The International arm of express package delivery company United Parcel Service has broken ground on a new facility at Shenzhen International Airport in China,  which once completed will provide UPS as an Intra Asian hub, capable of shaving precious days and hours off transit times for the company’s customers.

Once completed, the hub is to replace the current UPS intra Asia facility which is located at the former Clark Air Base in the Philippines.  The facility at Shenzhen International Airport should be completed and open by 2010.  The new location expected to tap into China’s Pearl River Delta manufacturing district, as well as lessening transit times for all Asian Customers.

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Global express freight conglomerate, DHL, has released a press statement in the wake of a shooting incident at the company’s office in Kabul Afghanistan.

Below is the statement in its entirety:

At approximately 8.30am (local time) today at a DHL office in Kabul, Afghanistan, an incident took place involving a shooting. It is with deep regret, that we have to report that there are fatalities, two of whom are DHL staff.

At this difficult time our thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of those who have lost their lives under such tragic circumstances.

DHL is fully cooperating with authorities investigating the incident. In order not to hinder the investigation no further information can be released at this time.

DHL will issue a further statement as more information is available.

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TNT, the express freight and mail company headquartered in the Netherlands, has announced the opening of a new gateway for the company, at Japan’s Osaka Kansai International Airport. 

The new gateway is set to reduce transit times for deliveries from China and Vietnam by a full twenty-four hours, with the additional benefit of a one-stop express delivery service between China and Osaka.  The Japanese city being one of the regions most important manufacturing hubs.

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The express air freight subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net’s DHL, DHL Express has announced that the company has entered into an agreement with Polar Air Cargo, to improve the company’s time definite products traversing the Pacific Ocean.

DHL Express, which owns forty-nine percent of Polar Air Cargo, will now utilize the New York based cargo airlines scheduled weekday flights, from Los Angeles, Wilmington and New York via Anchorage to the Asian destinations of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo. The partnership also covering an extended weekend schedule, with flights to Honolulu, Sydney, Sharjah and Leipzig.

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The European distributor of digital office products brand, Ricoh, Ricoh Europe Supply Chain Management (SCM), has announced an agreement with Dutch logistics provider CEVA Logistics to take charge of the Spanish Service Parts Satellite Warehouse.

The warehouse, to be located in the CEVA Logistics site in Subirats, Spain, will provide warehousing, cross-docking, spare parts and reverse logistics to Ricoh Europe SCM as well as the company’s finished products and supplies, third party logistics provider.

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The Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, John Brumby, has announced a $38.7 million  dollar package aimed at providing the state with a sustainable rail freight industry that can support Victoria’s farmers and the agricultural sector.

In the wake of the funding, five of the state’s major rail lines are to receive upgrades, having been identified in a review as needing attention.  The upgrades are aimed at achieving improved speed limits and more efficiency to at least seventy percent of Victoria’s rail freight network.

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Despite a seemingly all encompassing world financial crisis, Forward Air Corporation, the company that provides road based freight and logistics services to the air cargo industry, has reported a profit for the third quarter of some $121.5 million dollars, a 24.2% percent increase over the same period in 2007.

Additional statistics released by the company indicate an operating revenue up until the thirtieth of September this year of $351 million dollars, again an increase from 2007, a period which saw revenue of $278.3 million dollars.

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Express freight subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, FedEx Express has announced that construction has commenced on the largest solar facility ever commissioned by the company.  The facility being built to satisfy a portion of the energy requirements for FedEx’s new Central and Eastern European gateway at the Cologne/Bonn airport in Germany.

Slated for completion in 2010, the hub itself will be equipped with new ramp, freight and sort facilities, as well as a fully-automated sort system that will cover a floor space of approximately 50,000 square meters.  The company opting to build the new hub in the German city because of the region’s existing freight transport infrastructure and the central location of the airport within Germany and Europe.

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Express package and freight delivery company, United Parcel Service (UPS) has released an updated rate schedule for 2009, the new schedule coming into effect from January 5 2009.

The new schedule includes a rise in the general rate of 5.9 percent, a 5.9 percent increase for UPS Ground packages and an average net increase of 4.9 percent on all air express and U.S. origin International shipments.  The rate increase for air express and international shipments being based on a 6.9 percent increase in the base rate, less a 2 percent reduction in the air and international fuel surcharge index.

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Ocean and air freight transportation company, Hawaii’s Dependable Hawaiian Express (DHX) has advised consumers to expect a rise in the cost of freighting goods to the Hawaiian Islands, a result of Clean Truck Programs implemented by the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

As reported by Freightscene.com in early October(*), the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have begun to implement the plan, which mandates that all trucks manufactured in 1988 and earlier be banned from the ports, while trucks manufactured in 1989 and onwards, being subject to a Clean Trucks Fee.

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