks to two deals that will bring a minimum of 2,000 MaxBox kiosks to Ireland and Australia.

MaxBox closed the Ireland deal last week at the ATEi/ICE trade show in London. Ireland-based Cyberhut Ltd., a provider of automated Internet terminals to the retail sector, signed a three-year contract to distribute a minimum of 1,000 MaxBox digital retail kiosks across northern and southern Ireland. MaxBox also plans to announce a similar deal to release another 1,000 kiosks in Australia, said Andy Egan, chairman and chief executive officer of MaxBox Digital Retail, in a phone interview.

These announcements come just a month after Egan’s resignation from Felix Corp. over business differences with the company’s board chairman. However, Egan said in reality he was pushed out and eventually fired. He attributes his downfall at Felix to the chairman’s impatience with the MaxBox’s rollout.

“He wanted to do something that was more quickly and the MaxBox has always been something that has come out more slowly,” Egan said. “Finally, they weren’t supportive anymore, which I thought was ridiculous.”

Thanks to mortgaging his home, car and a few other personal items, Egan, the founder of Felix Corp., bought back the trading arm of the company from its administrators on Jan. 11.

“I think I personally have more in the kiosk industry now than anyone else in the world,” he said only half-jokingly.

One stumbling block to taking back the MaxBox portion of Felix was that the company’s administrators had already begun to yank the already deployed MaxBox kiosks. However, Egan said some of the location’s owners refused to give up their machines. As for the ones that did get removed, the company is working to get those back in place.

MaxBox has also renewed talks with KIOSK Information Systems to install MaxBox software to new and existing kiosks in the United States.

Egan said his goal in obtaining the MaxBox property again was to finish what he started. Though he said the rollout will probably continue at a slow pace for now, he expects that once a big name retailer comes on board, the number of kiosks in deployment will increase rapidly.

“I think it will still come slow for us,” he said. “But I think 2008 is the year we will get some traction.”

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Deutsche Post World Net and Daimler AG give go-ahead for the first hybrid truck in Europe

Posted by | Jan 29, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net is the first logistics company in Europe to trial hybrid trucks in its operations. The go-ahead for the largest fleet test in the company’s history was given on January 29, 2008 during the World Mobility Forum in Stuttgart. Andreas Renschler, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Daimler Trucks, today handed over the first two vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz Atego BlueTec Hybrid and a Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid, to Deutsche Post World Net.

The trial will initially include DHL Express operations in the UK as well as mail transport in Germany. In the coming months further Daimler hybrid vehicles will be integrated into the DHL fleet.

DHL can already draw on past experiences with hybrid vehicles in Japan where DHL has been successfully using the Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid since July 2006.

Deutsche Post World Net is currently working on a comprehensive climate protection program for the entire Group. One point of focus is the use of alternative drives, such as electric, gas and hybrid engines. With its DHL Innovation Center, opened in March 2007, the Group thus is leading in technologies and innovations. It is facing up to its responsibility as the world’s market leader in logistics and helping to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

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