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SINGAPORE: A worker places inbound parcels on a conveyor belt for coding at the sorting section of the Singapore Post (SingPost) ecommerce logistics centre in Singapore. — AFP Asian postal services adapt to post-mail era Online shopping weighs on traditional delivery companies

SINGAPORE: With the pre-Christmas rush at online and send them straight to loved ones. European presence by buying ecommerce record of 91.2 billion yuan. Asian postal firms ecommerce-related revenues accounted for its peak, a serpentine network of conveyor US-based research firm eMarketer said online technology provider Jagged Peak and ecom- “are doing some very innovative things to take 35.8 percent of SingPost’s turnover which belts at Singapore Post’s new logistics centre sales are expected to reach $1.9 trillion this merce firm TradeGlobal. advantage of ecommerce”, said Brody Buhler, crossed Sg$1.0 billion ($707 million) for the moves parcels destined for addresses across year and top $4.0 trillion by 2020. global managing director for post and parcel first time, and that is tipped to rise further. the world in time for the festive season. It is a And traditional firms are making moves to ‘Change or die’ at consultancy Accenture. Teo Chung Piaw from the National scene repeated in sorting offices around the keep up. The nearly 200-year-old SingPost, “In this new digital age, the lives of the tra- Japan Post has partnered with convenience University of Singapore’s Business School said globe in December, the busiest time of the which is partly owned by China’s Alibaba, last ditional postal companies are coming to a stores to provide 24-hour delivery, while Pos Asian postal firms must also compete with year for postal firms with armies of workers month inaugurated its ecommerce sorting turning point: change or die,” said Cris Tran, an Malaysia is boosting its warehousing, logistics domestic startups and delivery specialists such toiling to get presents delivered on time. office capable of handling up to 100,000 analyst with consultancy Frost & Sullivan. With and other capabilities in a bid to become a as Japan’s Ta-Q-Bin and China’s SF Express. But times are changing and the explosion parcels a day. traditional mail volumes dropping dramatical- full-service ecommerce provider, Buhler said. Regulation of state-owned postal firms is also of online shopping is forcing traditional deliv- It also now provides a service setting up ly, ecommerce offers hope for national postal “Pos Indonesia investments in capabilities slowing crucial reforms that will allow them to ery companies such as SingPost to adapt or be retail websites for clients and allows for online firms in Asia if they adapt quickly enough and such as lockers and faster fulfillment from compete better, he added. Government-owned damned. The growth of websites such as payments while it has teamed up with brands do battle with giants like FedEx and DHL. This China are great examples of postal organiza- Australia Post needed regulatory approval to Amazon and Alibaba means customers can including Adidas, Timberland and Xiaomi to year’s “Singles Day” ecommerce promotion by tions investing to take full advantage of the raise the cost of a basic postage stamp, a move avoid crowded high streets and buy anything help expand their online retail sales in the Alibaba on November 11 grossed 120.7 billion opportunity ecommerce provides for growth,” it said was necessary to ease losses in its tradi- from mobile phones to sports equipment region. And last year it expanded its US and yuan ($17.8 billion), smashing last year’s sales he added. In the year ended March 2016, tional letter business. — AFP Gulf stocks pull Crowdfunded train service back on caution takes on German rail giant AM MAIN: With a single 1970s train in orange livery and a little crowdfunding help, a MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS plucky start-up is challenging the might of DUBAI: Stock markets in the Gulf retreated step down. The company did not give a rea- ’s state rail operator, . At yesterday in shrinking trading volumes as son for his departure, and analysts said the 6:20 am yesterday, the first Locomore train will investors turned cautious ahead of the US uncertainty had hit investor sentiment hard. leave in Germany’s southwest, pass interest rate hike and guidance from the US “Saying they are shutting down banking through Frankfurt and and pull into central bank expected late in the day. operations in North Korea and that their Berlin, its final destination, some six and a half Petrochemical shares, which have been long-time CEO is leaving in one month’s hours later. dragging Saudi Arabia’s main index lower time has left investors feeling battered,” said With just one return service a day to start with, over the last two sessions, fell further. The a Cairo-based equity analyst. Dubai’s index compared to the over 700 daily long-distance main index lost 0.6 percent and all but one fell for a second straight day, dropping 1.2 journeys run by Deutsche Bahn, Locomore of the 14 listed petrochemical producers fell. percent to 3,584 points. founder and director Derek Ladewig knows he PetroRabigh dropped 3.3 percent. It retreated below major technical resist- barely qualifies as a rival. But he is hoping to win Many analysts think the Saudi market’s ance on its August peak of 3,624 points. over Deutsche Bahn customers with budget tick- uptrend is not reversing but stocks may take Trading volume shrank by roughly a half et prices and lure environmentally-conscious an extended breather following a stellar per- from the previous day’s very large amount. travelers from more polluting forms of transport. formance over a six-week period which took Most activity focused on mid-sized specula- “We are offering a new service to compete the index to a one-year high earlier this tive shares, suggesting local short-term with the car, the plane, the long-distance bus as week. Yesterday marked the market’s second traders were the main players and that for- well as Deutsche Bahn,” Ladewig said. Locomore, consecutive day of shrinking trading volume. eign investors, who had been active buyers which bills itself as the world’s first crowdfunded The 2017 budget, expected to be announced in previous days, had pulled back. train line, owes its start-up capital entirely to late this month, looks likely to include more Builder Drake & Scull, the most heavily online supporters who chipped in more than domestic fuel subsidy cuts, which is prompt- traded stock, fell 1.8 percent. Union 600,000 euros ($640,000) in less than a year to get BERLIN: A compartment bearing the logo of German open-access railway operator ing some investors to cash out of domestic Properties lost 1.7 percent. Profit-taking also the project on the rails. Many of the contributors Locomore is on display at Innotrans - the railway industry’s largest trade fair, in Berlin. demand-focused shares for now. hit Abu Dhabi, dragging the index down 0.9 bought vouchers that can now be traded for tick- Locomore is offering a daily connection linking Berlin to Stuttgart via Hannover and Electronics and bookstore retailer Jarir percent. Telecommunications operator ets, as well as souvenirs such as mugs and T-shirts Frankfurt. — AFP fell 1.3 percent. In Egypt, the main index Etisalat fell 1.3 percent and First Gulf Bank in the firm’s distinctive orange hue-a nod to the ride in January, compared with 115.90 euros on 1994 but remains dominated by Deutsche Bahn, pulled back a further 0.6 percent with selling dropped 1.9 percent. vintage origins of Locomore’s renovated carriages Deutsche Bahn-although the latter’s journey is which carries more than 5.5 million passengers a pressure escalating in the final hour of trade. Qatar’s main index, which had outper- from the 1970s. roughly an hour shorter, and it offers prices as day in Germany alone and accounts for 99 per- Losers outnumbered gainers 24 to five with formed its regional peers on Tuesday, low as 29 euros for travellers willing to change cent of all long-distance rail journeys. The state Orascom Telecom, the most heavily traded retreated 0.4 percent. Popular with families trains once or twice. Karl-Peter Naumann, a firm has more competitors on the regional trans- share, slumping 5.2 percent. Shares in the Commercial Bank lost 3.1 percent to The 600-kilometre trip from Stuttgart to Berlin spokesman for the passenger group Pro Bahn, port networks, where its market share falls to 72 conglomerate have been beaten down 20 32.40 riyals on the first day of trading of its takes slightly longer than with Deutsche Bahn, welcomed the new player on the block and said percent, according to Mathias Lahrmann of the percent since the company said its chief rights issue, which will end on Dec. 28. The but Locomore hopes to make up for that by the service should prove popular with families, BSL transportation consulting agency. Locomore executive, billionaire Najuib Sawiris, bank is offering new ordinary shares at 25.50 promising its ticket prices will always be cheaper who will be offered their own compartments, and is not the first private company to try to go up announced early this month that he would riyals each. — Reuters than those of its competitor. By comparison, with young people. against the rail operator, but those efforts have Locomore charges 22 euros for a Stuttgart-Berlin The country’s rail sector was liberalised in gained little traction. — AFP