DHL Express CEO John Pearson talks globalisation and growth opportunities

The current level of globalisation offers enormous growth opportunities for both countries and companies around the world, according to DHL Express’s CEO John Pearson who discussed the key expansion areas for the firm at the launch of the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker yesterday (November 19). 

The tracker revealed that globalisation is remaining steady at a record 25%, meaning that there is huge scope for global flows to continue growing in the future. “There is so much potential ahead of us,” said Pearson. “Potential that will help world societies and world countries become better. There are also huge opportunities for us – at DHL Group and DHL Express – as well. 

“As the world’s most international company, founded in 1969, I don’t think there is anyone more interested in global trade, its future and its prognosis, than ourselves. We are in 220 countries and our ambition is to become the experts in exports and imports and ensure that as much trade is flowing as possible,” he stressed.  

Top 20 tailwind markets 

Pearson revealed that DHL’s Geographic Tailwinds initiative, which is part of Strategy 2030 unveiled in September this year, points towards 20 countries that offer the biggest growth opportunities. 

As part of the Geographic Tailwinds initiative, DHL Group will build on its strong global footprint and local expertise to double down on geographic tailwinds. This addresses the profound shift in growth of trade lanes, diversification of global supply chains, and the needs of fast-growing companies around the world.  

“These 20 countries are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of foreign direct investment, near shoring and on shoring, and they are where we have our spotlight currently,” Pearson explained. “We need to make sure that we have the best facilities in these regions and the most optimised air network to serve these countries, so we can make sure we get more than our fair market share of trade opportunity from these areas.   

“We also want to help the companies in these countries to grow by optimizing their supply chains and getting goods to their customers quicker,” Pearson added. 

“A strong partner” 

At the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker launch event, CEP-Research asked Pearson what these countries were, but he did not reveal any specific regions. He said: “The countries that are projected by the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund to grow fastest between 2023 and 2028 are very much the countries that we’re focusing on as part of our Geographic Tailwinds initiative. 

“It is our job to understand the operational and commercial capability gaps that we have in these growing countries to ensure we meet the needs of customers. This could be specific to one sector, such as needing freezers in our service centres to satisfy the life sciences industry. We need to fill these gaps to ensure we can be a strong partner, whether that is for sea freight, air freight, supply chain, e-commerce or express,” he continued.  

Pearson also noted that DHL is seeing strong growth in countries which are defined in the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker as ‘unaligned’ countries that are neither close allies of the US nor of China and are conducting a growing share of world trade. 

“Countries such as India, Mexico, Brazil, Vietnam, and the UAE are all growing at an accelerated level, certainly within our Express business,” he said.  

Sustainable globalisation 

Another key focus for DHL as global trade ramps up is sustainability. The tracker revealed that during the first seven months of 2024, traded goods traversed the longest average distance on record (4,970 km), which is good for globalisation, but not for the climate.  

“To try and reduce global trade’s impact on the environment, we need to ensure we have the newest possible aviation fleet on record, for example, and we are continuing to buy brand new Boeing 777s. We are also continuing to optimise our network to ensure goods are being delivered in the most direct way.  

“And the DHL Group has heavily invested in sustainable aviation fuel [SAF]. In fact, DHL Express has bought 15% of all the available sustainable aviation fuel feedstock on the planet. We also have our GoGreen Plus product for customers, enabling them to reduce their emissions through offsets. This in turn allows us to buy more SAF.  

“We want to be an absolute force for good when it comes to making sure that long distance trade is less emitting over time,” Pearson added.  

New US tariffs 

Another key talking point during the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker launch event was the impact of potential tariff increases on US imports and possible new trade conflicts after Trump’s return to the White House in early next year.  

Pearson noted that DHL will work closely with its experts to keep a close eye on market changes in this area to ensure that it can “advise companies respectfully and appropriately on the facts to help them make their own decisions.” 

About the DHL Global Connectedness Tracker 

The DHL Global Connectedness Tracker, developed by DHL and New York University’s Stern School of Business, is a new extension to the DHL Global Connectedness Report which has been published regularly since 2011. The November 2024 version of the Tracker analyses more than eight million data points on international flows of trade, capital, information, and people.  

“This is a brand-new product,” said Steven A Altman, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the DHL Initiative on Globalisation at NYU Stern’s Center for the Future of Management. “We’re planning on updating it at least every quarter with refreshed data.” 

Pearson concluded: “Alongside the tracker and the report, we also have the Trade Growth Atlas, which will be published in Mexico in the early part of next year, and the DHL GoTrade initiative, which aims to support cross border trade and helps countries and people grow economically. We are therefore developing a series of publications and projects relating to globalisation and trade, and we are looking at getting more industry-related data to further explore how trade is moving from one place to another.”