DHL investing $67m to boost regional operations

DHL will launch an Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence for Solutions Development in Singapore within the next 12 months as part of an aggressive US$67.71 million regional strategy to grow its share of the region's $4 billion outsourced service logistics pie, reported Business Times Singapore.

The Singapore centre will be staffed by industry experts who will focus on designing solutions and providing consultancy service to customers.

The outsourced service logistics sector – which includes laptop repair and troubleshooting for electronic gadgets – has been increasing in importance for DHL, which hopes to gain market share by leveraging on its dominance of the supply chain sector.

“By our estimates, the (logistics) market is growing about 25 per cent per annum,’’ said Paul Graham, chief executive for DHL Supply Chain, Asia-Pacific. “Of that, service logistics services, especially technical services and repairs, accounts for up to 60 per cent of the overall spend.’’

“Our focus on this sector will be a game-changer. Harnessing the size and scale of our extensive footprint spanning 42 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific, we have a unique opportunity to bridge the market gap between companies offering technical repairs and logistics providers.’’

Elsewhere in the region, DHL has set up a 200,000 sq ft Penang logistics hub in Malaysia, which will serve as its technical services competency centre for Asia. It will warehouse and distribute spare parts, and carry out screening, testing and repair activities.

(Source: Cargo News Asia)