Deutsche Post DHL will start delivering fresh food and groceries for Amazon in Germany and has won its first major external order for its Streetscooter delivery vehicles.
CEO Frank Appel confirmed at the group’s AGM last Friday that it had won a contract to provide delivery services for the new AmazonFresh service.
“We want to be the service provider for online grocery sales,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying. He emphasized that the group’s own online supermarket Allyouneed Fresh would continue to operate.
Under the exclusive contract, DHL Parcel Germany will make AmazonFresh deliveries initially for a trial scheme in Berlin and then in other cities at a later stage. DHL Parcel’s courier network, which already delivers orders for AllyouneedFresh would make the AmazonFresh deliveries as well. Amazon Fresh is so far available in the USA and in London.
Meanwhile, Deutsche See, one of Germany’s largest fish wholesale groups, plans to buy 80 Streetscooters from DP DHL. The company will use its first Streetscooters for fish deliveries in Cologne and then gradually introduce the vehicles in about 20 other cities.
Deutsche See apparently wanted to order zero-emission electric vehicles for the coming decade to reduce its CO2 footprint but previous supplier Volkswagen was unable to provide them.
Apart from gradually introducing Streetscooters for its own parcel deliveries in Germany, DP DHL aims to sell the vehicles, produced by a subsidiary company, to external customers as well. With this aim in mind, the Group will be expanding its production capacity significantly from a current 10,000 vehicles to 20,000 by the end of the year.
Addressing shareholders at the AGM in Bochum, Appel voiced his optimism that global trade would continue to grow despite mounting protectionist tendencies. "World trade drives prosperity, and prosperity promotes peace," he said. "We therefore don't need less globalization, but more – and we need it now and sustainably."
He explained that countries should invest more heavily in education and infrastructure in the interests of long-term growth. Deutsche Post DHL Group connects people and markets all over the world, he said, stressing that the company would continue to serve as an advocate of free trade and global interaction in the future. "Logistics is the backbone of global trade," he said, adding that global team work was impossible without it.
Against this backdrop, he believes that Deutsche Post DHL Group is exceptionally positioned as the global industry leader: "Of all logistics service providers, we have the strongest global presence. We have the widest range of offerings and most extensive experience. We know how logistics works and, as the market leader, we have a clear idea of how our industry can continue to contribute to global prosperity," he added.
Additionally, Appel re-affirmed the Group's aspiration to also set standards in a digital world. In the long term, the companies that are successful will be those that seize change as an opportunity and deploy new technologies intelligently, he said. Deutsche Post DHL Group is a pioneer in many areas. The company has proven its ability to innovate by trialing the DHL Parcelcopter, and the Supply Chain division has very successfully tested robots that ease the workload of warehouse operatives, he said. He also noted that the Freight division had launched Saloodo!, a virtual market place that brings shippers and transport providers together, adding that "new technologies offer new opportunities for the next step. They make things easier and more productive – for our customers and for ourselves."
Appel re-affirmed the Group's goal of being the market leader in e-commerce-related logistics. To this end, the company was continuing to invest steadily in the expansion and modernization of its infrastructure in this area. It would be establishing a further "parcel center par excellence" at the former Opel site in Bochum with a capacity of up to 50,000 items per hour. He reported that 600 new jobs were planned here. Construction of this facility is expected to begin in the coming months. The Group had already launched a similarly sized parcel center in Obertshausen in the Frankfurt region in June 2016, also creating 600 new jobs there.
The international parcel business also promises further growth. Here, too, the Group is expanding its network to capitalize on the boom in online commerce. The creation of the "United Parcel Nations of Europe" is progressing rapidly, according to Appel. He reported that DHL Parcel Europe now operates in 22 countries. Deutsche Post DHL Group is also moving into lucrative e-commerce markets outside of Europe, recently launching DHL eCommerce in Malaysia and Chile.
