DHL Express extends its day-definite Economy Select service to Iraq

DHL Express has extended its DHL Economy Select service into Iraq which adds to the existingtime-definite services offering slower transit times for less urgent shipments to the countries

DHL has been successfully testing the Economy Select service in Iraq this year linking thecountry to the GCC and Levant regions for the first time with an integrated road and air network.The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates while theLevant includes Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and parts of Cyprus,Turkey and Iraq.

“No one knows the Middle East like DHL, and as we continue to expand our network and services,we continue to provide our customers with more cost-effective options. The new Day-Definite servicewill provide unprecedented logistical solutions in Iraq,” Nour Suliman, CEO of DHL Express MENA,commented.

DHL introduced Economy Select as its worldwide economy product in early 2008 as part of itsglobal product harmonisation. This was designed to unify and simplify the product portfolio intothree categories: same-day, time-definite next-day and day-definite services. Economy Select wasfirst launched in Europe for a further rollout worldwide. As part of the service, DHL acceptsshipments between 10kg and 1,000 kg, with an individual weight per piece limit of 70kg. The highweight limitation enables DHL to fill a former gap in its portfolio and to target heavier shipmentsthan in the past.

“The new service will eliminate weight and size restrictions into Iraq and provide aneconomically attractive solution to customers who ship less urgent and heavier weightconsignments,” Suliman added.

DHL was the first logistics company to establish operations in Iraq in 2003 and since then, hasexpanded across the country with 18 service points and 3 main gateways in Iraq’s key citiesincluding Erbil, Baghdad and Basra. DHL Express Iraq currently operates 117 vehicles handling onaverage 16,000 shipments per day. It is considered the number one specialist for logistics in theOil and Gas industry, providing a daily door-to-door service to most oil and gas fields inBasra.