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Aviation History
1987
1987 - 0031.PDF
aircraft during the day, so long as they are back at the base before nightfall in time to deliver parcels to Maastricht. Time is vital to XP's business. The aircraft owned by XP are never chartered out during the day, even though they are only utilised for about 4-5hr in every 24hr, because "it is so important to have them available at night", Mulders says. If an aircraft is only half an hour late, the trucks will deliver the parcels up to an hour late because of early-morning traffic. Most of XP's packages are inter national and therefore go through the Maastricht hub, but even so there is not enough business yet to warrant an auto mated sorting system. Any parcels with origins and destinations in the same country bypass the hub. The bulk of XP's workload centres on organising the paperwork to go with every shipment. Customs-clearance forms are handled by XP as a standard part of its service. It has a computer system to notify XP statiofts abroad of shipments arriving, so that paperwork can be arranged in advance. Misrepresentation by customers of package contents on customs declaration forms is a major problem. Inadequate descriptions or discrepancies can occur. "In many cases it is not deliberate, but just ignorance. If we know what is in the pack age we can handle it, but customers are so concerned with getting the parcel to its destination that they can make mistakes; and not because they wish to be fraudu lent," Mulders says. The international aspect of European express parcels deliv ery is something that the new US entrants have to face. Some have joined up with local companies to draw on their experience, but XP's experience with this problem has been mixed. Apart from its arrangements with US- based Airborne Express, which handles its US-bound packages (about 10 per cent of XP's business), no agreements have been Left XP will soon have three F.27s. Below left Jaap Mulders, founder and president of XP. Below unloading the F.27 successful. When Emery moved into Maastricht it wanted to use XP's express parcels system. However, XP was not happy when Emery started to use it only as a co-loader and started its own express network. Federal Express also talked to XP's owners about taking over the Dutch operator and, Mulders says, "went further with its proposal than any other company", although the negotiations did not come to fruition. Nevertheless, in principle, Mulders can see the benefits of an agreement between a US carrier and an incumbent European—-with the Ameri can's economic strength complementing the European's experience of the cross- border market. Dutch flag carrier KLM now owns 100 per cent of XP, after Vendex Inter national sold its 50 per cent stake two weeks ago. Vendex says it sold the shares to increase the opportunity for XP to expand in its changing market. KLM can now "solicit participation in XP by other parties". It is having discussions with the British and Commonwealth Shipping Company (owner of Air UK), which also owns IML Air Services, an international express parcel and document carrier. The complexities and regulations involved with express parcel delivery may be reduced as the European Community heads towards the goal of a common inter nal market by 1992. Although this may be behind schedule in certain fields, Mulders says that the early 1990s will be signifi cant: "The existence of the 1992 goal is important for express parcels." Once there are fewer customs and formalities in the internal market, the express parcel carriers' costs will fall. The present variety of regulations in Europe means that forms must be translated and customs officials satisfied at each point of entry, which inflates costs. Mulders is also asking the European FLIQHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 April 1987
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