Tag: USA

Appellate Court declines FedEx Ground request to appeal (U.S.)

Posted by | Jan 22, 2008 | |

In a decision received today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit declined to hear the request of FedEx Ground, an operating unit of FedEx Corp. for interlocutory review of the class certification decision in the Kansas case pending before the United States District Court in Indiana. The decision had granted class certification on the Kansas state claims and a national ERISA claim.

The court did not rule on the validity of the contractor model and has not decided class certification in any other multi-district litigation case. FedEx Ground will continue to vigorously defend the MDL.

This procedural ruling does not change any aspect of the FedEx Ground operation and we will continue to provide the world-class service our customers have come to expect.

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National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) welcomes new Chairman John Mullen, CEO, DHL Express

Posted by | Jan 22, 2008 | |

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) announced the appointment of its new Chairman, John Mullen, Chief Executive Officer for the Express division of Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN), the parent company of DHL, effective January 22, 2008. Mullen oversees DHL’s global operations, which includes a presence in more than 225 countries and territories.

Mullen is also member of the Board of Management of DPWN, the world’s largest transport and logistics group. Prior to being named worldwide CEO of the Express division, Mullen was the CEO of U.S. based DHL Americas. Before joining DHL, Mullen spent 10 years with the TNT group, holding various senior leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer for two years and Chief Executive Officer of TNT Express Worldwide for three years.

“With protectionist sentiments growing, the Doha Round outcome uncertain and much work left to be completed in the U.S. Congress on the three pending FTAs, now is a critical time for the NFTC to work with policymakers to illustrate and underscore the benefits of trade to domestic and international economic growth,” said Mullen. “I look forward to working with the NFTC to help lead these efforts.”

Mullen will succeed Dinesh Paliwal, President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Harman International, who served as Chairman of the NFTC since 2005.

The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.

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DMNews talks with Dan G. Blair, chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission

Posted by | Jan 21, 2008 | |

Q: How would you describe the PRC’s role in relation to the USPS?
A: The role of the PRC is to ensure transparency and accountability of the US Postal Service. As chairman, I exer¬cise day-to-day control over the adminis¬trative process of the commission, which comprises five full-time commissioners who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Q: Following the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, how has the role of the PRC changed?
A: Under the old law we were primar¬ily involved in rate adjustment cases in which there would be 10-month litigation. And the commission had to recuse itself from the outside world and not have contact with mailers or other parties. Now, under the new law, we’re transforming more into the role of a regulator with more oversight authority that gives us the ability to reach out more to the community. We now hear from individual mailers, nonprofit groups, magazine publishers. I want to encourage that, because our role requires that we have an open and continuing dialogue with the public as well as with the postal service.
Q: You just completed your first year as chairman. What were the PRC’s ma¬jor accomplishments in the past year?
A: When I came on in December of 2006, we were at the tail end of a rate case under the old law. We got that out about five days ahead of schedule. We also got the new rate regulations out in October of 2007, eight months early. That was significant because first, it showed we could get up and ready un¬der the new law rather than proceeding under the old law, and second, by get¬ting the new regulations effective sooner rather than later, it allowed the postal service to seek any rate increases under the new law rather than the old law.
I think everyone was well aware of the shortcomings of the old law. The new law gave the postal service a broad mandate and more flexibility to better act like a business, includ¬ing its rate-setting structure. The PRC is going to ensure that new rates that the postal service proposes are in compliance with the law. Con¬gress gave the postal service greater authority, but at the same time, it presented us as a counterbalance to ensure that the law is being obeyed.
Q: What’s next for the PRC in 2008?
A: We’ll issue our comments on the postal service’s annual compliance report at the end of March. I would also anticipate that the postal service will be coming in with a notification for proposed rate changes within the first quarter. But nothing’s formal yet.
One of the things that’s on the front burner is developing addi¬tional rules regarding complaint procedures. We’re working on ad¬ditional rules for data reporting re¬quirements for the postal service.
We still have two outstanding cases under the old law regarding negotiated service agreements that are proposed for two parties. We’re working to complete those.

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DHL starts next day delivery express service to US, Canada and Mexico

Posted by | Jan 18, 2008 | |

DHL Express has started a new service: with DHL US Next Day time-sensitive goods and documents from the most important Swiss economic regions will be delivered to the US, Canada and Mexico on the following day.

DHL Express is offering delivery before 10.30am (DHL Express 10.30), before 12.00pm (DHL Express 12.00) or before the close of business (DHL Express Worldwide). With US Next Day DHL can deliver to almost anywhere in the US as well as commercial centers in Canada and Mexico by the next day.

This new service is made possible by the DHL hub in Wilmington, Ohio, one of the largest private airports in the world, as well as four further international gateways. More than 34,000 staff in the US work around the clock to distribute the items. In recent years DHL has invested 1.2 billion US dollars in the comprehensive network and in expanding the hub in Wilmington.

The commercial centers of Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Biel/Bienne, Basle, Lucerne, Zürich and Wil (St. Gallen) all benefit from DHL’s US Next Day service. A customer in the Geneva area can have his US Next Day item collected by DHL as late as 12.45pm. Customers in the Basle region have the last collection time at 3.45pm because a dedicated DHL plane is used for this service to fly from Basle via East Midlands to Wilmington. Duty is paid on these items while in the air.

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Analysts hand DHL bad new year's forecast (U.S.)

Posted by | Jan 17, 2008 | |

Worldwide shipper DHL is doomed to fail in the United States unless it radically shifts its business model, two well-regarded investment firms say.

Now, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns separately contend that DHL could eventually contract out operations to competitors, abandon its domestic delivery routes or sell off its U.S. operations entirely.

Facing U.S. operations that lost USD 900 million last year, the company’s new chief financial officer has “indicated the group needs to have a structural solution to U.S. losses” by March 6, according to the Morgan Stanley report.

“While we can’t respond to speculative reports, we have made a commitment to the U.S. market because of its importance to our overall global (DHL) Express strategy,” spokesman Richard Gibbs said in an e-mailed statement.

DHL, owned by German-based Deutsche Post, has spent billions of dollars to build up its domestic presence.

Nonetheless, U.S. operations lost USD 900 million last year and analysts don’t foresee a profit this year.

Morgan Stanley foresees three possible solutions:

Deutsche Post should try to sell all of DHL Express or at least the U.S. operations to UPS, FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service

DHL could fly parcels in but contract delivery to FedEx, UPS or the U.S. Postal Service

It could reduce its footprint to metropolitan areas and either contract pickup and delivery in the rest of the U.S. to the three carriers or offer only international delivery.

The first two options are less likely, according to Morgan Stanley.

In a November Goldman Sachs report, the firm said it was unlikely that DHL’s U.S. operation was on track to perform well.

Beh of Bear Sterns said any DHL decision to quit domestic operations would be difficult.

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