DHL Express (Malaysia) confident of double-digit growth

Global courier firm DHL Express expects to continue its double-digit revenue and volume growth in its Malaysian operations this year, outpacing the market.

“The international air express market in Malaysia is growing at a healthy pace because of the shift in the country’s economy from lower value-added manufacturing to more high technology, high-value goods,” DHL Express (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd country manager Sam Leong told Business Times in a written reply.

“And because of DHL Express’ diverse portfolio of clients across several industries in Malaysia, we are confident that we will continue to register strong double-digit (revenue and volume) growth going forward, ” he said.

Today, DHL is the leading express delivery company in Malaysia, with a more than 40 per cent share of the market. It has been registering a growth of 15-20 per cent in revenue in the last few years.

Leong said last year, several factors have contributed to the company ’s growth in Malaysia. There are investments in its infrastructure, product innovation, strong exports as well as its people.

“These factors have been instrumental in generating the company’s continuous growth and inspire us to stay ahead of competition.

“For example, we had in June last year formed a strategic partnership with Transmile Group Bhd, where both parties will work closely on the development of both intra- Asia and inter-continental air services to meet booming trade within the region and beyond,” he said.

“With Transmile, we believe the payload capacity increase that the strategic alliance offers will allow us to provide better support to our customer s’ increasing needs,” he added.

DHL Express Malaysia had also expanded its reach into the retail segment with two Servicepoint outlets in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya last year.

“DHL Servicepoint is a direct response to market evaluation studies conducted earlier by the company, which revealed that customers seek the flexibility to ship items at their own convenience.

“Response to Servicepoint has been positive and should remain a positive influence on our growth in Malaysia, ” said Leong, adding that more Servicepoint outlets will be opened over the next three years.

Last September, DHL Express had also opened a new service centre in Penang to help boost its services to customers in Penang and help facilitate Malaysia’s continued growth in the global market.

For 2007, DHL Express Malaysia plans to officially launch its new Klang Valley service centre in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.

Built at a cost of over USD5.7 million (RM20.06 million), the 60,000 sq ft facility will house 7,000 sq ft office space and will feature a fully automated material handling system, ball decks to handle containers, spot cooling in the warehouse, a two-tier conveyor with sort systems and capacity for 90 employees to service 39 routes throughout the area.

The station’s equipment and manpower will enable DHL Express to sort some 4,500 packages per day at the facility, allowing for guaranteed delivery times to be met throughout the station’s area of coverage.

“The new facility will allow us to offer our customers increased speed and reliability and greater capacity to boost their time-to-market in an increasingly competitive international marketplace,” said Leong.

To date, DHL Express’ invest- ments in Asia-Pacific amount to more than USD1.7 billion (RM5.98 billion).

Leong also said Malaysia is an important component of DHL Express business in Asia-Pacific, ranking among the top 10 markets.

“With Malaysia being primarily an export economy, we see it continuing to be a valuable contributor to our overall Asia-Pacific revenue and volume,” he said.
Today, Asia-Pacific’s contribution to DHL Express’ global revenue is over 15 per cent.

“DHL Express’ revenue growth in the South-East Asian region has outpaced the industry average, as reflected in the double-digit growth we have seen in the last two years.

“Our consolidated Asia-Pacific revenue increased from e3.4 billion (RM15.40 billion) in 2004 to e4.2 billion (RM19.02 billion) in 2005. For the first nine months of 2006, consolidated Asia-Pacific revenue was e4.8 billion (RM21.74 billion), compared with e2.8 billion (RM12.68 billion) in the same period of 2005,” said Leong.