DHL launch LCL service from Shenzhen to Gothenburg
DHL has launched a direct Less than Container Load (LCL) service from Shenzhen, China to Gothenburg, Sweden, enhancing its connectivity between Scandinavia and Southern China. The launch of Shenzhen – Gothenburg route is an addition to DHL’s existing direct LCL services from Shenzhen to Europe and America. Gothenburg is the largest port in Sweden and North Europe. The city is also the largest paper pulp and newsprint paper trading center in the world, and offers easy access to other ports and inland cities in Sweden through established road and rail networks.
The launch of the new service taps into the key trade lanes for businesses in Sweden. China-Sweden bilateral trade volume surpassed $10.1bn in 2008, in which China’s export to Sweden was $5.1bn and China’s import to Sweden was $5bn, which marked an increase of 16.8%, 12.4% and 21.7% year-on-year respectively. Sweden is China’s first foreign investment and technology import source and China’s second largest trading partner in North Europe, as well as China’s tenth largest trading partner in European Union. Meanwhile, China has become Sweden’s largest trading partner in Asia.
Through Danmar Lines, DHL Global Forwarding’s in-house carrier, the new weekly direct LCL services enable shipments to arrive up to eight days earlier as cargo is shipped directly from Shenzhen to Gothenburg instead of being routed via Hong Kong. From the terminal in Gothenburg where the shipments are being unloaded, shipments can be further distributed throughout Sweden utilizing DHL’s trucking network. Before launching this new route, DHL has been offering direct LCL services connecting Sweden and Southern China from Hong Kong to Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Stockholm.
“Today’s launch of our direct LCL service reflects our continued confidence in the China market and also deepens our commitment to being a reliable and trusted partner for Chinese businesses. We encourage companies especially those small and medium sized enterprises (SME) which have been seeking flexibility and cost-effectiveness to use our LCL service, a fast, reliable and cost-efficient end-to-end solution providing the right combination of delivery times and costs for enterprises’ ocean freight needs,” said Kelvin Leung, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, North Asia Pacific.
Edward Hui, managing director, DHL Global Forwarding, Hong Kong, Macau and South China, said: “DHL constantly provides the best-in-class services for our customers to access new markets more efficiently. We will continue to build comprehensive LCL services to align with South China’s efforts to build robust ports for handling shipments and trading.”
DHL carries more than 97% of its total volumes in house. The in-house systems and strong global network enables the control of cargo flow, information flow, speed, accuracy, cost efficiency and reliability. Going beyond port to port, DHL LCL service also offers a complete end-to-end supply chain management that includes pick-up at origin, consolidation and deconsolidation, delivery at destination and customs clearance. All LCL services are accompanied by DHL’s first-class IT solutions such as DHL Track & Trace and other tools to allow full visibility throughout the whole supply chain.
Clas Thorell, head of LCL Management Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding, added: “The launch of the new Shenzhen – Gothenburg direct LCL service demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative logistics solutions for our customers. Our LCL business has been seeing positive growth amid the slowdown and we are confident that this will remain a priority service for our customers.”
The new service marks the 24th new route that DHL has launched this year in Asia Pacific. DHL currently operates the world’s largest LCL network with more than 2,000,000 cubic meters of LCL freight handled annually.
