DHL Express Philippines, the local express service provider of mail and logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL, intends to keep up with growing trade in the country by increasing its footprint in the Philippines through expansion this year of its service centers in Luzon and Visayas.
First on its expansion list is the service center in Clark, Pampanga, where DHL Express has already invested P30 million to get closer to its customers and to prepare for the anticipated growth of Clark, DHL Express Philippines country manager Nurhayati Abdullah said in a recent press conference.
She said Clark has been developing as operations of manufacturers grow and the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) increases. Last year, DHL partnered with GoNegosyo, a nonstock, nonprofit organization, to extend special programs to support the growth of the country’s SMEs.
The Clark facility is one of the main contributors to DHL’s Philippine operations, currently handling about 15% of the company’s total volume domestically, Abdullah noted. The Clark service center is also among the top five in DHL’s eight local service centers, she added.
“We see Clark as the future international gateway for the Philippines,” DHL senior vice president for Southeast Asia and South Asia Yasmin Alalad Khan said in a separate statement. Khan added that Clark’s existing infrastructure “makes it a perfect hub for trade and commerce.”
She said, “The opening of our service center in Clark reinforces our commitment to strengthen the logistics capabilities in the area by building technologically advanced infrastructure that will support and facilitate the industry’s growing demand for trade.”
The new Clark service center will have a total area of 1,000 square meters (sqm) and house new vehicles, a conveyor and cargo scanners. The facility will be equipped with CCTV cameras for security purposes, and fitted with LED lighting to reduce power consumption and carbon emissions by an estimated 30%.
Abdullah said the service center can handle the area’s growth over the next five to seven years. For this year, she forecasts the facility will continue to have 15% traffic share out of the company’s total country volume.
Other service centers are also scheduled for improvements.
The Las Piñas hub will undergo a P78-million expansion covering an area of 2,500 sqm to cater to the expanding volume in South Luzon especially in the Cavite area.
A further P42 million will be spent to enlarge the facility at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 where DHL’s planes land and take off.
Other expansion targets include the service centers in the Visayas, particularly the one in Cebu.
The DHL group in 2013 said the Philippines is one of its key growth areas for which it plans to invest US$25 million over the next two years.
Abdullah said DHL Express Philippines posted double-digit growth last year, and has had sustainable growth for years, adding they plan to see the same momentum this year.
DHL Express caters mostly to industries engaged in electronics, financial services, and automotive shipments, as well as to SMEs, especially those in the fashion and furniture businesses.
Asked if their operations were affected by the Manila port congestion, Abdullah said it had no direct impact since they are mainly into airfreight but they did “see some customers maybe trying to speed up their transportation by using express or air freight.”
Neither were they affected by the recent trucking problems since only light vehicles are used for their road deliveries, she said. – Roumina Pablo
