DHL has won a major new contract with Sun Microsystems for Middle East supply chain logistics, andwill also launch sponsorship of international sailing regattas in Abu Dhabi.
Under a deal announced today, DHL will act as a single supplier managing all of Sun’s supplychain activities in the Middle East, and manage the spare-and-repair logistics operations for Sun’snetwork infrastructure in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Egypt. The contract value was notdisclosed.
With DHL serving as the sole point of contact between Sun customers and suppliers, thenetwork infrastructure solutions provider will be able to increase productivity, reduce cost andensure faster spare parts turnaround, DHL said in a statement.
All parts deliveries originating from the main Sun Microsystems warehouse in Venlo,Netherlands, will be transported to the region using various DHL services, such as air freight andexpress. The DHL spare parts centers in Dubai, Muscat, Riyadh, Dhahran, Kuwait City and Abu Dhabiwill make sure that these parts are delivered to Sun’s end customer, within two to four hours ofplacing the order.
In the UAE alone, DHL will be shipping all of Sun’s urgent deliveries, with a delivery timeranging between two to four hours. In addition, some 300 strategic parts in the two UAE-based spareparts centres will be shipped as same-day orders to over 75 premium customers, and supporting over15 Sun engineers in the Emirates.
Dirk van Doorn, Product & Business Development Manager at DHL Express, commented: “Byoutsourcing its inventory and distribution functions to DHL, Sun Microsystems will be able to focuson its core strengths, increase visibility, reduce cost and improve the overall efficiency of itssupply chain in the Middle East. DHL will act as a single supplier managing all aspects of Sun’ssupply chain including customs clearance.” The electronic products industry constitutes nearly 40%of DHL’s business in the UAE and Middle East, he noted.
Separately, DHL announced that it will become the official logistics partner of the RC44Championship Tour 2008, compromising six sailing regattas in three different countries, starting onMarch 3rd in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The new partnership will combine innovative sailing concepts with newsolutions for transporting boats and equipment.
“With our partnership for the RC44 Championship Tour, DHL demonstrates that success in worldclass sailing and world class logistics is based on the same attributes: reliability, speed andperfect teamwork. We are convinced that through our logistics services we can help this racingseries to become even more powerful than it is already today,” said Wolfgang Giehl, Director ofCorporate Branding and Advertising for Deutsche Post World Net.
