DHL Express says it is expecting to see a nearly 50% increase in inbound parcel volume to the Americas region compared with 2019’s holiday season. It notes that the volume growth, mostly due to the exponential rise in e-commerce, is concentrated in the USA, which accounts for more than 70% of the total inbound volume in the region.
The peak season, which is defined as the period between Black Friday and Christmas, is also expected to generate more than 20% increase in outbound volume in the region. In the USA alone, outbound volume growth is expected to be at almost 30%.
“International trade has played an essential role for both businesses and individuals shopping online during this pandemic, and our solid global network, operational capacity and emphasis on customer centricity has allowed us to meet the growing demands of the market,” said Mike Parra, CEO for DHL Express Americas. “The value of global e-commerce has been reinforced, and we expect the resulting behavioral changes to continue driving an accelerated growth in global e-commerce.”
With holiday season-like numbers since June, DHL Express says it has been investing in pre-holiday season enhancements to meet higher demands for its services. “Higher shipping volumes for DHL Express have resulted in increased investments in our people, our facilities and our network,” Parra added.
Earlier this year, the company started implementing several new flights, increasing capacity to its already-extensive network. A new Hong Kong-Los Angeles-Miami flight with a frequency of five times per week added approximately 45 tons of capacity per flight, and another flight from DHL Express’s Americas Hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) to Singapore added 55 tons per day of capacity for shipments.
It has also invested heavily across the USA to expand service centers, hubs and gateways and bring additional equipment to process higher volumes.
“As a result of the sustained US inbound volume growth, we will add about 3,000 full-time jobs through November in the country. That, coupled with our continued investments, will allow us to have the capacity and flexibility needed to meet the even-greater demands of our customers that a busy holiday season post Covid-19 will bring,” concluded Parra.