DB Schenker Logistics and GLS today officially announced the start of their long-term partnership in Germany at a joint press conference in Hamburg which will enable each partner to offer their customers both parcel and freight services across Europe under the name “DB Schenker Parcel.”
Through the cooperation, which is starting two months later than expected, the partners hope to win new B2B customers but also see potential for B2C customers through e-commerce.
As part of the partnership, GLS now delivers domestic parcels in Germany for DB Schenker Logistics and will also handle international consignments. In return, DB Schenker will transport palletised freight for GLS customers.
Under the cooperation agreement, DB Schenker Logistics will manage parts of the transport chain itself and in general will collect parcels together with freight from customers. GLS will provide further transport and delivery to businesses and their end customers.
The companies already have cooperation agreements in the parcels segment in Denmark, Sweden and Austria, with Germany now being added as the fourth country.
“The Europe-wide GLS network gives customers new opportunities in parcel shipping,” Rico Back, CEO of GLS Group, said. "The start of the collaboration in Germany is another milestone in the partnership between the two companies.” Operating processes and the IT interfaces between the two partners were previously adapted to ensure smooth processes and transparency.
"Our goal for DB Schenker is to offer Europe-wide parcel logistics through GLS," Ewald Kaiser, Head of Land Transport at Schenker AG and CEO of the Europe region, commented. "We want to set up parcel services under our own brand to complement our product range in land transport," he added. This means that DB Schenker's German customers can now hand over everything to the logistics company ranging from individual parcels to full loads.
The master agreement for the strategic partnership at the European level, which the two companies signed in September 2015, was fleshed out in a European parcel cooperation agreement in February to clear the way for the partners to start their collaboration in Germany.
The partners are now preparing the expansion of their non-exclusive collaboration to other countries.
DB Schenker, the Deutsche Bahn freight transportation and logistics division, is by far the bigger of the two partners. The group generated revenues worth €15.5 billion in 2015. It employs roughly 65,000 employees at some 2,000 locations around the globe.
GLS, with a network of 39 hubs and 688 depots in Europe, delivered some 436 million parcels for more than 220,000 customers in the year ending March 2015, generating revenues of €2.1 billion.
