DHL prepares for holiday season peak on

Given the annual shopping-and-shipping frenzy that marks the height of the holiday season, DHL is taking steps to ensure that holiday shipments arrive at their destinations on time.

DHL enters the peak day of December 17 – known to those in red and yellow DHL uniforms as “Super Monday” – with 10,000 team members strong at its primary U.S. hub as well as tens of thousands of others across the country to efficiently move packages through the DHL network. Overall, DHL expects to move over 14.5 million packages across the globe on Super Monday.

“Preparation for the holiday season and our very own ‘Super Monday’ began the day after Christmas 2006,” said John Cameron, executive vice president of operations for DHL. “Members of our cross-functional team – from our air and ground fleet, to sales and service – have been working closely for this year-long ramp up. The formula for success is communicating regularly with our customers to understand their needs plus planning for the expected, but being prepared for the unexpected.”

DHL expects a 50 percent increase over its average daily volume during the first three quarters of this year, as it will deliver approximately 2.5 million packages and pick up 2.3 million packages across the United States. In addition to its primary hub in Wilmington, OH, the volume increase will be shared by DHL’s Allentown, PA, facility on the East Coast, which will process 90,000 shipments per hour on that day, and by its West Coast facility in Riverside, CA, which will process 60,000 shipments per hour.

DHL has taken the following steps to manage shipments during the peak of this 2007 holiday season:
• DHL has added more than 440 daily truck routes to its regular network schedule, a 25 percent increase over its average daily ground linehaul capacity.
• Nearly 10,000 staff members, including hundreds of seasonal and temporary workers, are working around the clock at DHL’s principal air and ground hub in Wilmington, OH, to ensure customer packages reach their destinations in time for the holidays.
• The workforce has also increased at DHL’s 18 other U.S. regional sort centers by 50 percent.
• The average daily volume for DHL@home, DHL’s business-to-consumer service in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, will more than double during the month of December, driven by online retailers, catalog companies and other business-to-consumer shipments.
• During the month of December, DHL expects to double the volume of packages handled through DHL drop boxes and its nationwide retail network of DHL Authorized Shipping Centers®, including OfficeMax® locations and independent mail and parcel centers.
• During the month of December, DHL projects a 10 percent increase in customer shipments processed online and a 30 percent increase in online tracking requests over last season.