Asia Pacific's first-ever GPS tracking service by DHL

DHL Global Forwarding, the world's leading air and ocean freight company, has chosen Sri Lanka as its Asia Pacific launch pad for two of its latest innovations for ocean freight shipping.

DHL launched a GPS Tracking System for its LCL ocean freight shipments out of Colombo and also unveiled its latest solution for the Fashion and Apparel industry - Garment-on-Hangers Boxes which are now available for LCL services.

This follows DHL's announcement in March this year of its investment of US$ 8 million in Sri Lanka over three years as well as a state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution center by 2010. As part of this investment, by end 2009, DHL will also launch the "DHL Fashion and Apparel Center for Excellence" in Colombo, a center comprising a core team of industry experts and responsible for developing tailored solutions and provide consultancy services to customers.

Country Manager, DHL Global Forwarding Lanka, Ashwani Nath said, "We're committed to Sri Lanka and its potential as sourcing and distribution gateway for the South Asia region. These two innovations in Sri Lanka are specifically for LCL (Less than container Load) ocean freight shipments, a segment the market leader expects to continue to grow. By introducing such market-leading solutions to Sri Lanka, customers here will be among the first to adopt leading-edge services that will give their businesses a further competitive advantage."

The real-time data provided through the GPS Tracking System now helps customers in Sri Lanka to improve their supply chain processes, better evaluate delivery times, monitor container routes, and most importantly, reduce costs of risk management. With this service, customers in Sri Lanka can now monitor shipments anywhere in the world via the Internet and in real time.

The introduction of the GPS Tracking System in Sri Lanka marks the first time the service is introduced following a successful trial in February 2009.

The GPS sensor devices report on the security status of the shipments as well as environmental conditions inside the container such as temperature, humidity, shock, vibration and light. These sensing capabilities help to detect and alert incidences of cargo theft and damage, offering a higher level of security and product integrity.

Garment-on-Hangers is a system of transporting hanging garments which are among the most effective ways to transport apparel over great distances as its protects garments, especially high-end, valuable clothing.

The boxes are highly versatile, as they can be loaded on trucks, airline ULDs and containers thereby eliminating any need to transfer items or open boxes as it moves within the supply chain.

Garments-on-Hangers boxes also improves productivity as it is a service which can take products from the factory direct to retailers, and can be used for easy sorting and loading according to the store or specific order.

The tailored solutions for the Fashion sector are in line with DHL Global Forwarding plans to capitalize on the opportunity in the Fashion and Apparel Logistics industry estimated to be worth US$ 3.9 billion per annum in South Asia. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka alone are estimated to account for well over US$ 2.4 billion in this fast-growing industry.

"Sri Lanka is one of only five global bonded multinational gateways operated by DHL for ocean freight, and is a logical platform to showcase our latest innovations," said Amadou Diallo, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, South Asia Pacific. "DHL operates the world's largest LCL network with more than 2,000,000 cubic meters of LCL freight handled annually via 45,000 points. In this economic climate, LCL services are sought after by customers seeking ways to ship smaller quantities on a cost-effective basis."

DHL Global Forwarding Regional LCL Head for the Asia-Pacific Region, Clas Thorell said, "Innovation has always been the hallmark of success of DHL's LCL offering. We've continually enhanced our services, providing customers with solutions that simplify their supply chain needs.

Linking this new GPS technology with our LCL services will show the unique capabilities of the service offering we provide to our customers."