Freight volumes through Dubai have recovered in the past months from a slowdown during theworldwide economic crisis of 2009 and have not been hit by the recent political unrest, according
to DHL managers in the region.“There was a slowdown in Dubai in the last couple of years but now we are seeing volumes pick upagain,” Michael Buckley, general manager of Danzas (the local legal name for DHL Global Forwarding,Supply Chain and Freight) told CEP-Research in a recent interview. “2010 was better than 2009 andwe are hoping the market will continue to grow in 2011.” Paul Lattouf, country sales manager,added: “We have not seen any signs of customers avoiding the region.”
Buckley stressed that DHL remains committed to the new Dubai World Central airport, theambitious project to create the world’s largest airport. Dubai World Central, which lies directlynext to the large Jebel Ali tree trade zone and the adjoining sea-port, was officially opened inJune 2010 and is currently served by various freighter flights. Fast-growing Dubai InternationalAirport remains the emirate’s dominant passenger and cargo airport.
“We want to create a multimodal facility within the airport,” he confirmed. “We will come with afacility there in the near future.” Further details could not yet be disclosed, however. Thisfacility would be particularly useful for DHL’s SEAIR product, under which goods are transported byship from Asia to Dubai and then flown on to Europe.
In 2007, Deutsche Post DHL announced plans for a multi-million dollar investment at the newWorld Central airport, expanding the group’s operations footprint by more than 300,000 sqm. Underthe plans, DHL Express would invest in a 50,000 sqm hub, there would be a 30,000 sqm new freightforwarding facility and a 155,000 sqm contract logistics facility. The overall Dubai WorldCentral project, however, has been slowed by the severe impact of the financial crisis on Dubaiover the last two years.
Separately, in 2008, Danzas officially opened its AED 185 million, 80,000 sqm logistics faciltyat Jebel Ali Free Zone. This is the largest multi-purpose logistics warehouse facility in theregion, and includes an 8,000 sqm temperature-controlled area for sensitive Life Sciencesproducts.
Discussing other expansion projects in the Gulf region, Wilfried Hugebaert, Danzas generalmanager in Abu Dhabi, highlighted that this emirate’s aims to build up a manufacturing base thatwould generate more freight volumes and said DHL was looking to invest in new facilities in AbuDhabi. Further along the coast, however, Qatar’s strategy of copying Dubai was “perhaps too late”,added Lattouf. “Qatar is now where Dubai was 15 years ago,” he commented.
Looking ahead, the DHL managers also highlighted the potential from emerging trade lanes throughthe Middle East. “We are seeing Africa start to open up,” Lattouf said. “We can see that morecustomers are looking at Africa. That seems to be where the action is.” In response, DHL has set upa local sales team dedicated to routes to Africa. Another growing market is transportation of SouthAmerican perishable goods to Dubai, he pointed out.
All three managers stressed that DHL has “robust” security measures in place in the region.Lattouf noted that one large customer had recently carried out a security audit and concluded that “ this was one of the most secure places they have audited”.
