Explosive Growth:

TNT Express initiates Europe-to-India air freighter, after FedEx and DHL expand service.


TNT Express has launched a dedicated 767 freighter service between India and Europe, claiming the added capacity will consolidate the Dutch company’s market leadership in Asia-Europe express deliveries.

The new service will run five times weekly between Delhi and TNT’s European hub at Liege, Belgium, with a stop in Dubai on the return leg to India.

The flights are part of a broad expansion in India by express carriers as the country’s domestic economy has diversified and its role in international trade has grown. FedEx acquired Indian forwarder and parcel carrier AFL this year, and DHL bought domestic cargo carrier Blue Dart Express a couple of years ago.

TNT says its new service, which has a weekly capacity of 210 tons, reflects its commitment to improving connectivity between India and Europe, the country’s largest trading partner. Cargo carriers have also expanded capacity connecting India to China.

“TNT has been recording year-on-year growth of more than 20 percent in India,” said Abhik Mitra, Managing Director of TNT India. “With the frequency of our service, it will now take just one day for shipments to reach Europe from New Delhi.”

In the “fast-moving” world of international air freight, it’s not always easy to stay abreast of all the opportunities – or all the pitfalls.

Kirk Shearer
President
TOTALogistix
http://www.totalogistix.com/
800-989-0054 x103

Frozen North

USPS suspends mail delivery to Canada as Canada Post strike continues.


The U.S. Postal Service stopped taking mail bound for Canada as a strike by Canada Post workers moved into its second week with no signs that it would end anytime soon, reported the Journal of Commerce.

Talks between Canada Post and the postal union broke off over the weekend and the national post office said it would lock out workers who had been staging the rolling strikes this month. That made it more likely the government would seek legislation forcing the Canadian Union of Postal Workers back to work and halting the job actions.

The USPS’s decision to suspend deliveries to Canada signals a strike that started in limited urban locations was crippling broader service around the country.

The USPS has been holding mail bound for Canada but halted that “due to the expectation by Canada Post officials that the strike … will last until at least sometime next week,” the U.S. agency said.

For the larger world of postal delivery, the strike and lockout highlight the pain that sharply diminished mail volume has brought to postal operations in an era of e-commerce and Internet communications.

The 48,000-member Canadian union has been fighting Canada’s bid for work and cost concessions, cutbacks Canada Post says reflect the same changing mail delivery landscape that has led the USPS to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs and cut billions in annual costs.

FedEx, UPS and other major courier deliveries to rural areas also could be affected because, in certain cases, Canada Post carries these documents and parcels for the last few kilometers of their journey. With the Canadian economy continuing strong, and Canadian customers an important source of revenue for U.S. firms, disruptions in Canadian deliveries have implications for shippers “south of the border” as well.

Kirk Shearer
President
TOTALogistix
www.totalogistix.com
800-989-0054 x103

Dialing for Diesels

Increasing freight volume chasing a tighter trucking pool creates a capacity squeeze.


It’s getting hard to find a truck. In industry after industry, increased economic activity, rising transportation costs, and tightened availability from the carrier shakeout during the downturn are translating to a squeeze on shippers. New Federal hours-of-service requirements may keep drivers off the road, adding to the crunch.

In the world of chemical companies, several bulk carriers have reported 10-20 percent turnbacks, where they receive orders from shippers, but can’t take them because they don’t have the capacity to cover the load, reported Chemical Business.

The nursery industry has been hard hit by lack of trucking capacity. Load volume continues to set records, and capacity remains tight in most markets, with a load-to-truck ratio of 10 loads per available truck nationwide. With perishable live product, one anonymous grower reported “I have loads sitting on the dock for days while we look for trucks. I am at the point where I will pay anything to service the customer…but there is always someone more desperate willing to pay more.”

Throughout the truckload and LTL field, market conditions are worsening for U.S. shippers as truck capacity tightens and fuel prices and surcharges rise, according to the FTR Shippers’ Condition Index. The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer was up 46 percent year-over-year for April, forecasting increasingly tight truck capacity. The weekly index showed capacity tightest in the Northeastern states of NY, PA, and NJ, followed by the Central South and Southeast.

How can you ensure your goods don’t get caught in the squeeze? Web-based technology allows shippers to electronically post their requirements to select carriers and efficiently match capacity to their needs. Talk to your logistics partner.

Kirk Shearer
President
TOTALogistix, Inc.
1-800-989-0054 x103