DHL and USPS have unveiled plans to increase capacity ready for the forthcoming peak Christmasseason in the USA when volumes will increase to the highest levels during the year.
DHL announced that it has contracted its US airline partners to fly more than 425 additionaldomestic point-to-point routes on nights, days and weekends, totalling more than 8,000 flightsduring the peak season. It will also increase its average daily ground linehaul capacity by25% by adding more than 440 daily truck routes to its regular network schedule. DHL will take onhundreds of seasonal and temporary workers at its air and ground hub in Wilmington, and increasethe workforce at its 18 other US regional sorting centre by 50%.
DHL said that it expects volumes to grow steadily from this week onwards, peaking on Monday,December 17, 2007 – its busiest shipping day of the year – with a 50% increase over average dailyvolume for the first three quarters of 2007. It estimates average daily shipment volume in the U.S.during the month of December will be 25% higher than average daily volume for the first threequarters of the year.
The operator also expects average daily volume for DHL@home, its B2C home delivery serviceprovided in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, will more than double during December drivenby online retailers, catalogue companies and other business-to-consumer shipments. InDecember, it also expects to double the volume of packages handled through its drop boxes andnationwide retail network of Authorized Shipping Centers, and to register a 10% rise in customershipments processed online and a 30 percent increase in online tracking requests over last season.
“DHL’s investment in additional routes, fleet and staff during the peak season ensures wecontinue to deliver the highest level of customer service and responsiveness in the face ofincreasing seasonal demand,” said John Cameron, executive vice president of operations for DHL USA.
Meanwhile, the US Postal Service said it would increase contracted air cargo capacity by 30%and use more than 200,000 trucks to deliver an expected 20 billion pieces of mail across thecountry and around the world during the run-up to Christmas. Total volume on the busiest day –December 17 – should approach one billion letters, packages and other items, up from an averagedaily volume of 703 million pieces.
