UPS to Acquire Romanian Delivery Company

Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. announced March 13that it will complete the acquisition of Romanian delivery company Trans Courier Service SRL by the second quarter of this year.

The Bucharest, Romania-based company is currently a subsidiary of freight forwarder Romtrans S.A., which has been working with UPS on package delivery since 1990.

Wolfgang Flick, president of UPS Europe, said that Romania’s rapidly growing economy makes it a target market for UPS.

“This acquisition is an ideal strategic and operational fit for UPS.  Romania is clearly one of the most dynamic economies in Europe, especially since joining the (European Union) last year,” he said, adding that the country’s gross domestic product growth is almost three times ahead of the European Union average.

UPS’ exports from Romania grew 10 percent last year and the World Bank predicts 5.9 percent GDP growth in the country in 2008, according to the release.

Trans Courier Service employs 100 people in facilities in Bucharest, Timisoara and Constanta, Romania, all of whom are to be retained by UPS.

Taipei Delegation Offers Transit Expertise

A delegation from Taipei, Taiwan, recently visited Atlanta to share some of their city’s transportation development plans and expertise at a forum on public transit and green space hosted by a variety of local organizations.  

The environmentally focused forum, held at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and co-sponsored by CIFAL Atlanta and the City of Atlanta, brought together some 40 delegates from Atlanta’s sister cities and other some other cities invited from around the world.

The four-person Taiwan group was comprised of representatives from different transportation-related agencies within the city government of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan and a sister city of Atlanta. 

K.A. Wu, a director in the city’s rapid transit department, said that Taipei has a lot to share with and learn from Atlanta.  Each member of the delegation was visiting Atlanta for the first time.

While in Atlanta, they studied the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA, rail design and presented Taipei’s plan for its extensive expansion of its rapid rail.

The Taipei system is 20 years old, and Mr. Wu said the city will soon undertake a three-stage, 10-year development phase that by its end could bring Taipei City and Taipei County’s total rapid rail system to more than 270 kilometers, or almost 170 miles in length.

The move will help Taipei maximize its geographical location, a principle Mr. Wu said should influence the plans of any city looking to increase its transportation efficiency. 

“Taipei is a crowded city.  We’re in basin surrounded by mountains, so we don’t have the room to create more transit systems.  So we try to increase efficiency of the system we have,” Mr. Wu told GlobalAtlanta. 

That challenge involves all forms of transit, not just rapid rail, he said. 

Lee-Yu Lin, deputy commissioner of Taipei’s Department of Transportation, said diversification has been key in Taipei’s traffic battle. 

Her agency's main goal has been to urge people to use more public transportation, which would reduce the number of annual car trips as well as the 1.2 million motorcycles clogging the roads.

For eight years, the city has subsidized bus fares to they wouldn’t increase, a regime that might change with added economic stress of the new rapid transit project and inflationary pressures.

Last year, the rate of car trips in Taipei decreased by 0.2 percent.  Ms. Lin’s goal is to keep that rate stable while increasing to 60 percent the ratio of commutes made by way of mass transit.