DHL Freight has made its road transport offering more flexible and predictable with a new service allowing customers to specify a deferred delivery day for shipments up to 2,500 kg across Europe.
With the new Fixed Delivery Day (FDD) service, DHL Freight aims to make it easier for customers to plan their production processes, offering flexibility along with the reliability and predictability that is critical to inventory/production strategies such as just in sequence (JIS).
“With the new Fixed Delivery Day option, we are customizing transit and delivery times according to the needs of our customers,” explained Uwe Brinks, CEO, DHL Freight. “Timing is everything when it comes to planning and managing supply chains and production process. This way our customers receive their shipments exactly when needed.”
Customers selecting the FDD service, available throughout Europe within the DHL Freight EuroConnect network, hand over their shipment to the DHL Freight network as usual and schedule the delivery up to five business days beyond the regular lead time. DHL Freight then delivers the shipment exactly on the prior defined date.
Orders can be booked conveniently online or by telephone, and a transparent shipment tracking system allows end-to-end tracking from pickup through to final delivery. When ordering Freight EuroConnect service, customers simply select the Fixed Delivery Day service as an additional option, DHL explained.
After the shipment is picked up at the customer’s production or storage facility, it is stored up to five business days within the DHL Freight network so that it can be delivered on time on the specified delivery day. In Germany and Sweden, customers with domestic shipments can also specify the time of delivery (delivery before 10.00 am or before 12.00 noon).
The Delivery Day option is designed to further enhance the Freight EuroConnect product, which is DHL Freight’s standard product for palletized or non-palletized LTL shipments. With more than 2,000 line-haul transports every day within its own network, DHL Freight provides service between all of Europe’s major commercial centers for shipments up to 2,500 kg.
Brinks concluded: “This addition to our product portfolio is one more part of our Freight 2020 strategy, which aims at even better service quality for our customers.”
Last year DHL Freight relaunched its premium less-than-truckload (LTL) product Eurapid to provide faster deliveries with same-day pick-ups, a Pre12 delivery option and more destinations.
