Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1.Posti’s new alternate-day delivery will commence in Espoo and Kauniainen on October 4th. October 01, 2021.
2.Emirates Post launches five new services. September 30, 2021.
3.Ninja Van to hire 200 engineers ahead of potential US listing. September 29, 2021.
4.NALC supports critical investment in postal infrastructure. September 29, 2021.
5.Temporary pause on eCommerce pickups for Parcel Post and eParcel in Greater Melbourne Metro. September 28, 2021.
1.Posti’s new alternate-day delivery will commence in Espoo and Kauniainen on October 4th October 01, 2021. Posti’s new alternate-day delivery will commence in Espoo and Kauniainen on October 4, 2021. We will also notify mail recipients of the start of the alternate-day delivery with a newsletter delivered to homes. “This summer and fall, our delivery personnel have actively trained for the new delivery model, which is now being implemented for the first time. We wanted to make absolutely sure before launching the system that our new way of working is as successful as possible right from the start. The orientation is also important for our new employees. Labor mobility in the service sector is also a familiar phenomenon for Posti, so we have some free vacancies as well,” says Area Manager Hannu Riihimäki. In the regional alternate-day delivery, mail is delivered by postal code pairs on alternate days There will be no changes in morning newspaper delivery; newspapers will still be delivered in the early-morning delivery seven days a week. Day mail can also be delivered in the early-morning newspaper delivery. “The change may be noticeable to mail recipients in that, in addition to the morning paper, they may receive other mail in time for their morning coffee, such as letters, magazines and advertisements. Items will arrive at the agreed delivery times in accordance with the service agreement between the sending company and Posti,” says Riihimäk In the picture: an example of the rhythm of the alternate-day model over a two-week period.
Universal service items (stamped items) are delivered in accordance with the Postal Act. The alternate-day delivery does not apply to parcel deliveries. Similar delivery models are already in use in the other Nordic countries, and the goal for us now is to adopt alternate-day delivery as a regional model, initially in Espoo and Kauniainen. “The new mail delivery model helps to extend the life cycle of printed mail. We can continue to offer traditional services in addition to digital services,” says Riihimäki. What’s more, good delivery route planning and renewal of the delivery fleet make it possible to further reduce CO2 emissions. Posti is committed to achieving zero emissions by 2030. The zero emissions goal is in line with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement.
Source : https://www.posti.com/en/media/media-news/2021
2.Emirates Post launches five new services September 30, 2021 Emirates Post has announced five new services to its business services portfolio, to enhance customer experience, improve efficiency, offer more flexible pick-up and drop-off options, and faster delivery services. The new addition includes new service points and parcel lockers. Through which, customers will have more flexible channels as to the last mile delivery options. The parcel lockers will be available at post offices and selected petrol stations, while the service points will be at petrol stations and partner locations, adding further time and place simplicity & convenience to the customer experience. In line with its commitment to provide quality logistics and supply chain services, Emirates Post is also adding temperature-controlled vehicles for its cold chain solutions. This new domestic delivery solution is particularly important to perishable goods such as food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Further, the new fulfilment center in Dubai South has enhanced its offered solutions for e_commerce customers. The center offers warehousing, packaging, delivery and other value_added services. Keeping with its commitment to provide seamless and efficient delivery services, Emirates Post offers the same day express service for shipments picked up before 12 noon. This service aims to target domestic deliveries particularly the e-commerce sector where the need for speed is a priority. Commenting on the launch of the new services, Peter Somers, CEO of Emirates Post, said: “Our new addition of customer-centered and innovative services aim to further support our first and last-mile deliveries and widen our reach while leveraging technological advancements. We will continue to offer our unparallel services, diversified products and solutions, while maintaining cost efficiency and driving profitability.
Source : https://postandparcel.info/143416/news/e-commerce/
3.Ninja Van to hire 200 engineers ahead of potential US listing September 29, 2021 [SINGAPORE] Ninja Van, a South-east Asian logistics company that's just raised US$578 million from investors including Alibaba Group Holding, plans to hire 200 engineers to beef up its technology ahead of a potential initial public offering in the US within two years. The new hires across Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia would double the startup's engineering workforce to 400 in the next 18 months, chief executive officer Lai Chang Wen, 34, said in a video interview. Ninja Van, which is 40 per cent owned by European logistics company GeoPost/DPDgroup, plans to invest in technology and automation to improve its parcel delivery services as South-east Asia's e-commerce industry expands rapidly. It plans to allocate the bulk of the funds on Ninja Direct, a relatively new business that allows online sellers in the region to buy products from China and other markets. The service includes customs clearance, delivery and financing, Mr Lai said. "I see so much potential in the Ninja Direct business and so much more room for growth in our core business," the CEO said. "We need to execute first, but I don't think we're too far away. We can push to an IPO within two years," he said.
Source : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage
4.NALC supports critical investment in postal infrastructure September 29, 2021 NALC strongly supports the $7 billion in federal funding for the electrification of the Postal Service vehicle fleet that is included in the reconciliation package. The aging postal vehicle fleet is in desperate need of modernization. This key investment to electrify the Postal Service fleet will improve working conditions for letter carriers, help combat climate change, and achieve priorities included in President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda as well as Postmaster General Louis Dejoy’s Delivering for America Plan. Letter carriers deliver to every American household and business six or seven days a week. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have relied on the Postal Service for their paychecks, medications and other essential deliveries. The Postal Service remains a crucial part of the American economy and investment in the agency, its workers, and infrastructure is essential. As members of Congress actively work on finalizing the budget reconciliation package and bring it to the floor for a vote, NALC urges all members to vote in support of this critical funding for the Postal Service. NALC will update letter carriers on any future action.
Source : https://www.nalc.org/news
5.Temporary pause on eCommerce pickups for Parcel Post and eParcel in Greater Melbourne Metro September 28, 2021 Due to the ongoing impacts of COVID together with record volumes through the network, Australia Post is temporarily pausing pickups, collections and business lodgements for eCommerce retailers in Greater Melbourne Metro only for five days, from 12.01am Friday 1 October to 12.01am Wednesday 6 October. With parcel volumes at Christmas levels, our network continues to be under increased pressure, and is amplified in Victoria where we continue to manage a heavily reduced workforce due to the impact of the Delta strain. The temporary pause will help manage the record volumes being experienced in the network and importantly return them to a level that is safe and manageable for our people. The safety of our people is our highest priority, one which we will not compromise on.
The impact is on our standard Parcel Post and eParcel Service for Greater Melbourne Metro only. Our Express Post, Startrack Premium, Startrack Courier, Startrack Express and letters services will remain unchanged across our network. Post Offices will remain open for all usual business including collecting carded parcels and lodgement of parcels. Items lodged at Street Posting Boxes will also continue to be collected for processing and collections in all other States remain the same. Deliveries will continue including on weekends and parcel processing continues, as our people deliver record amounts of parcels to Australians. Australia Post currently has more than 200 people in Melbourne in necessary self_isolation, placing increased pressure on our network, while we also manage flight restrictions, temporary facility closures, and parcel volumes as high as our Christmas peak period.
Source : https://newsroom.auspost.com.au/article
POSTAL NEWS No 77-2021
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1. New Postamat ATM in Bevagna. October 01, 2021.
2. FedEx workers on strike in job security battle. September 30, 2021.
3. DPD Germany trials autonomous electric delivery vehicle with mixed results. September 30, 2021.
4. bpost group subsidiary Active Ants opens its next E_fulfilment. September 29, 2021.
5. Austrian data protection authority impose fine of Euro 9.5 million on Austrian Post. September 29, 2021
1.New Postamat ATM in Bevagna October 01, 2021 The initiatives of Poste Italiane in favor of small municipalities continue: the new ATM arrives in Bevagna with a full range of functions. Poste Italiane has installed at the Post Office in Corso Matteotti in Bevagna a new Postamat ATM equipped with a high-brightness digital monitor and innovative dispenser, with modern safety devices, including a banknote staining system and a capable anti_skimming solution to prevent credit card cloning. UNI Apro Post & Logistics 2 Features The Postamat ATM in Bevagna is also equipped with a barcode reader to make it easier to pay for pre-printed bulletins via QR code. Available every day of the week and in operation 24 hours a day, the Postamat ATM allows you to carry out cash withdrawal operations, queries on the balance and movement list, telephone top-ups and Postepay cards, in addition to the payment of the main utilities and postal current account slips. The new latest generation Postamat can be used by BancoPosta account holders who hold Postamat-Maestro cards and by credit card holders of the major international circuits, as well as by Postepay card holders. The commitments of Poste Italiane The replacement plan is part of the "commitments" program for Italian municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants promoted by the CEO Matteo Del Fante on the occasion of the second "Mayors of Italy" event and is consistent with the widespread presence of Poste Italiane on the territory and with the attention that the company has always paid to local communities and less densely populated areas. The actual implementation of these commitments can be consulted on the web portal at www.posteitaliane.it/piccoli-comuni.
Source : https://www.postenews.it/2021/10/01
2.FedEx workers on strike in job security battle September 30, 2021 Up to 3,000 FedEx workers nationwide are striking today after the record revenue_making company refused to guarantee secure transport jobs won’t be outsourced. The action comes off the back of a resounding 97% yes vote to strikes from workers at the company. Yesterday, crisis talks broke down when management refused job security demands, including caps on outside hire and for work to be allocated to existing employees before contracting out. Management also rejected a request from workers for another bargaining meeting next week. Contracting out at FedEx is causing an insecure work crisis, with company information showing that some owner drivers are currently paid around 25% less to do the same work as employees. These lower paid drivers now make up two thirds of all owner drivers engaged by FedEx. At the same time as secure transport jobs are under attack, FedEx has reported record profits with revenues jumping to US$84 billion and net income over US$5 billion last year.
Job security guarantees are being sought by thousands of workers at major transport operators to defend against a push to compete with exploitative business models like Amazon Flex by slashing labour costs and outsourcing work. TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine said transport workers shouldn’t have been put in the position of choosing between strikes and accepting a shoddy deal from FedEx management. “Strikes are always a last resort, but FedEx workers have no choice when outsourcing is running rampant in the industry, and the company is refusing to guarantee secure jobs won’t be shipped out next. “FedEx made enormous profits last year off the back of workers who sweated it out in depots and trucks to keep parcels moving. This industry-wide assault on good jobs and secure conditions is pushing workers to the brink, but transport workers at FedEx are bravely fighting back today because they deserve better. “Workers are forced to take a stand because the Federal Government hasn’t. Scott Morrison is MIA as supply chains are being crippled by a deadly squeeze from wealthy retailers like Amazon, and companies are cutting costs to compete with gig services like the exploitative Amazon Flex. The Prime Minister could end this race to the bottom by acting on Senate recommendations to create an independent tribunal to enforce minimum protections for workers in transport”. Yesterday, workers who held a job security strike at Toll before being transferred to new ownership at Global Express applied for a vote on further strike action after sustained refusal from management to provide job security guarantees. Recent ballots of transport workers have resulted in minimum 90% yes votes for strikes across Toll, StarTrack, FedEx Linfox and Bevchain. Negotiations are ongoing, with meetings taking place at Linfox today and tomorrow. StarTrack workers are yet to receive confirmation from management of a negotiation meeting to take place next week.
Source : https://www.twu.com.au/press
3.DPD Germany trials autonomous electric delivery vehicle with mixed results September 30, 2021 DPD Germany has begun testing its autonomous electric delivery vehicle, VanAssist, at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, in anticipation of growing parcel demand throughout the country. However, DPD has said that navigation issues still need to be addressed to put the vehicle on the road. The VanAssist test vehicle operates in ‘rendezvous mode’, meaning that the vehicle can cover the distance from the depot to the delivery area autonomously. The delivery driver only joins the vehicle at a predefined meeting point. Then, while the driver delivers the parcels, the vehicle automatically drives to the next predefined stopping point. In this way the van is always waiting for the driver at the exact spot where they need the next parcel or to be picked up and taken to the next address. The vehicle’s intelligent navigation software can independently navigate the vehicle to stopping points and react in real time to changes in the traffic situation. The navigation can also quickly guide the driver to the delivery point inside the building in large office blocks or industrial complexes. If the planned stopping point is not available, the vehicle informs the delivery driver via a specially programmed smartphone app about the alternative point where it will be waiting. The app’s features also make it possible to flexibly adjust delivery routes as required. However, the test vehicle is yet to be used on the road in a practical trial. To fully integrate the vehicle into cities, a few roadblocks remain. Gerd Seber, group manager of city logistics and sustainability at DPD Germany, said, “We need standardized intelligent traffic lights and traffic signs. We also need loading zones that can be reserved specifically for delivery vehicles to which our vans can navigate.” Seber added, “Our tests have shown that we need a control center that can intervene whenever something unforeseen happens on the tour that prevents the vehicle deciding on its own what to do. This could be an obscured sensor or a blocked road, for example. We have realized that we need to fundamentally rethink our route planning. In the future wewill not just need to know the address to which we deliver a parcel, but also the nearby stopping points for this parcel, which we can identify and store in the system”. The project aims to conserve personnel resources, relieve traffic density in conurbations and promote a reduction in emissions while meeting the expected increase of demand for parcel delivery in Germany, which is predicted to have 5.7 billion parcels transported annually by 2025, which would mark a 40% increase on 2021 figures.
Source : https://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com/news/vehicles-fleet
4.bpost group subsidiary Active Ants opens its next E-Fulfilment
· Expansion of the e-commerce logistics activities in Belgium
• New 10,000m² state-of-the-art E-fulfilment center in Willebroek
• Innovative solution, with 50 robots to assist employees
bpost group subsidiary Active Ants this summer moved into a new-build fulfilment center in Willebroek, where people and robots work alongside each other in a highly efficient setup. Thousands of shipments are prepared for online stores at the state-of-the-art facility. bpost group continues to grow in e-commerce logistics both in Belgium and globally. The parcel market has yet to peak, despite a record year in 2020. In the first six months of the year, bpost recorded growth of 3% in the Benelux, compared with last year. bpost group is committed to remaining the leading e-commerce logistics provider in Belgium and helping drive the growth of Belgian online stores of all stripes with a wide range of solutions. That’s why it has now launched activities at a highly automated E-fulfilment center in Belgium through its Active Ants subsidiary. The basis of the warehouse is the Autostore, a unique system where goods are stored in a very condensed way in bins. About twenty special storage robots drive on top of the bins over a grid and pick up the bins one by one, depending on the orders. The robots then bring these bins to the employees at the filling stations, also called picking stations. Thisgoods-to-person system has a very small footprint. The system stores up to six times more goods per square meter and the robots generate their own energy, minimizing the use of mains power. Thirty autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), otherwise known as carrier robots, bring empty boxes to the worker, who fills them with the goods brought by the storage robots. The carrier robots then route the boxes to the packaging machines, where they are sealed and weighed. The boxes are made as small as possible to minimize filling and empty air. A shipping label is also attached. The carrier robots then take the sealed and labelled boxes to the shippers, which include bpost.
“So storage, order picking, packing and sorting are completely automated. Employees form an efficient team with robots for the order picking. The return flow and the receipt of goods continue to be processed manually,” says Jeroen Dekker, managing partner at Active Ants. “This mechanization leads to greater efficiency, high quality and a pleasant work environment for our employees. The setup is unique in the world.”
Environmentally friendly, with the human touch A box sealing machine with integrated printer has been specially designed for Active Ants. This means that personalized printed boxes can be made for every sender. “This unique functionality allows us to create personalized packaging for not just large but now also for small online stores,” says Gert Hellemans at Active Ants Belgium. “There is no longer any need to keep hundreds of pallets of preprinted boxes. That cuts customer costs and further shrinks the footprint,” Hellemans says.
International e-commerce logistics is one of the drivers of growth at bpost group The opening of the new Active Ants fulfilment center in Willebroek, and later this year another in Germany, brings the total number of bpost group fulfilment centers in Europe up to 11. There are four Active Ants sites (in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany) and seven Radial sites in Europe, including in Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy and Poland, and Germany. A Radial site opened in Belgium this summer at the same site of the other subsidiary, Dynalogic, in Boom. Here, Radial focuses on larger online stores and offers bespoke fulfilment services, while Active Ants provides automated fulfilment services to small online stores, which also mainly sell smaller products. Together they form a network of centers close to customers, bpost group’s response to the increasing demand for logistics services from e-commerce companies. Active Ants was set up in 2010 with the aim of raising the efficiency and accuracy of e_fulfilment through innovation, automation and the deployment of robots. Active Ants is now one of the market leaders in the Netherlands, with more than 250 customers and 5 million plus order per year.
Source : https://press.bpost.be/
5.Austrian data protection authority impose fine of Euro 9.5 million on Austrian Post September 29, 2021 Austria Post have released an update on a data protection case dating back to January 2019. The company says: “The data protection fine totalling EUR 18 million which was imposed upon Austrian Post by the Austrian Data Protection Authority on 28 October 2019 was overturned by the Federal Administrative Court in a ruling handed down on 26 November 2020, and the criminal proceedings were terminated. Up until now the Supreme Administrative Court has not yet decided upon the admissibility of the extraordinary appeal. “In a further procedure focusing on providing information about personal data, the Austrian Data Protection Authority imposed a fine of EUR 9.5m on Austrian Post on 28 September 2021. The allegations made by the Authority mainly relate to the fact that, in addition to the contact opportunities made available by Austrian Post via mail, a web contact form and the company’s customer service centre, inquiries about personal data must also be made possible via e-mail. Austrian Post also intends to launch an appeal against this decision. “These developments do not adversely impact the current estimations and guidance of Austrian Post with respect to the 2021 financial year.” Source : https://postandparcel.info/142765/news/e-commerce
