DHL Express says Asia volumes fall 10%
DHL Express saw its volume in Asia Pacific slide about 10% in the first two months of 2009 from a year ago, its regional chief executive told Reuters on 3 March.
DHL Express saw its volume in Asia Pacific slide about 10% in the first two months of 2009 from a year ago, its regional chief executive told Reuters on 3 March.
“2009 will be a very, very tough year for business globally. But I am a firm believer that Asia will see recovery sooner than anyone else,” said Daniel McHugh, who oversees the operation of DHL Express across 41 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
However DHL, owned by Deutsche Post, saw its intra-Asia documents and small parcel delivery volumes still up by an average of 2-4% in the first two months of the year.
McHugh said intra-Asia shipping was partly supported by domestic demand in countries like China, India and Indonesia which had less dependency towards global trade compared to other Asian economies like Singapore and Malaysia. Shipping within Asia accounts for almost two-thirds of the region’s income.
“We should see some uptake in manufacturing activities in Asia towards the fourth quarter that will be shipped out in the first quarter and go to the retail and distribution networks in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2010,” McHugh said in an interview.
Deutsche Post said in February it expects underlying earnings to fall in 2009 as the global economic crisis further chipped away demand for mail and logistics services in the first quarter.
