8 minute read
DHL Global Forwarding An exclusive interview with Sue Donoghue, CEO, KSA.
Sue Donoghue, CEO, Arab Cluster, and Managing Director, Saudi Arabia, DHL Global Forwarding, spoke exclusively to Global Supply Chain to explain and shed more light on the implications of this initiative and launch the fast track sea freight services at Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Gateway Bonded Zone.
Global Supply Chain (GSC): DHL Global Forwarding has become the first logistics provider to launch fast-track sea freight clearance services at the Eastern Gateway Bonded Zone (EGBZ) at the King Fahad International Airport in Dammam. Tell us more about this special service? Sue Donoghue (SD): Located on a vast, sprawling site at Dammam’s King Fahad International Airport, the Eastern Gateway Bonded Zone (EGBZ) is designed to facilitate the movement of air and road cargo into Saudi Arabia in a seamless and efficient way. EGBZ is the fastest growing and only site in Saudi Arabia that offers multi-modal, multi-user, multi-temperature facilities, along with a fast-track clearance gateway, national distribution hub and bonded storage facility.
DHL Global Forwarding will provide reliable, fully managed end-to-end transportation, ensuring predictability across the supply chain. Cargo received at the bonded facility will be cleared within 24 hours from arrival to facility, thereby improving overall transit by at least six days compared to the conventional timelines.
The major benefits of the Sea Freight Express Services at EGBZ are average consignment clearance times of less than 12 hours, avoidance of port demurrage penalties, avoidance of line detention charges, deferment of duty payments while cargo is held in Bond at EGBZ, the ability to utilize EGBZ as a hub and spoke for KSA LMD of cleared consignments, and the ability to carry out value added services on imports pre-clearance.
GSC: What is the scope and extent of the services on offer? SD: Some of the services on offer are door to door transportation including customs clearance and LCL shipment to Saudi Arabia from across the world. DHL remains committed to serving the needs of our customers in the coming year with digitaldriven solutions that improve sustainability and efficiency.
Sue Donoghue
KSA’s strategic plans to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 and 2060 respectively are central to the region’s long-term goals to transition to climate neutrality in the next decades. At DHL, we are fully embedding sustainability across our operations. Our purpose remains to connect people and improve their lives by enabling trade and helping businesses to grow.
GSC: Do you propose to roll out this service for other Bonded Zones / Free Zones across Saudi Arabia and GCC? SD: We certainly have plans to extend this service to Jeddah in the near future. Through our collaborations with other Free Zones, DHL Global Forwarding will be able to offer more direct services, cutting transit times to a minimum, with reliable, fully managed, end-to-end transportation, ensuring predictability across the supply chain and enabling timely delivery.
This would mean that container receiving, segregation, clearance, loading and delivery to the end user can be handled seamlessly by DHL Global Forwarding, together with the Free Zone authorities. Our goal is to centralize and manage global shipments from multiple origins, with guaranteed transit times and enhanced reliability.
GSC: What countries constitute the Arab Cluster? SD: DHL Global Forwarding formed the Arabian Cluster in 2020 which constitutes the countries Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait, to further capitalize on the region’s growth prospects by synergizing resources and expertise.
The Middle East shows great promise and is an important region for DHL’s network. It has tremendous economic growth opportunities, owing to their hydrocarbon wealth, strategic location, and availability of skilled manpower.
The region has witnessed a steep growth in the logistics sector through its efforts on economic diversification. Some examples of improvements in the region are the development of Jeddah Port’s infrastructure and new electronic clearance systems at Kuwait’s borders –to help the region’s economic wheel turn faster. GSC: How is DHL Global Forwarding faring / performing in the Kingdom? SD: In Saudi Arabia, DHL Global Forwarding has invested in both people — it plans to have 60 percent of its workforce hired locally— and the industry.
DHL Global Forwarding has invested in excess of 30 million Euros, opening three key gateways in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. This has helped the economic flow of global trade between Saudi Arabia and its counterparts. This investment in the Kingdom has paid off. Even with recent challenges, the logistics industry is experiencing growth and Saudi Arabia is perfectly positioned to benefit from the opportunities presented.
As a result of the gateway investments, DHL has continued to offer its customers market-leading solutions that clearly differentiate DHL from the competition in terms of our operational performance. This has acquired new and additional business from the global network.
GSC: What are your expectations and plans for the region? SD: At DHL Global Forwarding, we remain guided by our Strategy 2025, which focuses on harnessing globalization, e-commerce, digitalization and sustainability for the profitable long-term growth of our business. We believe growth comes from a consistent focus on our profitable core logistics businesses – and digitalization has become the greatest lever, steadily improving services, processes and standards over the coming years.
DHL Global Forwarding remains committed to serving the needs of our customers in the coming year with digitaldriven solutions that improve sustainability and efficiency. For instance, our online freight marketplace Saloodo! is leading the movement to ‘Uberize’ trucking, by helping carriers manage their fleets better and optimize the capacity of their full truckload (FTL) shipments with a few ‘clicks’, while shippers can find the most pricecompetitive option.
We are also fully embedding sustainability across our operations. Our purpose remains to connect people and improve their lives by enabling trade and helping businesses to grow.
As the world gradually transitions to recovery from the pandemic, we look forward to continue our humanitarian efforts through DHL’s Global Humanitarian Logistics Competence Center in Dubai, to coordinate the movements of aid and relief for needy communities on behalf of humanitarian organizations.
GSC: What challenges do you confront in Saudi Arabia? SD: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted every sector and geography across the globe including logistics in Saudi Arabia. At DHL Global Forwarding, KSA we took this challenge as an opportunity to make a positive impact. The DHL teams worked round-the-clock to ensure that essential medical supplies, and protective equipment reach frontliners across the globe.
While Saudi Arabia began its recovery from the pandemic, the logistics industry in the Kingdom grappled with surging demand, shrinking capacity, high freight rates, labor shortages and geopolitical tensions. One key challenge that we faced was the lack of sufficient expertise in the industry.
The logistics industry in the region needs to produce enough talent to keep up with the growing demand. These challenges were met through DHL’s innovative, digital and purpose driven solutions that came to fruition thanks to Deutsche Post DHL Group’s extraordinarily broad geographic footprint and comprehensive portfolio of logistics solutions, ranging from international express services, global air and ocean freight transport to warehousing and e-commerce solutions. We are more robustly positioned than other companies and thus well situated to navigate crisis situations.
Deal sealed at the recently concluded Bahrain International Airshow 2022
DHL Express recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), the operator and managing body of Bahrain International Airport (BIA), at the Bahrain International Airshow 2022.
The MoU between the two stakeholders will see both parties enhance collaboration on upcoming projects to support DHL’s planned investment in expanding its local operations to better serve its customers both locally and across the entire region.
The signing of the MoU was held at the Bahrain International Airport stand, between Nour Soliman, CEO, DHL Express MENA, and Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, CEO, BAC. Also present during the signing ceremony were Bachi Spiga, Head of Operations, DHL Express MENA, along with Abdulla Janahi, Chief Development and Technical Officer of BAC, and Ayman Zainal, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer, BAC, and other members of the BAC team.
“The Kingdom of Bahrain continues to be a significant Hub for DHL’s regional network. We look forward to our continued partnership with BAC to further accelerate our expansion plans,” stated Suliman.
“Bahrain has been home to DHL’s business since 1976 when the company established its first Hub in the Middle East region. As the operator and managing body of the Kingdom’s aerospace gateway, BAC is pleased to be strengthening its partnership with DHL and we will continue to support them with their ongoing investments,” commented Albinfalah on this occasion.
DHL Express spearheads retail automation in the CEP Market
Launches its first Digital Service Point in Dubai Silicon Oasis
DHL Express has marked a breakthrough in retail automation in the Courier, Express & Parcel (CEP) Industry with the launch of its first digital service point in the UAE.
Located at the Dubai Digital Park (DDP) in Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), this fully automated service point is the first in the Middle East region and across DHL’s global network. It is an unparalleled innovation in the industry that is reflective of DHL’s market leading position in UAE and initiates an era of digitalizing customer experience in logistics.
The launch event was hosted by DHL Express in collaboration with Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), at DSO’s owned DDP, Dubai’s first integrated smart city project that spans 150,000sqm and was attended by senior executives from both DHL Express MENA and DSO.
“The location of the service point in the Dubai Digital Park has been strategically selected to demonstrate DHL’s commitment to supporting the ambitious vision of the UAE Government in transitioning the country into a smart digitalized city,” commented Geoff Walsh, Country Manager, DHL Express UAE.
“As an integrated technology park, Dubai Silicon Oasis encourages, promotes, and adopts innovative smart city technologies,” stated Salem Khalifa, Senior Vice President Projects Management, DSO.
The fully automated service point will cater to Account and Cash customers, as well as eCommerce return shipments, and will provide a suite of facilitated services, enabling them to seamlessly send, receive and track shipments up to 15 kgs with ease, speed and efficiency, throughout the day.
