DHL Launches “Virtual Warehouse” for US Importers
DHL today announced the launch of the DHL Danzas Air & Ocean Consolidated Distribution Service (CDS), a new service that allows customers to reduce brokerage fees and shorten delivery times for U.S. imports from Asia, Europe and Latin America. During the pilot stage of the service with U.S.-based customers, CDS reduced cycle times and improved time-to-market; eliminated warehousing and distribution center costs; and reduced inventory carrying costs and customs clearance costs for several large DHL shipping customers, while providing point-to-point tracking services. DHL is now offering the service to all high-volume U.S. importers looking to streamline their supply chain.
American consumers have shown an increased demand for quality products at affordable prices from around the world, with ready availability at local retail outlets or delivery direct to the home. To meet consumer demand, products must now reach their destination faster, and companies must more closely manage supply and demand as well as limit shelf time to reduce costly warehousing.
In response to this demand, the new DHL Danzas Air & Ocean CDS service helps to streamline the supply chain, and is particularly useful for DHL customers in the textile, electronics, pharmaceutical, and other industries where a single importer-of-record has multiple final delivery points within the United States. CDS combines the international heavy weight capabilities of DHL Danzas Air & Ocean with the DHL U.S. Express domestic network to move shipments seamlessly to their destination, bypassing costly and time-consuming warehouse stops.
“By linking the unique capabilities of DHL’s heavy weight and express operations, we are now able to create a virtual moving warehouse in the air or over water,” said Hans Toggweiler, Chief Executive Officer, North America for DHL Danzas Air & Ocean. “This new service is one of several initiatives to help improve and enhance the customer experience, enabling customers to bring their product to market more quickly and efficiently.”
The CDS process starts as products manufactured offshore are prepared with U.S. domestic shipping labels that are placed on the packages and prepared to ship via DHL by air or ocean. After arriving at a DHL Danzas Air & Ocean U.S. import gateway, the shipments clear customs as a bulk clearance under one customs entry. The shipments are then broken down and inducted into the DHL U.S. Express delivery network, where they are sorted at one of 21 hubs and regional sort centers and routed to the appropriate DHL service center for final delivery. The customer receives one invoice for the entire CDS move, including clearance charges, duties and taxes.
A DHL customer and leader in the custom-branded sportswear industry worked with DHL during the pilot phase of CDS. With products manufactured in southern China, the customer was looking to minimize door-to-door shipping and handling costs. DHL was able to decrease the average inventory holding time for the manufacturer from over 60 days to less than one week. The CDS service also improved shipment visibility, allowing the manufacturer to provide timely information to end consumers more quickly than through their previous carrier. Overall, CDS led to tens of thousands of dollars in savings and a global improvement in on time service performance.
DHL customers using the CDS service can prepare shipments for DHL by using one of several electronic shipping options including: DHL WebShip, DHL EasyShip automated shipment processing system, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or XML technology – designed to work with a customer’s order management system.
In early 2006, DHL will be offering an enhanced version of CDS, which will offer the option of creating flexible, customized transit reports on all CDS shipments.
