DHL, TNT, FedEx, RR Donnelley, Newgistics and other firms are in the news with a mix of special deliveries, new partnerships and expanded product offerings.
DHL has successfully delivered 40 electric race cars, spare parts and lithium-ion batteries to China for the opening of the FIA Formula E Championship's second season in Beijing. Making their way from Donington Park, UK, to Beijing via Belgium, Germany, Belarus and Russia, the race cars travelled more than 12,000 km through multimodal modes including road, sea and rail. As the Official Logistics and a Founding Partner of Formula E, DHL delivered more than 450 tons in supporting vehicles and equipment to Beijing ahead of the race.
TNT recently delivered a solar car called Stella Lux from the Netherlands to Australia for it to compete at the World Solar Challenge (18-25 October), a 3,000km race between Darwin and Adelaide. TNT shipped the car, built by a team of students from the Eindhoven University of Technology, to Liege, Belgium, flew it to Singapore and finally to Melbourne. The vehicle’s lithium batteries travelled by boat. The car and batteries arrived within about a week of each other in perfect condition. The electric car, powered by rooftop solar cells, can travel 1,000km on a single battery charge at a maximum speed of 125km/h.
FedEx Express is celebrating five years of operations at its hub at Cologne/Bonn in Germany, a central gateway for shipments arriving by ground or air from Central and Eastern Europe and providing fast connectivity within Europe, to the U.S. and Asia. “Our Cologne facility is one of the most modern FedEx hubs worldwide. We are proud that our operation plays such an important role, not just in Europe, but globally,” said Stefan Dries, managing director, Operations, FedEx Express Europe. The hub´s automated sorting system can process up to 18,000 documents and packages an hour, while 30 of FedEx’s 58 weekly flights to and from Cologne/Bonn are operated with B777 freighters.
Also in Germany, DPD is celebrating delivering its 250 millionth parcel for the Metro Group in a long-standing partnership dating back to 1996. DPD delivers parcels from numerous suppliers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Benelux to 1,200 Metro Group branches in the three German-speaking countries as well as directly to business and private customers.
In North America, logistics firm RR Donnelley has acquired Courier Advisory Group, a provider of managed delivery services that includes third-party logistics (3PL), scheduled and on-demand delivery, and managed courier services for a diverse array of industries and with some 34 branches in the Eastern and Midwestern USA. This acquisition will enhance and expand the capabilities of RR Donnelley's Logistics Services group, supporting clients' last-mile delivery needs.
E-commerce logistics provider Newgistics will provide delivery services in the US for products purchased through AliExpress, Alibaba’s e-commerce platform that connects Chinese businesses with international buyers. The Newgistics solution will benefit both merchants in China and buyers in the U.S. through faster delivery time, better visibility into parcels in transit and a wide reach to every residential address in America with delivery through the US Postal Service within four to 10 days.
In Canada, several companies are expanding their use of parcel lockers. Walmart Canada and retail chain 7-Eleven are trialling Walmart Canada's Grab & Go Locker network in six 7-Eleven stores in the Greater Toronto Area. Walmart already operates 45 such lockers in the metropolitan area.
Newegg Canada, an online electronics retailer, is now offering delivery via the InPost Lockers 24/7 automated-parcel machine network. The service provides e-commerce shoppers the option to ship online purchases directly to one of 60 convenient InPost pick-up locations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The InPost network will be expanding to 200 GTA locations by year end and 1,000 locations across Canada in 2016 under site agreements with major retailers, grocery outlets and gas stations.
In Europe, Finland’s Posti is piloting Saturday deliveries of parcels in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, and Kauniainen until the end of December. The pilot stage covers 112 Posti Parcel Points and 56 postal outlets in the metropolitan area where consumers can collect their parcels.
Meanwhile, Parcelforce Worldwide, the express parcels business of Royal Mail Group, has launched its first national radio campaign for more than a decade to promote international parcel services ahead of Christmas. The consumer campaign will promote its globalpriority service, which guarantees delivery to Europe from just two days and the rest of the world from three days.
