Hong Kong-Shanghai: DHL stays competitive by increasing capacity 35%
DHL, one of the world’s leading express and logistics companies, said Wednesday that it has upgraded its uplift capacity on the Hong Kong-Shanghai sector by 35 percent in response to the tremendous growth in demand express services in Asia.
According to Jerry Hsu, president for Greater China and Korea at DHL Express, the five times weekly Hong Kong-Shanghai service, previously operated by a Dragonair A300B4, has been replaced by a Cathay Pacific-operated service with an Air Hong Kong Airbus A300-600GF. The Freighter, with a capacity of 47 tonnes, represents an increase in payload capacity of almost 35 percent, from 35 tonnes previously, he said.
He added that DHL last upgraded the payload capacity on this route in June 2004, 12 months after the service was first launched, in response to increasing demand and surging intra-Asia shipment volumes.
“With the enhanced service, we are now able to offer customers greater uplift for their shipments to and from China, connecting through our Central Asia Hub in Hong Kong,” the president said. “We have been experiencing phenomenal growth in China over the last few years and it continues to be the driver of growth for DHL in the Asia and Pacific.”
He said over the last four months, DHL has been strengthening its dedicated Asia Pacific air net work. He added that in April, two new direct overnight express services were introduced – between Bejing and Hong Kong, and between Shanghai and the United States.
The new services came shortly after it commenced a four-time weekly dedicated overnight service between Nagoya and Hong Kong in March, he said.
“Surging shipment volumes on the Hong Kong-Shanghai trade lane has necessitated a capacity upgrade on the route. This is to ensure that there is adequate uplift availability in place to support the pace of growth of DHL’s business in those markets and across the Asia Pacific,” said Ross Allen, senior vice president for aviation at DHL Express Asia Pacific.
“This development also ties in with our long-term aim of having in place a linehaul network that is superior to the competition in terms of reliability, market coverage and cost efficiency.”
He further said DHL’s dedicated air network in the region connects 27 destinations and is served by more than 20 aircraft in dedicated freighter operations. This allows capital cities and other major business centres to be interconnected through DHL’s regional hubs and gateways, providing DHL’s customers with overnight services across Asia and the Pacific, he added.
