Tag: UK

Postcomm grants licence exemption to Royal Mail for changes to Sameday Service

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has decided to approve an application from Royal Mail for an exemption from the notification requirements under Condition 7 of its licence for changes to its Sameday service.

Condition 7 of its licence requires Royal Mail to notify Postcomm of any changes to existing prices and services three months before they are introduced and to publish information about such changes after this notification.

Following consultation on this issue, Postcomm approved Royal Mail’s request on the basis that Sameday appears to be offered in a developed sector of the market, so that lifting the notification requirements for this service should not adversely affect customers

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UPS hits US 'bump in the road'

Posted by | Jan 31, 2007 | |

UPS has warned it faces a “challenging year” in the US as the slowing domestic economy puts the brakes on parcel shipments.
Shares in the group were down more than 3 per cent yesterday afternoon after it issued lower-than-expected earnings guidance for 2007 and said the year had started slowly in the US.
But Scott Davis, chief financial officer, remained “bullish” about the long-term outlook, predicting that the US slowdown would prove short-lived.
Mike Eskew, chief executive, said domestic weakness would be offset by continued strength in international business this year, predicting that global trade would remain robust.
Surging international shipments, particularly from Europe and Asia, helped lift fourth-quarter net profits by 7.5 per cent, in spite of weaker-than-expected US volumes in the peak shipping season before Christmas.
UPS has invested heavily in its international network over the past decade to take advantage of soaring cross-border trade and reduce dependence on the mature US market.
UPS is building a new Asian hub in Shanghai, China, and last year completed a Dollars 135m expansion of its European hub in Cologne, Germany, almost doubling capacity.
International revenues rose 10 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with a 4 per cent increase in domestic business.

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Industry shows commitment to enablin women to succeed

Posted by | Jan 30, 2007 | |

Minister for Women, Ruth Kelly, launched a new drive today to step up efforts to reduce the gender pay gap and promote better work-life balance throughout the workplace.

She announced that more than 100 companies and organisations have signed up to a Exemplar Employer scheme since its launch in September. The Exemplar Employer scheme requires organisations to give a clear commitment to reducing the gender pay gap through projects ranging from encouraging women to find out and enter into jobs traditionally done mostly by men, to supporting mothers to return to work, to creating better quality opportunities for staff working part-time.

The first wave of organisations signed up range from high street names such as Asda to city companies such as Goldman Sachs to Parcelforce to construction firms.

Ruth Kelly also launched and opened bids for a new Quality Part-Time Work Fund, available to employers to finance trouble shooters who will advise on how to create and retain more part time jobs for women at a senior level.

Both the Exemplar Employer and Quality Part Time Work schemes have been created by the Government in response to the Women and Work Commission report, which looked at the causes of the gender pay gap. Creating a more flexible working world was one of the key recommendations made by the Commission as a way to way to increase the number of women – and the quality of roles available part-time and flexibly – in the workplace.

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Palletline's pounds 1m profit

Posted by | Jan 29, 2007 | |

The group, which operates the UK’s longest established pallet distribution network, recorded a strong trading performance in its 2005/2006 financial year.

Against an increasingly competitive market, the company generated audited pre-tax profits of pounds 1,147,000.

Managing director Glyn Jones said: “We are delighted to see such strong profits, particularly given the highly competitive market in which our members operate, as well as the current business climate.

“The figures reflect the growth in pallet throughput from our existing members, the addition of new members and the ongoing commitment of all members to maintaining the very highest service levels.

“From both a service quality and a financial point of view, Palletline is in a strong position to meet the challenges of 2007.”

Founded in 1992, Palletline was the UK’s first national network dedicated to pallet distribution.

Operating from a main hub in Birmingham with regional hubs in London and Preston, the company employs around 110 staff.

Major clients include blue chip organisations such as Parcelforce and Sainsbury’s.

As well as the UK, Palletline offers deliveries to mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the Irish Republic.

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UK road haulage market update

Posted by | Jan 29, 2007 | |

The road haulage industry is a vital part of the UK’s freight-transportation system, although it is a mature market and one that has little real growth potential. This is demonstrated by the fact that, in 2005, the volume of goods lifted by road by GB-registered goods vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonnes in Great Britain increased by 0.1% to 1.75 billion tonnes, while the volume of goods moved by road increased by 0.3%, to 152.7 billion tonne kilometres.

Advances in vehicle technology, such as improvements to fuel efficiency and the better reliability of new trucks, have contributed significantly to the developments made in the operational efficiency of the haulage companies. Also important has been the trend by the operators to develop strategies to improve the efficiency of their assets by, for example, improving vehicle utilisation through better planning of journeys.

Leading companies within the road haulage industry are under pressure from their customers to establish and develop global logistics networks. This demand has led to a spate of acquisitions and mergers among the leading companies, such as the acquisition of Exel PLC, the UK’s leading freight-distribution company, by Germany-based Deutsche Post, and the merger between haulier ACR Logistics and Kuehne + Nagel, another Germany-based logistics operator.

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