DHL Express expects historical peak season in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — DHL Express, the world’s leading express service provider, expects unprecedented online shopping and shipping volumes during the upcoming peak season of 2020.

With continued globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic driving consumers to shop online like never before, especially during upcoming mega shopping days such as ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Singles Day,’ DHL Express is expecting an all-time high in e-commerce trade around the globe.

Having already experienced around 35% e-commerce shipment volume growth in 2020, the upcoming peak season will further accelerate this and result in more than 50% higher shipment quantities compared to last year’s peak season.

“Over the years, we have seen consumers and even businesses shift their purchases online, but the pandemic has truly pushed the trend to leapfrog a few years ahead,” said Ken Lee, chief executive officer of DHL Express Asia Pacific. 

“At DHL Express, it is our mission to enable global trade and support our customers during the most important days of their business. The upcoming peak season will be challenging to the logistics industry, but we stand ready to make sure that our customers' shipments are delivered as fast and as safely as possible. We are proud of the steadfast commitment of our employees and couriers who are out there to fulfill our mission of connecting people and improving their lives,” he added.

Peak season ready 

Facing such increasing volumes and the novel coronavirus spreading around the globe in parallel, the challenges for logistics providers are tremendous.

In addition to the flexible management of precautionary measures to keep employees safe, the unprecedented peak of shipments poses an additional challenge for logistics.

Thanks to its annual investments in infrastructure such as hubs and gateways, aircraft, vehicles, and state-of-the-art technology, the company was able to multiply the capacity of its operations significantly, and an additional number of daily flights were also added to manage the upcoming volumes. 

To further prepare for the volume surge, DHL Express has hired more than 10,000 new employees globally. In the Philippines, over 200 additional employees were recently hired in anticipation of the peak season.

“This timing means we are able to provide Filipinos with a safe, fulfilling source of livelihood during a challenging year, and just in time for the Christmas season. It is a win-win-win situation for us, our new hires, and our customers. We are pleased to have contributed in creating jobs and doing our part in stimulating the economy,” said Nurhayati Abdullah, country manager of DHL Express Philippines.

More daily flights 

To manage the demands of e-commerce shipping and also of highly important personal protective equipment and medical goods, a large number of additional cargo flights is necessary, as most commercial passenger aircraft are still on the ground. To counter this, DHL Express has increased the number of its daily flights significantly.

This year alone, the company has already commissioned four new wide-body aircraft of the model B777 F in its operations, and two more units are expected in the next month. These six additional aircraft enable the company to carry out more than 3,000 additional intercontinental flights per year. 

“In Asia Pacific, we are expecting this year’s peak season shipment volumes to be 30-40% larger than last year. While these are extraordinary numbers, our state-of-the-art facilities, dedicated aircraft fleet, and insanely customer-centric employees are fully prepared to meet our customers’ requirements. DHL Express invests approximately EUR 1 billion annually to improve its infrastructure, network, and people, so that we are prepared for these kinds of situations and to ensure that global trade continues even in the most challenging periods,” said Sean Wall, executive vice president for Network Operations & Aviation at DHL Express Asia Pacific.