DHL plans to introduce new logistics products in the SAARC region along with its domestic partnerBlue Dart Express in a bid to tap the express market in the SAARC countries worth nearly €28
million, according to Indian newspaper The Economic Times.The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and politicalorganisation of eight countries in Southern Asia including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan and Afghanistan .
Under its expansion plans in the region, DHL aims to offer shipping services like worldwidedocument express, worldwide parcel express, import express, economy select and road express inPakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. The company is in the process of designing these multi-modelproducts for use on both air and surface networks. It already offers road express services betweenIndia and Bangladesh trade lanes.
In addition, DHL expects to gain a market share of the €5 billion unorganised trade market inthe SAARC region by being the first organised player to tap this segment, The Economic Timesfurther reported.
Malcolm Monteiro, Senior Vice President and Area Director at DHL South Asia said: “We arelooking at an increase of up to another 10% in our share of the total business in the SAARC regionby 2015 from the existing 5%. With increasing logistics spending in the region, DHL’s SAARC focuswill be in the long term on business areas including textiles, chemicals, auto engineering partsand spares.”
He added that DHL aims at developing the SAARC trade lane and has therefore rolled out theSAARC products to help create a network for transportation and trade within SAARC countries.
Monteiro also pitched for early removal of trade barriers in the region. Industry studiesalso suggest that the intra-SAARC trade can increase by up to 11 times once trade barriers arelifted. According to industry analysts, India remains the major trade hub in the SAARC region witha market share of over 90%. Trade growth in the region has been mainly driven by the India-SriLanka, India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh trade lanes, The Economic Times added.
