DHL Global Forwarding, the division of DHL which handles heavy freight by air, sea or land, is hosting a large conference in Malta today. Its CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Thomas Nieszner, tells The Times in an interview that DHL has grown over the past 40 years from a company of three people to a leader in global logistics.
Our success has always been based around delivering excellent service for our customers
“The DHL success story started back in 1969 in San Francisco with a revolutionary entrepreneurial idea. The pioneering spirit and focus on customer needs created a whole new industry and these are still among the most important features of our DHL brand,” Mr Nieszner says.
Over the years, the DHL network grew ever larger, gradually reaching out to new customers in every corner of the world. At the same time, the marketplace developed and became more complex, so DHL adapted to meet the changing needs of its customers – both at global and local level. “Today, DHL’s international network links more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. DHL also offers unparalleled expertise in express, air and ocean freight, overland transport, contract logistics solutions as well as international mail Services. From 1969 until today, the approach and dedication has remained the same. Our success has always been based around delivering excellent service for our customers.
“In recent years, DHL has grown into the global umbrella brand for our global mail, express, freight, global forwarding and supply chain solutions. These segments operate under the control of their own divisional headquarters. DHL Global Forwarding is the global leader in the air and ocean freight markets. We transport goods and merchandise to an agreed destination, at a customer specific agreed delivery time and price, providing customized solutions for major logistics projects, as well as comprehensive customs services. We’re the global leader in Air freight, carrying 12 per cent of the total worldwide market, more than twice as much as the second biggest organisation.” The company’s operations are managed from over 150 countries, providing a personalised service to and from all key markets. As one of the largest ocean freight service providers for full container load (FCL) and less-than-container load (LCL) shipments, it currently handles in excess of 2.7 million TEU’s and more than two million cubic meters of LCL freight annually, across all continents.
Mr Nieszner explains that Deutsche Post DHL has published a report entitled Delivering Tomorrow – Customer Needs in 2020 and Beyond which provides a number of expert opinions and analyses on issues such as globalisation, economy, technology, logistics, environment and society. The study reveals future trends in these areas up to the year 2020 and even beyond. By carrying out this study, the mail and logistics group has created an orientation guide for possible future scenarios. As a comprehensive analysis, Delivering Tomorrow examines 10 main future trends for the next 10 years, such as global developments like climate change, sustainable energy production. Further trends are new customer needs, expectations and behaviour all over the world focusing on individualisation, transparency, availability, and speed. In addition, the role of logistics will change as the new model industry, becoming a trendsetter and establishing new standards for cooperative efforts and “green” business. Logistics providers will increasingly develop into consulting companies; their complementary services will offer added value.
“With the DHL Innovation Centre, which is unique in the logistics field, a place has been created where DHL Solutions and Innovations combined capacity for innovation is made tangible and brought to life for visitors. In the DHL Innovation Centre, specialists from the academic, industrial and technological fields exchange their knowledge and talk about advanced new logistics solutions to be used globally.
“We offer space for new ideas, for forming innovative networks and developing solutions, from prototype to market launch. As an international forum, the centre creates a space for exchanging information and discussing the latest developments,” he says.
Mr Nieszner said that DHL’s focus on selected industry sectors means customers benefit from working with specialists – not just in logistics, but also in their particular marketplace.
“Our aim is to build long-term partnerships and work closely with our customers – often shoulder to shoulder with their management teams. The expertise of our people combined with our industry – leading solutions provides them with real competitive advantage. Our key industry sectors are life sciences and health care, technology and energy and the other sectors we are approaching are aerospace, automotive, consumer, fashion, engineering and manufacturing, mail order B2C and retail.”
He emphasises that corporate responsibility is a core element of the company’s corporate strategy.
“Acting responsibly as a company means we treat our employees, the environment, the interests of society and the capital that has been entrusted to us in a manner that is respectful and sustainable. Only in this way can we be successful in the long term,” he says.
He explains that GoHelp is the company’s global engagement in disaster management. Working closely with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) since 2005, a global network of Disaster Response Teams (DRTs) was created, made up of around 300 specially trained DHL employees.
“We provide the ideal global network for helping people impacted by major natural disasters and our support, in cooperation with the United Nations, focuses on global programs in two core areas: Immediate disaster response after natural disasters and disaster preparedness. “With the education programme GoTeach, we support education and equality of access to education worldwide. As a large organisation with high demand for qualified employees, we cannot afford to ignore the difficulties in education today and leave the responsibility to others. We are aware that our continued success as an organisation is reliant upon well-educated employees across the whole range of educational qualification levels.
“This is why we promote and support initiatives that improve equality of access to good education and empower children to find their place in society. In addition, GoTeach gives our employees the opportunity to get involved by volunteering in educational projects and thus expand their own horizons and contribute to the objective of minimising educational inequality,” he says.
He points out that DHL is committed to minimising the impact of its business on the environment. By 2020, the company aims to improve its CO2 efficiency by 30 per cent.
“Our core businesses, mail and logistics, result in emissions of carbon dioxide, making climate protection the primary focus of our efforts. However, our environmental protection programme, GoGreen, also sets the stage for our environmental management system, covering the local management of aspects such as water, waste, noise, the use of natural resources and local air pollution.
“The primary objectives laid down in our environmental policy are as follows: to achieve transparency of our environmental impact, to improve operational efficiency, to generate value in offering green solutions to our customers as well as to foster green technologies, helping to shape political regulations and engaging with our key stakeholders. Further, we aim to mobilise employees in strengthening their environmental knowledge and helping them to engage in environmental protection.” DHL also encourages and supports employees in their commitments towards volunteer projects. Introduced in Asia Pacific in 2008, Volunteer Day has expanded into the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Europe over the years, and continues to build on its success by involving more employees than ever before. This year, Deutsche Post DHL offices around the world participated in the many diverse community projects in support of various local causes.
Moreover, customers and business partners are also invited to be a part of the activities.
“For example, employees have the opportunity to get involved in such charitable projects as helping children, young people and the elderly, renovating or cleaning schools and community centres, and carrying out environmental projects. Over 50,000 employees in more than 600 projects take part this year. The activities are coordinated across the Group in order to provide a common platform for all projects,” he points out.
In each country, the DHL divisions individually choose projects for Global Volunteer Day to carry out. The projects include such activities as renovating school buildings in S. Africa, planting trees for reforestation in Serbia, transporting school supplies and donating blood.