Parcelforce pallets tie up
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• Royal Mail Parcelforce has teamed up with London Carriers International to offer a guaranteed nationwide pallet delivery service. It aims to secure 10% of the 29m-a-year market within 18 months.
Parcelforce says the service is ideal for businesses with a warehouse operation as it will introduce a one-tonne weight limit, compared with the maximum parcel weight of 30kg.
The service starts in January, but talks between LCI and Royal Mail Parcels have been going on since last autumn, even before Parcelforce's February launch. Selected "key" customers have recently tested the new service.
Most of the pallets will be carried on LCI vehicles and in return Parcelforce has agreed to move "substantial" quantities of overnight parcels for LCI.
The guaranteed pallet service offers next-day, 48 and 72-hour deliveries. According to Nick Streeter, Parcelforce product development manager: "The new pallet service complete's Parcelforce's portfolio of domestic services. We can now guarantee delivery of any consignment from lkg to one tonne within a competitive range of delivery speeds.
"When the pallet opportunity was researched," adds Streeter, "it made good sense to do a partnership deal with LCI, who specialise in moving pallets." Streeter says his con servative aim is to initially secure 10% of a potential market share which Parcelforce estimates to be 300,000 pallets a year.
Although the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, the tie-up must have been welcomed by LCI which announced 150 redundancies last month as part of a major reorganisation which includes closing the company's Croydon head office (CM 22-28 November).