Deutsche Post AG said it has signed a collective wage agreement with trade union ver.di for employees of logistics unit DHL’s Leizig/Halle air cargo hub.
Under the four-year contract, Deutsche Post will introduce a 40-hour week for the 3,500 staff working at the hub.
Read MoreEurope’s largest mailroom equipment firm Neopost on Tuesday raised its operating margin forecast for the third time this year as robust sales helped to lift its interim operating profit by a larger-than-expected 20 percent.
Neopost, which last month reported a 9-percent surge in first-half sales, said it now expected its operating profit margin to be above 24 percent for the current fiscal year ending January 31, 2006. The company, which shares 80 percent of the world market for postal equipment with its larger US rival Pitney Bowes had previously said it was confident it could achieve a margin of 24 percent. “2005 will be another great year for Neopost,” Chief Executive Jean-Paul Villot said in a statement.
UPS today officially opened its largest logistics facility dedicated to serving the healthcare industry, a 500,000-square-foot distribution center located near the company’s Worldport global air hub. Thanks to the location, air shipment orders received as late as 11 pm can arrive at their destination the next day, while packages shipped via UPS’s ground network can reach 70 percent of the United States in two days or less. “With this facility, we have added another healthcare distribution center that can help our clients meet the many operational and regulatory challenges they face,” said Rocky Romanella, president and general manager of UPS Supply Chain Solutions’ Americas region, speaking at the official dedication ceremony here. “This facility will allow us to manage pharmaceutical and medical devices and equipment in a secure and approved environment.”
Read MoreUPS chairman and chief executive Michael Eskew said yesterday he would not ”rule out” making a hostile bid for any large European logistics company.
The US parcels giant has been linked with Exel, the British supply chain group that last week agreed a pounds 3.7 billion takeover by Deutsche Post, and has retained Goldman Sachs to advise it. ”If we think it helps and the customers need it, we would [make a hostile bid],” he said during an interview at the company’s global headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He declined to comment on UPS’s interest in Exel. Sources close to the company said its interest in Exel had been ”overblown”, indicating the firm was looking to ”fill holes” in its international operations but not take on such a ”huge” firm as Exel. Kurt Kuehn, head of global sales and marketing, said: ”Deutsche Post’s view is whoever is biggest, wins. Our view is who has the best business wins.” He added: ”Deutsche Post is amazing. Their appetite: it would have give me a stomach ache long ago.” UPS’s strategy is to build a global managed supply chain service.
TNT announced that it has beaten off competition from up to 15,000 other companies to be named ‘Best Overall Supplier’ by The Royal Bank of Scotland.
TNT was commended for “reducing costs and delivering increased service efficiency” in its role as RBS’s exclusive distributor of cheques, internal mail and commodities supplies.
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