Traffic slow but stable – DHL

DHL's new sub-hub at Metz in eastern France, which was opened last November, is proving invaluable in helping to offload some of the traffic from its busy Brussels hub.
France Anne-Celine Martel, DHL's marketing director, says: "It has helped us to improve service quality and made us more flexible. Now we do not have to shift domestic French traffic all the way to Brussels and back again."
Metz has also enabled DHL to introduce its StartDay and MidDay products in May. The products allow customers to choose between pre-9am or noon delivery times. DHL says it has picked up business from customers not convinced of the performance of competitors.
DHL is currently rolling out StartDay from Paris, Lifie and Lyon to other main
French cities. The company, which handles 12m parcels a year in France, has experienced a 10% growth in volume a year to date, partly fuelled by StartDay and MidDay.
However, DHL reports slower business at the present time. "Our business is dependent on commercial dynamism, and in September it was down, not surprisingly," says Martel.
Chronopost, which carries 66m parcels a year in and out of France, has managed to keep traffic "stable" despite global conditions and problems in the US.
Because most integrators are allowed by the authorities to check their own shipments, the tighter security regime has not impacted on them as severely as their competitors, and all claim that security
inspections have not held up shipments. FedEx suspended its money-back guarantee in the days following the terrorist attacks of the 11 September, but was able to reinstate them just three days later.
Express operators'
concerns, shared by the rest
of the trade, are presently centred on the scale of airlines' retrenchment and the subsequent impact on cargo capacity. National carrier Air France Cargo is
scaling back and cutbacks are expected in France as well as across the Atlantic.
Six months ago, Air France Cargo was operating three ifights a day to French Guiana, today there is one. The ffight is full to capacity and this results in backlogs.
Air Lib Ä formed in the summer by the merger of AOM and Air Libert‚ and the only other French carrier with a large cargo business Ä has not announced cutbacks so far.
Jean-Noel Debordeau, international operations manager for Chronopost in France, says: "The big problem is the airlines and what their new offers will be. They are looking to reduce ifights and capacity is bound to suffer."
Integrators hope to minimise the impact of such downsizing given that much of their traffic is flown on their own aircraft. DHL's new sub-hub at Metz in eastern France, which was opened last November, is proving invaluable in helping to offload some of the traffic from its busy Brussels hub.
France Anne-Celine Martel, DHL's marketing director, says: "It has helped us to improve service quality and made us more flexible. Now we do not have to shift domestic French traffic all the way to Brussels and back again."
Metz has also enabled DHL to introduce its StartDay and MidDay products in May. The products allow customers to choose between pre-9am or noon delivery times. DHL says it has picked up business from customers not convinced of the performance of competitors.
DHL is currently rolling out StartDay from Paris, Lifie and Lyon to other main
French cities. The company, which handles 12m parcels a year in France, has experienced a 10% growth in volume a year to date, partly fuelled by StartDay and MidDay.
However, DHL reports slower business at the present time. "Our business is dependent on commercial dynamism, and in September it was down, not surprisingly," says Martel.
Chronopost, which carries 66m parcels a year in and out of France, has managed to keep traffic "stable" despite global conditions and problems in the US.
Because most integrators are allowed by the authorities to check their own shipments, the tighter security regime has not impacted on them as severely as their competitors, and all claim that security
inspections have not held up shipments. FedEx suspended its money-back guarantee in the days following the terrorist attacks of the 11 September, but was able to reinstate them just three days later.
Express operators'
concerns, shared by the rest
of the trade, are presently centred on the scale of airlines' retrenchment and the subsequent impact on cargo capacity. National carrier Air France Cargo is
scaling back and cutbacks are expected in France as well as across the Atlantic.
Six months ago, Air France Cargo was operating three ifights a day to French Guiana, today there is one. The ffight is full to capacity and this results in backlogs.
Air Lib Ä formed in the summer by the merger of AOM and Air Libert‚ and the only other French carrier with a large cargo business Ä has not announced cutbacks so far.
Jean-Noel Debordeau, international operations manager for Chronopost in France, says: "The big problem is the airlines and what their new offers will be. They are looking to reduce ifights and capacity is bound to suffer."
Integrators hope to minimise the impact of such downsizing given that much of their traffic is flown on their own aircraft.