P.M. Executive Briefing - April 24
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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UPS Sues Canada for $156 Million, Citing Unfair Competition by Post Office
The Canadian government has been sued under Nafta provisions for $156 million by a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, which says Canada has allowed its post office to provide services other than mail delivery, and that it is able to charge less for these services because of its first-class mail monopoly.The lawsuit claims that Canada Post is restricting UPS' growth efforts in Canadian ground parcel and express mail delivery, that the government pays Canada Post for the volume of foreign shipments delivered within the country, and that the postal service frequently does not collect duties and taxes on parcels with Canadian destinations.
Although the Canadian government was closed Friday and officials were unavailable for comment, the government had said in February that Canada Post had been cleared by the country's Competition Bureau.
Like UPS' accusations against Germany's Deutsche Post, which are being investigated by the European Union, the dispute demonstrates UPS' willingness to fight for its own cause in a time of globalization and increased free-market competition by postal services. Wall Street Journal (04/24/00) P. A2; Brooks, Rick
At a Crossroads
Business leaders in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina, where FedEx has proposed building a hub at the area's international airport, believe the area could become a state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution hub due to its extensive highway, railroad, and airport infrastructure as well as its location. They say this could make up for the jobs lost in the area due to the waning of the tobacco and textile industries, but some residents are afraid of pollution, sprawl, and added road congestion.According to Keith Debbage, an urban geography professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, the area can indeed take advantage of the opportunity to build a transportation hub if government and business leaders can plan ahead to keep the quality of life from deteriorating.
The nonprofit Piedmont Triad Partnership says it is sensible to create a manufacturing and distribution hub by using the area's transportation infrastructure and by capitalizing on the planned FedEx hub. A report by the consultancy Regional Technology Strategies says such cities as Memphis and Indianapolis were centers of transportation when they attracted FedEx hubs, which then brought in more companies and helped the ones that were already located there.
But the Triad area may not be able to take full advantage of the FedEx hub unless roads are improved and communities can band together on land-use and road planning rather than competing with one another as they have done in the past.
Other issues include improving public schools, keeping residential areas' quality of life from being diminished, and planning for the possibility that FedEx may have financial problems that could close or downsize the local hub. Greensboro News & Record (04/23/00) P. E1; Marti, Stephen
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