Ocean cargo/global logistics: DHL to expand consolidation services linking Southeast Asia to EU
Patrick Burnson -- Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 9/1/2009
Ho Chi Minh City—DHL announced the launch of its guaranteed weekly direct Less than Container Load (LCL) services connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Hamburg, Germany; Genoa, Italy and Los Angeles yesterday. Through Danmar Lines, DHL’s in-house carrier, the new weekly direct LCL services enables shipments to arrive up to a week earlier.
The news comes just when U.S. shippers are looking to Vietnam and other emerging markets to help spur the economic recovery and when rates in the Asia-EU trade lanes are spiking sharply.
This is a trend worth watching, maritime analysts told LM.
“Obviously given the reduced volume cargo and a high degree of capacity, prices are at historic lows. said Michael Berzon, president of Mar-Log, Inc., a supply chain optimization consultancy specializing in international trade, and chairman of the Washington, DC-based National Industrial Transportation League’s ocean cargo committee. “However, there are signs of increases in a number of trades.”
Including Vietnam, said DHL.
“In the highly competitive business landscape, companies are faced with the challenge of responding more quickly to customer demands,” said the company’s CEO, Amadou Diallo.
The launch of the new services taps into the key trade lanes for businesses in Vietnam. The two European destinations facilitate trade with Vietnam's largest export region, with the continent receiving $12.2 billion in Vietnamese products in 2008. Following closely is the U.S., Vietnam's second-largest trading partner, which received $11.86 billion worth of goods from the fast-growing Southeast Asian nation last year.
Analysts noted that in the face of the global economic slowdown, Vietnam remains a resilient export economy and key sectors including agricultural goods, apparel, crude oil, furniture, technology and textiles will benefit from new services like those introduced by DHL.
According to company spokesmen, in the first six months of this year, garment and apparel-related industries accounted for $10 billion worth of exports from Vietnam, contributing well over a third of the nation’s export trade which totaled $27.6 billion in that period.
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