Tag: UPS

Intense changes in the Chinese express delivery market

Posted by | May 9, 2007 | |

China’s express delivery market is facing a time of unprecedented change. Four major foreign players, China Post, private local firms and State-owned companies are all busy adjusting their strategies, and the government is poised to revise business policies.

After UPS broke from its local partner – Sinotrans, Fedex spent $400 million to acquire the remaining stake of its joint venture with the Chinese firm DTW Group. It also bought all of DTW’s assets in the domestic and international express delivery markets.

And while foreign giants are expanding in China, the State-owned giant, China Post, is attempting to gain the upper hand with a possiblly favorable postal law, sparking cries of foul play from foreign and local private firms.
Fedex’s buyout of its local partner signifies the acceleration of foreign express delivery firms’ expansion in China.

DTW’s domestic express delivery business suffered losses of 60 million yuan in its first 11 months in 2004, but Fedex still spent USD 400 million for DTW, which highlights Fedex’s desire for DTW’s network.

Industry sources say Fedex is trying to catch up with its competitors. DHL announced its entry into the domestic express delivery market in 2004, TNT has already begun domestic parcel delivery and UPS has the rights to international express delivery business in tier-one cities.

The joint venture agreement with DTW was originally expected to expire in 2009, but Fedex bought out the Chinese firm because it wanted immediate exposure to the domestic market.

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UPS Small Business Contest expands beyond U.S.

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

From Bangor, Maine, to Beijing, China, if you came up with an idea that turned into a business that took off, UPS wants to hear from you. You could win USD 25,000.

Last year, several small businesses – including one dedicated to teaching children about money management and another that provides products and ideas to help people with dementia – were rewarded for their creative thinking and original business concepts. This year, UPS is taking its third annual UPS Best “Out-of-the-Box” Small Business Contest global.

The international contest will honor the most innovative small businesses and is designed for companies with annual 2006 revenues of at least USD 250,000 but not more than USD 10 million. Eligible businesses in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, the Philippines and Singapore are asked to submit a 500-word essay explaining why they’re original and how they’ve been successful.

Small businesses entering the contest must submit a 500-word essay and complete the online entry process at www.ups.com/outofthebox . Entries may be submitted through Sept. 1, 2007, and must be completed by an employee or owner of an eligible business on behalf of that business, with a limit of one entry per business. For a complete description of the contest rules and regulations, small businesses should visit the Web site.

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UPS franchisees to demonstrate outside annual shareholders meeting In Wilmington

Posted by | May 6, 2007 | |

Franchisees representing United Parcel Service franchise outlets across the United States under the Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) and The UPS Store brands will demonstrate at Thursday’s (May 10) meeting of UPS shareholders in Wilmington, Del.

“All of us in the franchisee organizations believe UPS shareholders should hear our concerns and understand UPS’ total failure to live up to promises and projections made to us – and to UPS shareholders,” said Joe Wightman, who operates a UPS (Mail Boxes Etc.) store in New York City. He is also an official in the Platinum Shield Association (PSA), which has some 131 members, many of whom will be in Wilmington Thursday.

Wightman said an equally disturbing concern is profitability. “Last year at the shareholders meeting, we asked UPS CEO Mike Eskew what percentage of the franchises were profitable for the franchisee, and he professed not to know, despite the fact that UPS’ own Franchise Advisory Council had informed management that 60% of the franchises were not profitable,” he added. “As a UPS shareholder I believe management has issued misleading statements and needs to ‘come clean’ with all UPS shareholders.”

Echoing Wightman’s concerns over UPS’ treatment of its franchisees are members of three other franchisee organizations, the Brown Shield Association, IAMCO and the Brown Board Owner’s Association, whose members will also appear at the UPS shareholder meeting in Wilmington.

Wightman said a measure of UPS’ failure to take steps to improve the company’s relations with its franchisees is the spate of lawsuits brought by his organization and others in recent months. “Just last week a class action was filed in San Francisco over UPS practices in weighing and measuring packages,” he said, “and virtually every franchisee who will be in Wilmington this week is part of a lawsuit or arbitration against UPS.”

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UPS announce first US air hub in China

Posted by | May 2, 2007 | |

UPS and the Shanghai Airport Authority conducted a formal signing ceremony in another step toward construction of the UPS International Air Hub at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Presiding over the ceremony were US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Vice Mayor of Shanghai Yang Xiong.
The UPS International Air Hub, scheduled to open in 2008, will be the first constructed by a US carrier and will link all of China via Shanghai to UPS’s international network with direct service to the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It also will connect points served in China by UPS through a dedicated service provided by Yangtze River Express, a Chinese all-cargo airline.
The ceremony marked the signing of the operating agreement and lease contract for the hub. These agreements are a direct result of the Agreement on Sino-US Civil Aviation Transportation Air Services signed by the Chinese and US governments in July 2004.
Over the past five years, UPS has invested approximately USD 600 million in China, including its successful transition to become the first wholly owned foreign express carrier in China.
When the hub opens, it will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and UPS will increase its capacity into Shanghai by “up-sizing” aircraft from the current MD-11s to Boeing 747-400s.

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Global package race puts major carriers to the test

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

How hard is it to deliver a package to Ouagadougou? A group from the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, one of the most respected logistics programs in the world, puts the major carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to the test every year with its Great Package Race, a contest to see which carrier can get a package to a very challenging locale the fastest and in the best condition.
A group of 60 logistics students, led by logistics expert John Bartholdi, a professor in the Stewart School, sends identical boxes bound for places like Lomé, Togo and Split, Croatia. With no indication that there’s a competition underway, each carrier picks up its parcel, and the race begins.

Admittedly, the race is an extreme test of the carriers’ ability to deliver anywhere in the world, Bartholdi said. This year’s packages were sent on April 13 to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma); Tikrit, Iraq (one of the centers of Sunni insurgency); Floranopolis, Brazil (a small island); Harare, Zimbabwe and Apia, Samoa. Most packages arrived with a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned.

DHL beat the competition this year, delivering first to three of the five locations and second to the remaining two. FedEx managed to deliver to three locations, and UPS delivered parcels to two. The remaining packages from FedEx and UPS went undelivered for a variety of reasons. In past races, the carriers traded wins in different locales.

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