German-based sports footwear firm adidas-Salomon AG has extended its cooperation with DPD by afurther two years, taking it up to 31 December 2007. Under the renewed contract, DPD will deliver
about 1.5 million adidas parcels on an exclusive basis from Germany to eight Central Europeancountries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Germany).It also covers the forwarding of bulk goods in Poland and a returns management system for all thecountries involved.The new cooperation kicked off successfully last weekend with the delivery of 25,000 parcelscontaining the German Football Association’s official 2006 strip and the “Predator” World Cup bootto sports equipment retailers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The level of punctual deliverywas over 99 %, with almost all parcels reaching the consignee right on time, DPD said. Thesuccessful special shift for the delivery of the World Cup strips and boots is all the moreremarkable in that it took place on a day when DPD also had to deal with its biggest inbound volumeof the year, at no less than 1.539 million parcels. In the coming weeks DPD will be faced withfurther major challenges in relation to the World Cup, in particular the delivery of the officialfootball to retailers.
Charles Prussky, Head of Warehousing & Distribution at adidas Salomon, believes that thesmooth execution of this operation confirms that his decision in favour of DPD was the right one: “An excellent team performance, which will form the basis for our further projects together”.Prussky said the decision in favour of DPD was taken because of the parcel service provider’sinternational expertise and the positive experience provided by the long-standing cooperationbetween the partners: “In view of the impending major logistical challenge provided by the 2006football World Cup we need a partner on whom we can rely one hundred per cent. To achieve apunctual delivery rate of over 99 % against this background, and internationally, too, demonstratesDPD’ high performance standards and flexibility,” he commented.
