DHL

DHL is an international company for the express delivery of goods and documents, the leader of the global logistics market.

The company was founded in San Francisco in 1969 to transport documents between San Francisco and Honolulu, but DHL soon expanded its network throughout the world. Currently part of the Deutsche Post DHL group. The company's headquarters are located in Bonn (Germany).

History

Already in the early 1970s, the company entered the international market, starting to deliver documents and parcels to the Far East. In 1972, with the help of Hong Kong entrepreneur Po Chung, an international subsidiary of DHL International was created with headquarters in Brussels (Belgium). By 1974, DHL was already operating in most European countries, in 1976 it began operating in the Middle East, in 1977 in Latin America, and in 1978 in Africa. In 1980, an agreement was concluded with Hilton Hotels to open DHL branches in the chain's hotels. In 1983, the company began operating in the Eastern Bloc countries; by this year, international turnover was 5 times greater than that in the United States.

Until 1983, DHL had a very small market share in the United States, its customers were mainly large corporations. But in 1983, the company opened two hubs in Cincinnati and Salt Lake City, as well as 9 regional centers; in New York , Houston and Los Angeles, correspondence was delivered by helicopter. The response of competitors in the American market (FedEx and UPS) was to intensify their international operations. In 1985, DHL began a partnership with Western Union, and in 1986 it created a joint venture in China, DHL Sinotrans. During the 1980s, competition in the international express delivery market grew, but DHL maintained a leading position in Japan (80% of the market) and Eastern Europe (more than 90% of the market). At the same time, in the United States, by the end of the decade, the company was able to increase its share only to 5%.

In 1990, to raise new capital, DHL sold 5% of its shares to Japan Airlines and Lufthansa, and the Japanese trading company Nissho Iwai acquired a 2.5% stake. The proceeds of $500 million were used to enter the freight transportation market. In June 1992, Japan Airlines and Lufthansa increased their shares to 25%, and Nissho Iwai to 7.5%. Also in 1992, DHL began cooperation with one of its competitors, Emery Worldwide, on transatlantic and European routes.

In 1995, the company invested more than $700 million to expand operations in Asia and Australia. Also in 1995, one of the co-founders, Larry Hillblom, died in a plane crash; this led to a series of lawsuits because the company did not have enough available funds to buy out his shares (60% of North American DHL Airways and 23% of DHL International). In 1998, DHL sold a 22.5% stake to German postal operator Deutsche Post AG. In 2002, the German company bought out 100% of the shares of DHL, after which it merged with the logistics companies it had previously purchased. In 2005, the British logistics company Excel was purchased .

Activities

As of 2022, DHL accounted for 4 of the 5 divisions of the Deutsche Post DHL group (the fifth was the German postal service):

• Express - international express delivery of letters and parcels, represented in 220 countries and territories, serves 3 million customers a year, 120 thousand employees, 148 thousand service points, more than 300 aircraft, revenue 27.6 billion euros;
• Global Forwarding, Freight - international delivery of goods by air, sea and land transport, serves 250 thousand customers per year, about 200 cargo terminals, 49 thousand employees, revenue 30.2 billion euros;
• Supply Chain - logistics (transport and warehouse services), 15 million m² of warehouse space in 50 countries, 10,500 trucks, 185 thousand employees, revenue 16.4 billion euros;
• eCommerce Solutions - parcel delivery in the USA and some countries in Europe and Asia, 40 thousand employees, revenue 6.1 billion euros.

The total number of personnel is 408 thousand people (as of 2022).

The company is the world leader in express delivery, controlling (as of 2018) 39% of the market, its closest competitors UPS and FedEx have 30% and 22%, respectively.