DHL will launch its TransPacific partnership with Polar Air Cargo on October 27, strengthening itsleading position in the international express market through an improved offering on one of its
major intercontinental trade lanes.Volumes on DHL’s TransPacific routes have been steadily increasing in recent years anddespite a slowdown in 2008, overall TransPacific air cargo volume is expected to show double digitgrowth in the mid-term, DHL Express said.
The partnership, based around a Block Space Agreement (BSA), will start with an inauguralflight from Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) to Wilmington (ILN), USA, on 27 October at 16:00hrs, local time, DHL Express announced.
The Block Space Agreement guarantees DHL Express access to six Polar Air Cargo B747-400Faircraft that will serve eight key destinations in Asia and the US. The company will thus use PolarAir Cargo’s scheduled weekday flights from Los Angeles, Wilmington and New York via Anchorage toHong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo. In addition, the partnership also covers an extended weekendschedule, with flights to Honolulu, Sydney, Sharjah and Leipzig.
Commenting on the partnership, John Mullen, CEO DHL Express, underlined the important rolethat TransPacific trade plays in DHL Express’ growth strategy. “The partnership with Polar AirCargo enables DHL to significantly improve its Time Definite product offering and thus become moreattractive to our customers on one of the world’s most important trade lanes. Moreover, we areextending our TransPacific services to also include a connection to JFK, offering a Time Definiteservice from Asia to the US East Coast. This too will help boost our international services to andfrom the US,” said Mullen.
Charles Graham, CEO Global Aviation DHL Express, stressed the operational improvements DHLcan achieve through the partnership. “We chose Polar Air Cargo as our partner for the TransPacifictrade lane, mainly due to their excellent operational and on-time performance and vast experiencein international air cargo,” said Graham.
“Polar Air Cargo has been providing air lift to DHL Express with two B747-400Fs since March31 this year, when it replaced the regular US-HKG service that had been previously served byanother carrier,” Graham said. “These flights have been operating to an outstanding on-time arrivalperformance of over 96 %, which means that almost all flights stay within a 15 minute limit ofscheduled arrival time.”
Carrying up to 112 tonnes on a maximum distance of 7,600 kilometers, the B747-400F has anexcellent payload/range ratio. The aircraft also has winglets that save up to 4% of fuel per flightand contribute to its good overall fuel efficiency figures. Compared to its predecessor, theB747-200F, the B747-400F consumes 18% less fuel and its engine emissions are up to 50 % lower.Furthermore, its noise footprint during take-off is approximately half that of the older generationaircraft.
