Transend Signs Consultancy In Pacific Nations

For immediate release 11 September 2002

Transend Signs Consultancy Contracts In Pacific Nations

Transend Worldwide Ltd, New Zealand Post’s international postal consultancy subsidiary, has recently signed contracts for work in four Pacific nations.

Acting Managing Director John Allen said the contracts in Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji confirmed the potential to export knowledge, services and equipment developed by New Zealand Post.

“Just as New Zealand Post undertook a business transformation following corporatisation, postal agencies in the Pacific are now embracing more commercial approaches to business growth and service provision.

“In Vanuatu for example, the Transend-appointed CEO has helped Vanuatu Post return a dividend in its first full-year of operation since being corporatised – four years ahead of government expectations.”

Mr Allen said international mail flows to and from New Zealand constituted a significant element of business for Pacific postal agencies.

“Whereas large international freight companies such as DHL can guarantee service performance by building an independent network, the network that New Zealand Post relies on is only as strong as its constituent parts – the national postal agencies.

“By sharing our knowledge with postal agencies in the Pacific, we not only help them improve services to their customers and dividends to their shareholding governments, we help create a stronger network for international mail in the region.”

Vanuatu
Transend has renewed its management contract with Vanuatu Post for the position of CEO for a four-year term. Ian Hollins, the current CEO has already completed eighteen months in the role and made a number of successful improvements in the business.

Vanuatu Post’s recently released 2001 annual report shows it has exceeded its financial targets, increasing revenue by 19 per cent, and lifting service performance (the measure of mail delivered on-time) to 90 per cent.

Vanuatu Post has paid the government its first dividend. At the time of corporatisation, the government stated that it did not expect a financial dividend for five years.

Samoa
Samoa Communications Limited (SCL) has appointed a Transend consultant as General Manager, Postal Operations for a twelve month contract. Alan Hetherington, Process Improvement Facilitator at the Te Puni Mail Centre in Wellington took up his appointment in Samoa on 29 July. The focus of his role will be on process improvement and service performance, but opportunities for business growth will also be addressed.

SCL has also placed a senior manager with New Zealand Post on an eleven-month secondment, as part of its staff development programme. John Tagata began his placement in the Auckland Mail Centre in July and is currently working in the Gisborne Mail Centre. He will work in a variety of areas to gain experience across all facets of the organisation including operations, delivery and courier.

Fiji
Transend and Datamail (a New Zealand Post subsidiary) have reached an agreement with Post Fiji to establish a mailhouse operation for the organisation. The agreement includes the sale of equipment and consultancy services. Datamail is a leading provider of integrated document management and mailhouse solutions in New Zealand.

Transend has a long-established relationship with Post Fiji. Transend has led projects to reorganise work-flows in the Suva Mail Centre, supply and install a New Zealand Post-designed Postal Delivery Sorting System, and to introduce the Post Link point of sale retail system within Post Fiji’s retail network.

Tonga
Tonga Post has confirmed two short-term, one-week consulting projects with Transend. One of these projects is focussed on philatelic opportunities for the business, and the other is an audit of operations.

Randolph Waller, from New Zealand Post’s operations business development area, left for Tonga on 23 August, to undertake the operations project. Roshan Abeyesundere, a financial advisor to New Zealand Post’s stamps business, leaves mid-September to complete the philatelic project.

ENDS

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