DHL is deepening cooperation with global customer Amazon through a hub sorting agreement in the USA and is reportedly set to provide Amazon Fresh deliveries in Germany.
A DHL spokesman confirmed to CEP-Research today that “DHL has been contracted to provide a range of services to Amazon at the DHL Cincinnati Hub, including sorting operations and ground handling for the Amazon air network. We look forward to providing further support to this global customer.”
Amazon plans to invest a reported $1.5 billion in a large-scale new air cargo hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG) as the operational base for its “growing fleet of Prime Air cargo planes” with a large-scale sorting operation there. The e-commerce giant will lease 40 dedicated planes from US cargo airlines Atlas Air and ATSG, with 16 of these planes already in operation. The exact timings for this hub are unclear, however.
US magazine Cargo Facts reported earlier this week that Prime Air jets are expected to start operating from the airport this spring even though construction work will not even have started on Amazon’s new facility by then. In the interim, DHL Express will provide ground handling and also shipment sorting for Amazon at its own recently-expanded CVG hub. Amazon packages will apparently be sorted during the day at the DHL hub, when it is little used, while DHL’s own express shipments will continue to be sorted during the night.
Amazon confirmed to Cargo Facts that it would be working with DHL, saying: “We are looking forward to the first Amazon planes appearing at CVG this spring and to working with DHL in support of our cargo operations.” The magazine also pointed out the close cooperation between DHL and Atlas / ATSG for cargo flights, and speculated that Amazon might also be able to use space on the dedicated DHL long-haul flights from CVG in future.
Meanwhile, German media have reported that DHL has signed an exclusive contract to provide Amazon Fresh deliveries in the country. A trial will apparent take place in Berlin in April, followed by a wider rollout in other cities, according to business daily Handelsblatt. DHL Parcel’s courier network, which already delivers orders for AllyouneedFresh (the DP DHL-owned online supermarket) would make AmazonFresh deliveries as well.
The DHL spokesman said: “We cannot provide any comment on the Amazon speculation.”
Amazon is apparently considering launch Amazon Fresh in Germany next following its launch in the USA and in London. The German online food market remains under-developed and major supermarket groups have been slow to offer sizeable online product offerings, leaving an opportunity for Amazon to capture a large slice of the market at an early stage.
For its part, AllyouneedFresh, a 100% Deutsche Post DHL subsidiary, specialises mostly in locally-produced fresh food. Launched in 2011 and expanded internationally in 2013, it offers more than 22,000 products from groceries to FMCG, with delivery through the DHL Parcel network. In Germany, its major market, deliveries are made overnight within customers’ selected time-windows.
