DHL "optimistic" as Cambodian office opens
DHL’s new hub for its Global Forwarding arm in Cambodia has opened today (23 February). The new office – based in Regency Square Business Complex, Phnom Penh – will become a DHL Fashion and Apparel Center of Excellence.
It aims is to support the “textile and garments industry in Cambodia, and also bolster DHL’s services to customers in the oil and energy sector”, DHL confirmed.
Amadou Diallo, CEO, Africa and South Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding, said: “The new office reflects our commitment to expand our reach in the region and to continually invest in Cambodia.
“We are very optimistic about the country’s growth potential – gross domestic product growth stands at 5.5% in 2010, higher than the forecast of 4.9% by the World Bank.
“We believe that 2011 will be an even better year for Cambodia now that economic recovery is well underway.”
DHL said world energy demand is likely to grow 74% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
The energy sector is also expected to attract an average of EUR 600bn a year in investments to reach EUR 15 trillion in cumulated investments by 2030.
As it stands, the oil and energy industry spends EUR 260bn on logistics. This includes both fossil and renewable energies, DHL said.
Sam Ang, CEO, South East Asia, DHL Global Forwarding, said: “The burgeoning oil and energy industry provides lots of supply chain and logistics opportunities for us, in terms of supporting oil exploration and production in the Asia Pacific.
“As such, we will be strengthening our Industrial Projects division in Cambodia, which will handle large-scale industrial projects for leading multinationals and provide integrated turnkey project forwarding services for industry segments such as oil and gas, petrochemicals, power and energy,”
The new office will be DHL’s seventh Fashion and Apparel Center for Excellence in Asia Pacific.
There are already similar projects fully operational in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
In Cambodia, the Center will “implement best practices and customise solutions to help customers in fashion and apparel to better manage the product flow further upstream in their supply chain.”
Huykieu Khau, managing director, DHL Logistics (Cambodia), said: “The fashion and apparel industry remains as one of our core focus areas and Cambodia is an increasingly important part of our global fashion and apparel aspirations.
“In the initial 11 months of 2010, garments and textiles contributed nearly $2.82bn to Cambodia, which is a 20.15% increase from the same period last year.
“Moreover, EU tax exemptions for Cambodia mean export growth is likely to continue to rise.”
