DHL launches direct LCL service connecting NZ and Fiji

DHL launches direct LCL service connecting NZ and Fiji

Weekly sea freight from Auckland to Suva reduces transit time by 2 days

Auckland, May 30, 2012: DHL, the world’s leading logistics company, today announced it’s direct Less than Container Load [1] (LCL) service from Auckland to Suva. The weekly service bolsters DHL’s existing airfreight service. With a transit time of just 7 days, the new weekly direct LCL service reduces the transit time between the point pairs by 2 days.

New Zealand is used as a gateway to the Pacific Island for Asia, Europe and North America. Fiji’s main imports include mineral products, machinery, vehicles and aircraft, vegetable products, prepared foodstuffs, chemicals and allied products, and base metals. [2] Fiji also acts as a hub and distribution point for products arriving from New Zealand as they are sometimes assembled or refined, then re-exported to other islands in the Pacific, particularly if they are sub- components of a final product.

“Due to its proximity, size and the main business language being English, Fiji is a relatively easy market for New Zealand exporters to service. While New Zealand’s exports to the Pacific Islands are relatively small, it has been reported that they have been growing at an average rate of approximately five percent per year since 2000 [3],” said Brian Broom, Managing Director, DHL Global Forwarding New Zealand. “With the launch of this new LCL service, we are helping exporters from our market to reach their customers in Fiji and beyond in a more a speedier manner.”

“Overall exports from Fiji have trended upwards over the past decade. Machinery, electrical machinery and food waste and animal feed represent the highest export growth items over the past decade, with food waste and animal feed increasing by 289 percent [4],” said Marc Meier, Senior Vice President Ocean Freights and Head of Global LCL.

“Fiji has always been a positive market for export products. We’ve identified it as a market for development and we’ll continue to monitor how DHL can best support the region”, said Dr. Kelvin Leung CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding.

All LCL services are accompanied by DHL’s first-class IT solutions such as DHL Track & Trace and other tools to allow full visibility throughout the whole supply chain. For complete peace of mind, DHL also provides insurance services to customers as a value-added service. DHL’s Shippers Interest Insurance (SII) covers losses or damages of all cargo transported by DHL, as well as transportation costs.

DHL currently operates the world’s largest LCL network with close to 2,000,000 cubic meters of LCL freight handled annually via 45,000 point-pairs. As a global leader in LCL, DHL carries more than 97 per cent of its total volumes in house. The in-house systems and strong global network enables the control of cargo flow, information flow, speed, accuracy, cost efficiency and reliability. Going beyond port to port, DHL LCL service also offers a complete end-to-end supply chain management that includes pick-up at origin, consolidation and deconsolidation, delivery at destination and customs clearance.

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[1] Less than Container Load (LCL) refers to smaller amounts of ocean freight cargo that are insufficient to fill a Full Container Load (FCL) on its own. The service is widely used by customers across many industries as it offers greater flexibility in the management of supply chains by being able to ship smaller quantities on a timelier basis.
[2] http://www.fijiembassy.org.cn/english/web/lm3_1.htm
[3] http://www.nzte.govt.nz/explore-export-markets/australia-pacific/doing-business-in-the-pacific/Pages/default.aspx
[4] NZTE Export Brief, July 2010 www.nzte.govt.nz

ENDS

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