DHL Express today reported dramatic increases in Thailand volumes thanks to successful contingencyplanning during the week-long closure of Bangkok international airport. It has now resumed normal
operations there again following yesterday’s start of cargo flights.The operator said its express business in Bangkok had increased by up to 30% daily over thelast week as companies took advantage of its alternative operations while the airport itself wasclosed to normal cargo activities. Volumes on DHL’s Bangkok-Singapore road services soared 300% asexporters sought to move goods via Singapore. It then saw a 60% increase in volumes yesterday(December 2) as it resumed regular operations from Suvarnabhumi Airport and some cargo flights tookplace.
“In the past week, businesses have turned to established express service providers who havecontingency plans to move shipments,” said Stephen Fenwick, Senior Vice President, Operations, DHLExpress Asia Pacific. “We’ve resumed regular operations from Suvarnabhumi Airport, but we stillhave our air and road contingency plans in place to ensure our customers’ shipments keep moving ona timely basis.”
Since Suvarnabhumi Airport closed on 25 November, DHL bolstered its air and road operationsto cater to the surge in volumes. It was one of the few operators in Thailand who could still moveshipments, thanks to well-prepared contingency plans. “Once news of the airport closure broke, weput in 4-5 flight rotations a day from Singapore and Hong Kong to Thailand using regional airportsto handle the increased volumes. In addition, we doubled our road capacity and added a weekendservice to meet the surge in demand,” Fenwick said.
“Having the option of both air and road gives us the flexibility of service offerings to ourcustomers so we’re not solely dependent on any one mode of transport. This is crucial as bordertraffic between Malaysia and Thailand in the past few days became increasingly congested. Theaddition of weekend operations helped us cope with the demand to ensure timely deliveries for ourcustomers,” he added.
Yasmin Khan, Senior Vice President, Southeast Asia, DHL Express Asia Pacific, added: “InBangkok alone, our express business increased by up to 30 per cent daily as local businesses areaware we have a contingency plan in place. In the past week, we’ve seen a 300% jump in volume onoutbound shipments from Bangkok to Singapore on our road network.”
Production materials used by high tech and electronics manufacturing companies constituteover 80% of all the new shipments moved by DHL on its road network, as manufacturing businessesbased in Bangkok turned to express services to maintain production deadlines in their supplychains.
Bangkok is one of DHL’s key hubs in Asia Pacific. The DHL Bangkok hub usually processesshipments not only for Thailand but also for the surrounding countries – Laos, Cambodia Vietnam andsome countries in South Asia. With the closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport, DHL routed its air networkto other local airports in Thailand for local inbound and outbound shipments. Countries previouslyserved by the DHL Bangkok hub were serviced directly by DHL’s Hong Kong and Singapore hubs toensure minimum disruption. In addition, DHL added a weekend service and doubled its capacity on itsroad network which spans Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
