DHL pursues local expansion strategy

Shipper doubles the size of its airport
facility to boost cargo handling capacity

DHL Express recently completed expansion work on its facility at the Beirut Rafiq Hariri International Airport. “We’ve expanded our airport facility from 2,300 square meters to 5,000 square meters,” said John Chedid, DHL Express country manager.

Chedid said the purpose of the expansion was to boost its capacity to handle more cargo: “We’ve already seen a growth in the volume of cargo, so we expanded to catch up with the increase in volume, and make room for future growth.”

According to company figures, DHL Beirut saw a ten percent increase in turnover in 2011. “So far this year we’ve seen a growth of around seven percent,” said Chedid. The facility serves both air freight and overland shipments.

The expansion is the latest step in DHL’s $4.2 million business development plan. The plan, that has been running for the past three years, also saw the development of DHL’s logistics facility at the Port of Beirut, and the upgrading of the company’s service points, with the addition of three new points.

DHL Express is a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Post.

Chedid said that DHL’s business strategy for the country takes a long-term view: “We avoid making short-term predictions (about business prospects) we rather take a long view of the situation.”

“Even with the recent closing of the land border with Syria, we kept our shipments moving by resorting to air shipment at no additional cost,” Chedid said.

He said the country has value added features that make it a favored hub for the shipping industry. “Besides being geographically well positioned, Lebanon has skilled human resources not found anywhere else in the Middle East. Even the infrastructure at the ports has improved.”

Reported by Hanadi Chami