DHL has beaten rivals FedEx and UPS in a race to deliver parcels from the US to some of the mostdifficult and remote places on Earth, in what sponsors called the Great Package Race 2007.
Georgia Institute of Technology organized the contest to see which of the carriers would comeout on top, addressing parcels for five tricky destinations and paying for the companies to attemptto deliver them.
The destinations, deliberately chosen for their awkwardness, were:
* Upulu, a Samoan island with no street addresses;
* Tikrit, the centre of Sunni insurgency in Iraq;
* Harare, the capital of economically and politically troubled Zimbabwe;
* Yangon, capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma), one of the most isolated countries in theworld, and;
* Florianopolis, a remote island off southern Brazil.
“Some packages are still en route but it is already clear that DHL has won. They were firstto three destinations and came in a close second in the remaining two,” announced the organisers ontheir website.
In fact, DHL was the first to Tikrit, Samoa and Myanmar (all within five days), while FedExwon the Florianopolis leg in four days and UPS was the first to Harare (four days).
Funny stories from the race sponsors: UPS returned the Tikrit-bound package undelivered fromDubai and charged $67; FedEx’s delivery to Harare was frozen by customs due to misunderstandingsover a $1 tariff; UPS won the race to Harare but charged the sender $336, nearly three times thecost by second-placed DHL ($126); UPS said Samoa was not a country and the package, frozen inAuckland, could not be delivered.
According to the GIT, only DHL was able to ship to all five locations, which sparked delightat the Deutsche Post subsidiary.
“We are not surprised to see that DHL’s global leadership was clearly demonstrated throughthis independent test,” said Lindsey Birley, executive vice president for international productsand services, DHL Express.
“Our international footprint and our commitment to customer service give DHL theability and flexibility to ship not only to hundreds of cities and ports, but to get shipments toeven the world’s most remote destinations.”
This is the fourth year GIT has organised the race. Its next event, the Great Container Race,in which it races 40-foot shipping containers around the world via competing shipping companies, isset for October this year.
