Sustaining leadership is vital to dhl

Ever since DHL was founded in 1971 in San Francisco by three partners – who literally physically delivered mails and parcels themselves – DHL had become a legend in the supply chain and logistics sector with networks in 220 countries.

It was subsequently acquired by Deutsche Post World Net of Germany and had since grown into a euro 24 billion company in 2004 with over 170,000 employees worldwide.

DHL has divided its operations into three regional groupings namely: Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Its Asia Pacific (Aspac) operations are in: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

In the Middle East, DHL is in: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Europe, it operates in: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and UK.

DHL offers expertise in express, air and ocean freight, overland transport and logistics solutions coupled with worldwide coverage and in-depth understanding of local markets.

Despite being the top of currently four major global integrators for 34 years (or since it started)–DHL wants to keep its dominance by innovating logistics solutions and customizing them according to the evolving needs of their customers, said DHL Aspac senior vice president Yasmin Aladad Khan, who recently visited DHL Express Philippines Corp. to find out how to further speed up the growth of the market for its services.

Khan has been with DHL Express Singapore as its general manager and before that DHL Express Malaysia.

Prior to DHL she was vice president for Chase Bank and COO of General Electric Co. in Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Khan said the company is growing at a double digit rate in the region but its fastest growth is in China with 30 percent to 40 percent a year, mainly because of increasing trade and investments in China.

In the Philippines, DHL faces the same competition from three other integrators but has the biggest share with easily more than 45 percent of the market.

This is due to its tie-ups with export zone operators, the Semiconductor Industries of the Philippines (SEIPI)–which ships integrated circuits and chips from within the country and abroad–overseas Filipino workers, overseas banking units and the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said Lawrence Llamzon, country manager of DHL Express Philippines Corp.

And with increasing trade with China and its Asian neighbors like the Philippines, DHL sees itself playing a very crucial role as "trade facilitator" among businesses in these countries, Khan said.

In China, DHL recently invested an additional $110 million (euro 90 million) to expand its Central Asia Superhub (CAS) that will benefit import-export companies in the region. China is the sixth hub of DHL in Asia Pacific. The first five are: Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

"DHL was the first to locate a hub in Hong Kong, that connected Macau and Guangdong province to the Pearl River Delta. The facility was strategically positioned for us to meet the growth in intra-Asia and inter-regional trade," said DHL Express Aspac CEO Scott Price.

The expansion was originally scheduled for 2013 but was advanced by six years because of the immense growth in Asia Pacific, Khan said.

In the Philippines, DHL operates through partners in six key cities and through resellers. It only recently opened two outlets in Cubao and Libis, Quezon City.

Globally, DHL has become known in the industry as "transport architects," or professionals who can take your shipment from one to another efficiently minus the headaches, Khan said.

Trade facilitation, Khan said, is enhanced with DHL Fast Forward, a revolutionary service for import and export of freight shipments of 20 kilos or more. This service provides savings with flexible door to door solutions to manage the factory to customer logistics chain, Khan added.

Outside of its reputation for speed, dependability, reliability and customer-service, DHL has also made its mark in helping in relief operations such as the recent tsunami in Colombo and Sri Lanka and earthquake in Pakistan.

"DHL is here not just to be a market leader for the present but even for the future. But more than that, we want to be known as the company that knows its customers best," Khan said.

DHL Pakistan employees, along with volunteers from other countries and head office, were actively involved with the Dubai-based Airport Emergency Team, an initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Disaster Response Network. The AET had previously assisted in the same capacity during the tsunami relief in Colombo and Sri Lanka.

To date, the team has handled aid supplies from over 110 international relief flights managing over 4,500 tons of relief aid in the process.

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DHL Philippines Corp.

DHL House, 2306 Chino Roces Ave., Makati City

Phone : 8117100