Euro city service from Parceline
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• Parcels carrier Parceline is to launch a 48-hour delivery service to major European cities early next year, as part of a consortium with Continental partners.
Chief executive Colin Millbanks, however, has ruled out the acquisition route to European expansion followed by rivals such as TNT and Federal Express — he says it is "fraught with danger".
Continental deliveries will instead go by road instead of air: Millbanks says this will be cheaper, but just as reliable. The company is considering forming a mainland European hub with its partners.
Parceline, part of Australian security and transport group Mayne Nickless, also plans to launch a 36-hour UK service for regular customers who can guarantee to fill a trailer with consignments by lunchtime. This would be as cheap as a two-day service, but would actually allow next-day deliveries because trailer loads could be sorted at the Birmingham hub before it became busy with normal overnight work, says the company.
The 36-hour goods would leave the Birmingham hub at the same time as its 24-hour consignments.
Instead of using the usual Parceline system, where local depots collect parcels and trunk them to the hub late in the afternoon, customers on the 36hour service would have their goods taken to Birmingham direct.