DHL launches all-green fleet in Manhattan

US consumer spending appears to be improving enough to compensate for the impact of high fuel costs on the package delivery business, DHL Express US chief executive Ian Clough said.


Meanwhile, DHL is pushing to expand its fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles and aircraft. It launched an all-green fleet in Manhattan yesterday and aims to buy more Boeing 777 planes.


"I don't think anybody's celebrating that the economy's going great, but there's a gradual improvement, and the sense I get from talking to customers on a day-to-day basis is that there is a little bit more confidence," Clough told Reuters on the sidelines of a briefing.


Clough and Frank Appel, CEO of parent company Deutsche Post DHL, Europe's biggest mail and express delivery company, were in New York to launch the all-green fleet in Manhattan.


Deutsche Post DHL earlier in March boosted its dividend and pledged further profit gains on continued economic recovery.
By September, DHL, at a cost of US$4 million, will have 30 battery-powered electric vans and 50 hybrid trucks in Manhattan, cutting fuel costs and carbon dioxide emissions.


Clough also said in a presentation that he would "continue to campaign" for more Boeing 777s for fuel efficiency, and to replace at least 15 percent of the fleet with those planes by the end of 2015.


Appel said the company has eight of these aircraft, and would not indicate if he would approve more.


The company is also testing alternative fuels including biogas, ethanol or combined diesel/gas-fueled engines.


Fuel surcharges will mitigate costs, Clough said at the event. "If it is a sustainable increase and a long-term significant increase, then the economics around the electric and hybrid vehicles become more and more attractive."


The vehicles are being manufactured in the US by Azure Dynamics using Ford Motor Co chassis.


Deutsche Post DHL has more than 3,000 new and modified vehicles worldwide.


Manhattan will be a significant test of the green fleet in a major city. In about a year it will be clear how the vehicles and batteries stand up through the extreme seasons.


The company is initially looking at major urban areas where trucks travel relatively short distances.


"We confidently expect that over the next few years battery prices are going to come down, the technology is going to improve, the battery life is going to improve ... and we will be well-positioned" to expand, Clough said.


DHL Express has more than 2,000 vehicles in the United States. Supply is one constraint to rolling out a green fleet en masse.


"If I wanted to go out, assuming I could get my hands on the money, which is not easy, but even if I wanted to go out and replace 2,000 I couldn't do it quickly," Clough said.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)