DHL Express has added extra planes and vehicles to cope with a seasonal 10 per cent rise in volumesin Q4, 2012, and will focus next year on volume growth and improved margins, company officials told
CEP-Research.Asked about the operator’s capacity planning and volume trends in the pre-Christmas peakseason, a spokesperson said: “DHL Express volumes traditionally increase by at least 10 per cent inQ4 over the rest of the year, driven by peak season volumes. We have been in this business over 40years, so planning for and handling known peaks in volume that occur at various times during theyear are part of our “normal” operation.
“We do schedule extra aircraft and trucking rotations and equipment, and additional pick-upand delivery fleets to handle these volume peaks. This is normal cycle business for us so we dohave well trained resources and partners we call on regularly at these times so quality ismaintained. Additionally actions such as extension of over time worked by our people, noholiday leave given at this time and other measures expand our operational capacity.”
Although DHL Express, as part of Deutsche Post DHL, declined to make any forecasts about thisyear before group results are published next March, the company said its nine-month resultscovering January-September 2012 showed strong growth in international time-definiteshipments. Over the first nine months, DHL Express worldwide revenues grew by 9.8 per cent to€9.4 billion, its operating profit improved by 23.4 per cent to €829 million and the profit marginrose to 8.8 per cent.
“Despite statements made by many industry analysts and competitors about a structural shiftfrom air to sea, we expect demand for true international time definite services to remainstrong,” the spokesperson commented.
As its major developments during 2012, DHL Express highlighted the launch of the North AsiaHub in Shanghai and investments in its intercontinental fleet, particularly in the round-the-worldflight which introduced overnight delivery from major cities in Asia to the US West Coast.
Looking ahead to 2013, DHL Express said it expects volume growth and aims for improvedmargins.
“Our focus in 2013 will remain on our core international time definite business. We expectfurther volume growth and are well prepared for that by investments made in 2012 in ourinfrastructure and our air network,” the spokesperson said. “Increasing volumes will help to drivefurther operational leverage and improve our margin position. The main challenge lies within theunsecure economic environment.”
DHL Express has announced a global price increase of about 5 per cent for 2013 to addressprice inflation on input cost and cost related to increasing regulatory requirements.
