To help roll out the electric delivery van fleet nationwide, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that drivers with Category B driving licenses will be able to operate alternative fuelled vans with a gross weight of up to 4.25 tonnes. They will have to undergo five hours of additional training however.

Added battery weight reduces cargo capacity if the gross weight was limited, so the DfT has been looking at ways of getting battery electric vans with a similar capacity to diesel and petrol vans on the road without asking too much of van drivers, who may otherwise have had to get a license for a big truck to drive them.

The concession has been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association. James Firth, head of road freight regulation, said: “Our members are committed to transitioning to low or zero emission vehicles, but with their propulsion systems and fuels far heavier than those of petrol and diesel, operators were left in a difficult position.  They were forced to either lose payload or use heavier vehicles, which incur the expense of tighter regulatory regimes in relation to driver and operator licensing.  These limitations were preventing operators from investing in green vehicle technology; they were a clear barrier to the adoption of low and zero emission vans.”

UPS has said that its Q1, 2019 earnings were hit by the severe US winter, which reduced its profits by around $80 million.

Due to company transformation charges there is to be a pre-tax charge of $123 million to shares. The transformation programme is to drive efficiencies through the company and to produce higher quality revenue growth.

Consolidated revenue increased to $17.2 billion, driven by gains in average daily volume and higher-quality revenue.

“The first quarter marked a good start to the year, as we executed against our strategy and generated solid performance across our business,” said David Abney, UPS chairman and CEO. “Our Transformation initiatives are enhancing revenue quality and creating network efficiencies that will increase our long-term earnings power. We are on a path to take advantage of growth opportunities and enhance our future performance.”

UPS is investing heavily in highly automated hubs to drive greater efficiency into the network. US Domestic revenues saw a 2.5% growth over Q1, 2019.

“We are bending the cost curve in our U.S. Domestic segment as highly automated hubs come online, producing improved productivity benefits,” said Abney. “These improvements contributed to the segment’s performance in the quarter and will continue to gain momentum going forward.”

The international segment of the company saw record Q1 operating profits, that UPS attributes to the strength and flexibility of its global network even in a changing global trade environment. Operating margin was 15.3% and 17.7% on an adjusted basis. The adjusted margin expanded 90 basis points+ over the prior period.

In a Tweet, Walmart has indicated it might follow Amazon and offer free one-day delivery to customers.

On 26 April Walmart tweeted: “One-day free shipping…without a membership fee. Now THAT would be groundbreaking. Stay tuned.”

This follows Amazon’s announcement that it would offer the same service to US Prime members, who currently pay $199 a year.

At present, Walmart offers a two day delivery service for free to everyone, with only SKUs qualifying the delivery and not a membership scheme.

Following the installation of 200 carrier agnostic parcel lockers in Kolding, PostNord and SwipBox have announced they are installing a further 40 in Sonderberg and its surrounding areas as of the 26 April, allowing customers in the area to use the “Nærboks” lockers as of now.

“We are very happy about Sonderborg Municipality giving us the opportunity to expand our pilot, so it now includes both Kolding and Sonderborg. It is essential that we gain as many experiences as possible during the pilot, before we roll out the concept to the rest of Denmark, so every Dane can enjoy the Nærboks concept,” says Allan Kaczmarek, CEO of SwipBox.

Businesses and the municipality of Sonderberg have shown great willingness to participate, which is why the roll out is taking place. Parcel lockers are being set up at municipal buildings and plots as well as petrol stations, supermarkets and residential areas.

“We want to make life easier for all Danes when they have to pick up the increasing number of parcels from online shopping. The parcel lockers will as a rule be placed in walking distance from where people live, which means that the new parcel infrastructure not only offers an easy and comfortable way to receive parcels but is also environmentally friendly,” says Peter Kjær Jensen, CEO of PostNord in Denmark.

The Nærboks lockers can be opened with an app on the customer’s phone, which communicates with the parcel locker using Bluetooth. SwipBox has developed the parcel lockers, which run on batteries and are easy to install as there is no need for an external electricity source or an internet connection.

Amazon has announced it is to open a new fulfilment centre in Kegworth, East Midlands. The move is to meet customer demand, extend the selection available to customers, and to reach out to more small and medium businesses that might want to scale their businesses through Amazon.

The Kegworth FC is to provide 500 full time jobs and has the capacity to grow to 1,000. The online giant is hiring operations managers, engineers, HR and IT specialists right now.
Later this year Amazon will recruit a team to pick, pack and ship customer orders.

“I was very pleased to learn that Amazon had chosen the East Midlands Gateway area for their new fulfilment centre and that in time it will provide 500 permanent jobs, and opportunities, for local people,” said Andrew Bridgen MP for North West Leicestershire. “The decision demonstrates the ever-increasing strength of our thriving local economy and the confidence that business has in our area.”

Ocado has revealed that its recent fire at Andover was caused by an electrical fault in a battery charging unit. This caused the lid top of a grocery carrying robot to catch fire and this spread across the facility.

According to the company it has taken steps to eliminate future risks of this kind, that includes new smoke detectors near the charging units as well as removing the plastic lids on the robots.

Ocado said: “This lid serves no practical purpose and its removal has not impacted the efficiency of the bots in any way. The company also intends to add heat sensors in the ambient product storage grid which are in addition to the existing sensors in the chilled storage grid.”

Alluding to its interests in other companies, Ocado made it plain that the fault was only in a first generation battery charger that was only ever used at the Andover customer fulfilment centre (CFC3) and no other.

Ocado emphasised that the fault was in a first generation battery charger, which was only used in at the Andover site (CFC 3) and not any other.

Deliveroo has launched a delivery subscription service called Deliveroo Plus in Australia. For AUD $18.99 a month, Australian customers can have as many deliveries as they please. Currently the hot food delivery company charges AUD $3 per delivery.

The project was piloted in Sydney and is to go nationwide.

“Customers who sign up could save up to A$25 [US$17.87] or more a month in delivery fees if they order from the platform regularly and will have access to special deals and discounts from their favorite food providers,” Deliveroo said.

The plan is to move away from pure hot food deliveries and into groceries, according to the company.

Deliveroo has two main motives for launching a subscription service, and they sound a lot like the drivers behind Amazon Prime: a better customer experience and increased customer spend.

“Our customers tell us that they want an easier and more seamless experience when it comes to ordering food,” said Deliveroo’s ANZ country manager, Levi Aron.

“We find they’re ordering on our platform even more frequently and for a range of reasons, whether ordering dinner when they work late, or getting groceries delivered on the weekend.”
Deliveroo says that more than 20,000 customers signed up in the first week of launch.

The Deliveroo Plus platform is the company’s latest step in growing its user base and increasing frequency of use. Deliveroo’s subscription service is already active in Singapore (S$14.90 per month) and the UK (£11.49 per month), and has just been launched in Italy (€9.99 per month).

New Zealand Post is to use Paxter four wheeled electric delivery vehicles in Tawa, Wellington over the next 12 months. The postal operator has been using the vehicles around the country since 2017.

Currently the vehicles are being used in towns and cities across New Zealand and reach around 85% of the country’s urban population.

“This is part of a national rollout of the electric vehicles and I’m proud that people in Tawa will get to see them in their local communities,” says Andrew Beattie, Regional Manager Wellington.

The vehicles can carry up to 200kg of parcels and mail but are still small and nimble enough to be used on the footpath.

“New Zealand Post is finding new ways to meet the growing demand for parcel deliveries. These electric vehicles are also helping us to reduce our carbon emissions of every parcel we deliver.” says Andrew Beattie.

“Previous trials – and experience from using them in other locations – have shown these vehicles are safe to use on the footpath. Our drivers receive safety training, and they will give way to all other footpath users,” says Andrew Beattie.

Non-recurring workforce related costs led to Canada Post reporting a loss before tax of C$270 million in 2018. The industrial action in autumn was the first major factor, costing an estimated $135 million, with the postal operator losing a further large sum thanks to resolving pay equity. Canada Post says that, “Had it not been for these non-recurring factors, Canada Post would have recorded a profit in 2018.”

Regarding pay equity, Canada Post state, “Pay equity is a basic human right and any pay disparity on the basis of gender is unacceptable to Canada Post. Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) agreed to use arbitration to resolve pay equity for Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers in 2016. In 2018, the arbitrator’s final ruling resulted in significant pay and benefit improvements retroactive to 2016. In 2018, resolving pay equity cost an estimated $420 million, of which $280 million related to previous years.” Hence, the postal operator estimates that this will cost it a further $140 million a year.

Other than the 2018 workforce trends, the postal operator saw a major decline in mail volumes and a strong growth in parcel volumes. Canada Post state, “The ongoing decline in letters, bills and statements caused Transaction Mail revenue to fall by 5.5 per cent or $151 million compared to 2017.”

Even so, the postal operator concluded, “the 2018 results confirm the strength of Canada Post’s core strategy: to grow the business by being Canada’s parcel delivery leader. Canada Post’s revenue from its Parcels business grew significantly in 2018, and exceeded $2.5 billion. Parcels generated 38 per cent of the segment’s revenue in 2018, compared to 34 per cent in 2017 and only 21 per cent in 2011.”

Samuel Conroy has taken up the post of DHL eCommerce Mmanaging Director for Vietnam.

Prior to joining DHL, he held senior general management roles at a number of Southeast Asian countries. In his last role, Conroy was CEO of the Middle-East Cluster for Damco Logistics. 

“Samuel brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the logistics business as well as general management experience gained from working across different markets in both country and regional capacities,” said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, CEO, DHL eCommerce Solutions Southeast Asia.

“His enthusiasm and strategic hands-on leadership approach will be crucial to exceeding customer expectations and delivering profitable growth.”

Samuel’s extensive general management experience has been supplemented with previous project management and functional implementation successes across a broad logistics environment. He previously also served as the director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.

“Vietnam currently has one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world,” said Samuel Conroy, Managing Director, DHL eCommerce Solutions, Vietnam. ”With more than half of Vietnam’s population already using the internet and more than 50 million smartphone subscribers, we must fully utilize our e-commerce capabilities across the DHL divisions to help our customers create a strong base of operations and overcome infrastructure challenges to capitalize on that speed of growth.”