Category: Logistics

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Logistics news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • DHL expands e-commerce fulfillment internationally

    DHL expands e-commerce fulfillment internationally

    DHL Parcel and DHL eCommerce are now offering online retailers a global solution for their e-commerce fulfillment needs with a global fulfillment platform and new fulfillment centers in the UK, Americas and Southeast Asia,emphasizing once again Deutsche Post DHL Group’s aspiration to become one of the leading global providers in e-commerce logistics. Through DHL’s unique family of divisions Deutsche Post DHL Group is the most international company worldwide, present across 220 countries and territories and online retailers are able to leverage the Group’s strong global footprint for their e-commerce retail strategy.

    Today’s e-commerce market is placing aggressive demands on the retailer to provide fast fulfillment and delivery, and doing so without increasing costs. This is simply not possible for most merchants because they lack capital or the ability to manage the complexity. DHL has built a new IT platform that provides seamless access to a network of fulfillment centers and is closely integrated with DHL’s shipping capabilities to allow our customers to meet their fulfillment and shipping requirements in a much more efficient fashion. DHL is investing in this platform as well as in expanding its fulfillment centers in key international markets, enabling retailers to reach their consumers worldwide.

    “Without seamless and reliable logistics processes, the current e-commerce boom would be inconceivable. The physical storage of ordered goods, their picking and packaging, the global shipping and delivery to the end-user’s front door or desired address — we now offer all of this in even more markets and from one single source,” says Jürgen Gerdes, CEO of the Post – eCommerce – Parcel division at Deutsche Post DHL Group. “By further internationalizing our fulfillment portfolio we will be able to do even more to help online retailers tap into new regions and benefit from the global e-commerce boom.”

    With existing fulfillment centers in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Australia, Germany, and now in the United Kingdom and Southeast Asia, DHL already covers major e-commerce markets with its own presence and will expand these further in the future. Situated near London on an area of about 6,500 square meters, the latest addition to the fulfillment network in the English town of Radlett, offers great potential for same-day processing for the Greater London area due to the center’s good transport links. Apart from the center in Radlett, DHL is already working on the expansion of its fulfillment centers across other European markets, like the Netherlands, Poland or Switzerland.

    The new IT platform allows DHL to provide online retailers with access to all of these important e-commerce regions from a single source. This ensures simple and secure data synchronization as well as an easy connection to new business locations or regions since a reintegration is no longer required. “Online retailers don’t have to look for new logistics partners anymore if they want to expand their international reach,” Gerdes says. By directly integrating the new DHL solution into the webshop of the relevant retailer, the business can access different reporting options in real time and view current order data, for example, or the stock of individual products.

    More and more retailers and companies recognize the increasing importance of smooth fulfillment processes because traditional approaches that are aligned with individual sales channels have long since failed to satisfy the purchasing habits and expectations of modern consumers. Today’s consumers not only want to be able to shop at any time and in any place, but also want to have their goods delivered at any time and in any place. Without the behind-the-scenes logistics processes that effectively orchestrate the movement of goods through multiple sales channels, and a highly fragmented fulfillment landscape hassle a free shopping experience would not be possible for the consumer.

  • DHL adds second around-the-world flight connecting Asia

    DHL adds second around-the-world flight connecting Asia

    DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international provider of air, sea and road freight services, today announced the launch of its second around-the-world scheduled flight, to connect Asia, Europe and the US. This is in response to the strong growth in demand for air freight capacity, chiefly for outbound services from Asia and on the popular transpacific route. The Boeing 747-400F freighter will operate a South Korea-China-Europe-China service, in addition to transpacific east- and westbound flights that includes Shanghai, China, and Cincinnati, USA.

    With a capacity of more than 100 tons per flight, the bi-weekly scheduled flights provide significant and reliable capacity on the transpacific route from Shanghai, China to Cincinnati, USA from where it continues to Incheon, South Korea. Following which, it will connect Incheon, South Korea with Wuxi, China and continue on to Frankfurt-Hahn in West Germany, before returning to Shanghai, China. The service will depart twice per week at each airport.

    “We have been seeing an increasing demand for air freight capacities on Asian routes. China remains the largest global trading partner of South Korea , Germany and the USA, with China becoming the second nation to top US$600 billion in trade with the USA in 2017. China is Germany’s largest source of import at US$120 billion and its third largest export market at US$105 billion. For South Korea, China is its top import and export country, accounting for close to 25% of its global trade in 2017 , said Kelvin Leung, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific.

    ” To facilitate timely and safe movement of goods between the countries, efficient and reliable logistics infrastructure and services are key . The new scheduled flights will streamline the transportation process, thereby optimizing our customers’ supply chains and improving their products’ time to market in today’s highly competitive business environment”, Leung added.

    Results from the latest DHL Global Trade Barometer indicate that overall trade index for China recently increased by 2 points from January 2018, and the overall trade index in South Korea remaining well over 50 points at 69, signaling a positive growth for both markets in Q2 2018 which will continue to fuel demand for air freight services.

  • Shopee teams up with DHL eCommerce in Thailand to offer a seamless delivery experience

    Shopee teams up with DHL eCommerce in Thailand to offer a seamless delivery experience

    DHL eCommerce, a division of the world’s leading logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL Group, is partnering with Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, to offer greater convenience and choice to Shopee users in Thailand. Sellers on Shopee can now access over 500 DHL ServicePoints across Thailand to drop off their parcels and have them delivered to their shoppers across Thailand. Alternatively, sellers can also arrange a pickup from DHL for door-to-door delivery service to their buyers.

    “We are thrilled to be partnering Shopee to offer greater ease, choice and control over  the online delivery experience. Shoppers’ expectations are growing with regards to their entire purchasing experience — they expect a great and seamless experience from the time they click to purchase until the goods are received. A recent report states that 60% of consumers purchased from one online merchant over another because delivery options were more convenient for their needs, highlighting the pivotal role of delivery in the overall online shopping experience[1] ,” says Kiattichai Pitpreecha, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, DHL eCommerce. 

    “Shopee is excited to work with DHL eCommerce and we are confident that our users will benefit from the suite of services and features offered by DHL. We aim to become the online shopping destination of choice in all our markets and will continue to explore synergies between the two companies to make both buying and selling on Shopee as easy and seamless as possible,” says Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer of Shopee.

    DHL’s domestic delivery network in Thailand offers high quality delivery service and a range of other services, such as easy IT and API integration, end-to-end tracking, delivery insurance, cash on delivery and more, tailored for the booming e-commerce industry. This enables sellers and leading brands on Shopee to efficiently reach out to customers across the country. Shoppers on the other hand will benefit from the consistent quality and convenience of delivery options. DHL eCommerce will also be growing its ServicePoint footprint in Thailand to over a thousand in the coming months to offer increased touchpoints with users.

    To mark the start of the partnership, Shopee and DHL will be extending a limited period free shipping promotion. Shopee sellers can enjoy free shipping nationwide (terms and conditions apply) from now until 30 June 2018 when they select DHL as the logistics provide for their shipments.

  • China Present at the 2018 Automotive Logistics China Conference

    China Present at the 2018 Automotive Logistics China Conference

    Bolloré Logistics China successfully presented its automotive competency at the Automotive Logistics China Conference in Chengdu as a Silver Sponsor during April 17-19, 2018.

    More than 500 participants from automotive industry joined the conference including experts from automotive manufacturers, parts suppliers, and representatives from logistics companies as well as government officials. Jointly held by China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing (CFLP) and British magazine Automotive Logistics, the conference shared the latest logistics solutions for production parts, finished vehicles and aftermarket spare parts, covering the upstream and downstream of automotive industry.

    Bolloré Logistics’ automotive logistics solution experts from North China, South China, Central China and Japan gathered at our silver sponsor booth. Our presence reinforced our brand recognition in the automotive industry and our agile and professional solutions were communicated to a wide audience where many commercial opportunities were identified.

    “At the booth, we were happy to see lots of industry players showing their interest towards our solutions and recognizing the Bolloré Logistics brand,” said Steven Sun, Automotive Product Manager at Bolloré Logistics Greater China. “What’s more important is that by organizing this event, our teams are joining forces to strengthen our competitiveness,” Steven added.

    Following the event, a cross-regional automotive team meeting was held at Bolloré Logistics Chengdu office to discuss the optimization strategy for automotive business development in the company. By sharing the local market information and intelligence, our automotive network was further enhanced and leveraged.

    “One of our greatest strengths is having a world-spanning network and industry know-how staff specialized in automotive that are directly plugged into local teams and sector partners”, says Warren Wang, Bolloré Logistics Greater China Vertical Market Director.

    Bolloré Logistics China had a very productive time in Chengdu and would like to thank the team for having worked towards a successful event, as well as our customers and prospects who took the time to visit us at our booth. By mobilizing the automotive team in Greater China and Asia-Pacific region, Bolloré Logistics demonstrated the active determination to play a bigger role in the automotive industry sector.

  • CEVA Logistics opens a new hub in Malaysia

    CEVA Logistics opens a new hub in Malaysia

    CEVA Logistics, one of the world’s largest supply chain management companies, has officially opened a new multi-user facility in Penang, Malaysia. Situated within the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone Phase IV, the 70,000 sq ft facility is only 10 minutes away from the Penang International Airport and 10 minutes from the Penang Bridge, connecting the island to mainland Malaysia.

    This new multi-user warehouse delivers cost efficiency and flexibility through an optimized layout design and improved infrastructure to serve our customers. It includes a combination of temperature-controlled and ambient storage space, conducive and modern office space for in-plant customers, advanced materials handling equipment, advanced RF warehouse management system and Customs stationed on-site to facilitate on-time clearance.  This is also an integrated hub that will house under one roof CEVA’s contract logistics and freight management teams for Malaysia as well as its global supply chain solutions control tower teams who support its 24×7 largest customers globally.

    “CEVA continues to invest in its customer needs in Malaysia, this new facility which has doubled our footprint in Penang will continue to support our growth needs and positions us for future expansion in the market. With its strategic location in the northern part of Malaysia, coupled with the air cargo hub at Bayan Lepas airport, it aims to cater to a wide range of logistics and warehousing services and  offer even greater value and benefits to our customers, ” says CEVA’s Elaine Low, Executive Vice President, South East Asia.

  • World’s First Boeing 787-10 Arrives with Singapore Airlines

    World’s First Boeing 787-10 Arrives with Singapore Airlines

    Singapore Airlines welcomed the world’s first 787-10 aircraft as it arrived in Singapore from Boeing’s production facility in North Charleston, South Carolina.

    The newest variant of Boeing’s Dreamliner family of aircraft was received at an arrival ceremony at Changi Airport graced by Singapore’s Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, together with beneficiaries from the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) Katong School and other invited guests.

    Guests who attended the event also had the opportunity to witness the unveiling of SIA’s next generation regional cabin products, which will be fitted on the new 787-10s. They include all-new Business Class seats which recline into fully-flat beds.

    “The 787-10 is designed with the latest in technological innovations and SIA is proud to be the launch customer for this newest and largest variant of Boeing’s Dreamliner family,” said Singapore Airlines CEO, Mr Goh Choon Phong, who travelled on the delivery flight from North Charleston.

    “With the unveiling of our new regional cabin products, today’s milestones represent Singapore Airlines’ commitment and dedication to providing our customers with a premium travel experience like no other.”

    SIA’s 787-10s will be used on flights up to eight hours and will commence scheduled service between Singapore and both Osaka and Perth in May 2018, with more destinations to be added as additional aircraft are received. Prior to these services, the aircraft will be operated on select services to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur for crew training purposes.

  • Deliveroo Singapore now offers self-collection

    Deliveroo Singapore now offers self-collection

    Self-collection is now possible at Deliveroo Singapore’s new central kitchen, a first by a food-delivery service provider in the territory.

    Deliveroo Editions 2, which has just opened in Lavender, embraces seven restaurants that prepare food for Deliveroo’s online customers. It also lets customers pick up their meal via a new “click and collect” option. They can also opt to eat in a 20-seat dining space.

    At the office and retail building CT Hub 2, Editions 2 is Deliveroo’s second multi-restaurant kitchen and is 1.5 times larger than the 2110sqft Deliveroo Editions in Katong, which opened last year. It features Da Paolo Pizza Bar, Dosirak, Streets of Saigon and Wolf Burgers plus three restaurants also featured at Katong: Aloha Poke, Blu Kouzina and Kurry Kornerplus.

    Deliveroo chief executive/co-founder Will Shu says Deliveroo plans to open more central kitchens soon.

  • FedEx Express announces launch of new route

    FedEx Express announces launch of new route

    FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, announced the launch of a new route which, for the first time, connects the FedEx APAC Hub in Guangzhou, China and the FedEx World Hub in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A.

    Currently, a FedEx Express MD-11 freighter is being used for the new route but it will be replaced with a B-777 freighter in May to meet increasing shipping demand. The new route has five flights per week from Tuesday to Saturday.

    In April, the flight departing from Guangzhou stops in Osaka, Japan and Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A. Beginning in May, the flight from Guangzhou will stop in Osaka before flying directly to Memphis. From Tuesday to Friday, the flight returning from Memphis stops in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and Anchorage before flying directly to Guangzhou, while the Saturday flight stops in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. and Anchorage.

    The Asia Pacific region is predicted to grow at a rate of 6.5% in 2018, 2% faster than the projected global growth rate. Boeing forecasts that air cargo flowing from Asia to North America is expected to increase by 4.7% per year over the next 20 years. In addition, Guangdong province, where the APAC Hub in Guangzhou is located is one of China’s major trade centers. In 2017, Guangdong’s total import and export value of goods grew by 8% year-on-year, while the total import and export value with the United States grew by 10.4% year-on-year.

  • DHL Global Forwarding launches Helpdesk in Berlin

    DHL Global Forwarding launches Helpdesk in Berlin

    DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has launched a helpdesk in Berlin that is custom-tailored to the needs of start-ups. The logistics professionals working at the DHL Start-Up Helpdesk assist dynamic start-up entrepreneurs and expanding start-up companies in the areas of logistics and supply chain development to enable them to achieve success both in and beyond Germany.

    “Our customer base of start-ups with global operations is growing rapidly at our branch in Berlin. Understandably, they have a greater need for advice and services, particularly in the initial stages,” explains Joachim Hermansky, Vice President Customer Service Germany at DHL Global Forwarding. “That is precisely why we trained up a young team that acts as a link between companies going global and traditional handling departments. They understand both worlds and that allows them to provide swift and flexible support.”

    The Start-Up Helpdesk at DHL Global Forwarding helps young companies enter the international business market. The digital world and e-commerce accelerate and simplify cross-border expansion for entrepreneurs. However, what requirements need to be met if products and goods are to be offered in other countries, and perhaps even outside the European Union, with immediate effect? The same applies to the procurement of products or materials and components for their own business when it is essential to deliver or receive the goods on time, and with the correct shipping and customs documents. That is where the Start-Up Helpdesk’s work begins. Have the goods been properly packaged? What transport mode is the best to be used? What customs requirements need to be met for imports and exports? What shipping documents need to be furnished? Have the goods been properly insured? These and many other questions suddenly become relevant in order to successfully develop and manage a business’s supply chains. The start-up team at DHL Global Forwarding is the right port of call for all these issues. DHL’s global network makes it possible to find the right transport services and solutions in no time and, if necessary, to contact experts able to deal with issues relating to all aspects of customs, regulations and transport routes.

  • Bolloré Logistics Singapore Launches Pilot Project on Robotic Process Automation

    Bolloré Logistics Singapore Launches Pilot Project on Robotic Process Automation

    Bolloré Logistics has launched a pilot RPA project in Singapore to drive productivity and enhance customer service through the automation of key business processes.

    RPA is an application of advanced software and algorithms to complete routine tasks and repetitive operation processes.

    Implemented with the support of Accenture, this pilot project covers multiple aspects of freight forwarding operations, such as the accurate and timely update of transportation timestamps, creation of transportation files within the Transport Management System (TMS), and invoice dispatching to customers.

    The business processes selected for enhancement under this pilot project were previously manually intensive, repetitive, and prone to human error.

    With the implementation of RPA, the original processes are mimicked by software robots that are programmed by one of the market leaders in RPA tools. “With the removal of repetitive and time-consuming tasks, the business process owners can be upskilled to perform higher value added tasks, focusing on client communication, proactive shipment monitoring, and complex coordination,” says Cyril Dumon, CEO Asia-Pacific for Bolloré Logistics.

    Following the successful pilot rollout in Singapore, Bolloré Logistics is looking to expand rapidly the implementation of RPA in the Asia-Pacific region and to extend it to other processes within the organization.

  • GreyOrange announces 3 sites for deployment of its Butler robotics system across Japan at CeMAT 2018

    GreyOrange announces 3 sites for deployment of its Butler robotics system across Japan at CeMAT 2018

    Robotics and supply chain automation company, GreyOrange, announced installations for the deployment of its ButlerTM robotics system at three new sites, located in Japan and Europe at CeMAT 2018. The upcoming site in Japan is for Trusco Nakayama Corporation (TSE:9830), a leading wholesale trading company specializing in machine tools and equipment for production sites, wholesale distributors and retailers. Its range of over 335,000 products includes over 2,300 brands and manufacturers.

    A multinational technology company, GreyOrange is a market leader in AI-powered robotics systems for automation in warehouses, distribution and fulfilment centres. In recent years GreyOrange has rapidly expanded its presence across Asia-Pacific and the Americas and is now at the forefront of supply chain automation innovation, providing solutions for e-commerce, Retail, FMCG and logistics companies across the globe.

    Nalin Advani, CEO – APAC, GreyOrange commented, “These sites will deploy an advanced combination of robotics and Artificial Intelligence which will increase their efficiencies multifold. GreyMatterTM, our warehouse execution software platform optimises large and complex operations in real-time. The Butler system was selected to improve productivity in distribution centers located where finding labour is a huge challenge.”

    GreyOrange has acquired marquee customers in Europe. These include a Global 3PL using the Butler system for one of its pan-European distribution operations in Benelux and a leading e-commerce platform for their regional Fulfilment Center. Both have selected the Butler goods-to-person solution for its improvements in accuracy, flexibility and productivity. There is continued interest in GreyOrange robotics solutions among companies who seek to optimise their complex order fulfilment operations to achieve cost competitiveness and improved service levels to their customers.

    Dieter Berz-Voege, CEO – EMEA, GreyOrange added, “The Butler robotics solution offers a compelling business case as logistics managers look to improve productivity from end-to-end of their supply chain processes. We are also seeing more interest in using these solutions for larger warehouses and in our upcoming sites, we will deploy hundreds of robots each to handle significantly higher volumes in shorter turnaround times. The boom in e-commerce globally has resulted in many more businesses needing to manage same day order-to-dispatch times instead of next or more days for delivery.”

  • Park N Parcel secures 648,000$ in seed funding

    Park N Parcel secures 648,000$ in seed funding

    Singapore’s last-mile logistics startup Park N Parcel plans offshore expansion after raising US$648,000 in a seed funding round.

    Park N Parcel’s service provides “parking” for online purchases. Packages are delivered to a registered residential or commercial “parker” within a 1km radius of the buyer’s home for collection when convenient. After two years, the startup has more than 1500 parkers.

    The fresh funding will be used to strengthen the company’s core leadership team and for expansion into Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan by the fourth quarter of this year, says Park N Parcel co-founder Bryan See Toh.

    As well, the team plans to expand its client base through partnerships with e-commerce platforms and logistics companies.

    “Last-mile has always been a problem for big e-commerce players across Asia, and we believe Park N Parcel has resolved this issue,” says managing partner Christopher Quek of Tri5 Ventures, which led the funding round with a group of angel investors. “There is a huge opportunity in the $701 billion logistics market across Asia.”

    Park N Parcel, along with seven other startups, are heading to Thailand this month to attend the Bangkok Immersion Program organised by Enterprise Singapore under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

  • DHL Vietnam appoints Drew Duncan as Managing Director

    DHL Vietnam appoints Drew Duncan as Managing Director

    DHL Supply Chain, the global market leader for contract logistics solutions, today announced the appointment of Drew Duncan as Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain Vietnam. In his new role, Drew will manage the strategic development of DHL Supply Chain Vietnam, steering growth in warehouse management, transportation management and value added supply chain services.

    Drew has more than 13 years’ experience in the logistics industry and has spent six years with DHL Supply Chain Thailand. Prior to this appointment, Drew was the Vice President — Retail, managing a combined workforce of over 6,000 personnel, 30 distribution centers and a fleet in excess of 3,000 vehicles. Drew is a pioneering leader of change, and has employed many globally tested supply chain innovations in our local operations, yielding significant improvements in cost and service for our customers.

    Kevin Burrell, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Thailand Cluster (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar), said: “Vietnam’s economy is growing rapidly, and this dynamic environment demands a leader who drives constant improvement across all areas of our business. We are pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Duncan as Managing Director of our operations in Vietnam. Having worked in Southeast Asia for half of his career, Drew has a keen understanding of regional and local culture. With his illustrious track record and rich experience working within DHL, we are confident of fulfilling our promise of being the leading enabler for our customers in the country and contributing to improving our consumers’ daily lives. We have huge ambitions for our business in Vietnam, and look forward to capitalizing new opportunities under Drew’s stewardship”.

    DHL aims to provide a one-stop service for logistics supply chain integration to global standards, supporting local and international customers in various sectors — Retail, Consumer, Technology, Automotive, Life Sciences, Chemical, Engineering and Manufacturing. Its diverse expertise enables speedy operational set-up for customers from all sectors using DHL’s multi-user warehouses and transport networks. DHL Supply Chain sees a real opportunity in Vietnam to help its customers grow successfully and constantly improve safety, quality and cost management through innovation and market differentiated services.

  • DHL aims to link Indian businesses with ASEAN economic community

    DHL aims to link Indian businesses with ASEAN economic community

    Global logistics group Deutsche Post DHL Group is working to link Indian companies with businesses in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to strengthen India’s economic relations with Southeast Asian markets.

    “India is a key market for us. We will help our clients there to work their way into the AEC, which will in turn be a springboard to the Far East markets in line with New Delhi’s ‘Act East’ policy,” said Alfred Goh, President, Global Fast Growing Enterprise and Regional Head, Customer Solutions and Innovation Asia Pacific, DHL.

    In 2000-2017, there was over USD 514.7 billion of ASEAN investment flow into India. In 2015-16, India’s exports to ASEAN were valued at USD 25 billion, with imports at USD 40.6 billion.

    “We want to capitalise on our presence in these high-growth markets with a combined population of 1.8 billion people, and partner businesses on growing cross-border commerce and trade,” he said.

    DHL is already investing millions of dollars in India,  increasing logistics hubs and warehouses, keeping up with projected demand for its services following the successful implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).
    “Having been part of the GST process development from an early stage, we now have a very good understanding of the new single tax regime, which India-bound foreign investors are trying to learn,” he said.

    “DHL is well versed in the business cultures of both India and Southeast Asia. We know the tax incentives, options and business locations in ASEAN,” pointed out Goh. India is industrialising, with an emphasis on export-oriented manufacturing, observed Goh, adding that ASEAN is also seeing development zones for global trade and commerce that would fit with Indian businesses’ regional operations.

    He highlighted India’s continued port and airport development that will support exports, and that future shipment volumes will be transshipped into the regional markets through breakbulk. India’s population of 1.3 billion and ASEAN’s 638 million make the two territories the largest trading zones with bilateral and multi-lateral commitments under various India-ASEAN economic pacts such as the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (AIFTA), which came into effect in 2010.
    It drove further growth in two-way trade between India and ASEAN – as of 2012, this figure stood at USD 79.86 billion, surpassing its initial USD 70 billion target.
    With India’s “Act East” policy and the Indian and ASEAN governments goals of connecting the South and Southeast Asian markets, the existence of a platform will allow India companies to have easier access to the Southeast Asian zones.

    The newly set-up Global Center of Excellence (GCOE) in Iskandar Malaysia by DHL and Iskandar Investment Berhad will provide supply chain consultancy services, and support businesses to design logistics solutions specific to key industries including automotive, energy, engineering & manufacturing, life sciences & healthcare and technology. This GCOE can connect companies in India with the government and key stakeholders to strengthen the value proposition in operating in countries like Iskandar Malaysia which will drive bilateral trade further, he said, citing examples of India-ASEAN connectivity. (

  • How DHL Aims to Remake Logistics with AI

    How DHL Aims to Remake Logistics with AI

    What do semi-autonomous truck platoons, chat-bots, and fraud detection cameras have in common? They’re all part of a big plan that DHL unveiled yesterday to remake itself with artificial intelligence.

    DHL is investing millions to take advantage of recent advances in machine learning that could help it optimize its sprawling $60-billion delivery service, which touches nearly every country in the world and involves 500,000 workers.

    According to Ben Gesing, a project manager in DHL’s Innovation and Trend Research division, the Germany company is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to utilize a variety of emergent AI technologies and techniques to help it cut costs, increase efficiency, and improve service levels across the company.

    “In terms of data creation, processing storage and accessibility, the technology conditions for AI are very favorable,” Gesing tells Datanami. “Broadly speaking we think the future of AI and logistics is filled with potential.”

    Here are some of the AI projects that DHL is currently working on:

    Autonomous Vehicles – DHL is working on autonomous vehicles on three fronts, including the development of intelligent robotic workers in its own warehouses and air freight centers; the use of semi-autonomous trucks in the line-haul business; and “follow-me” robots used for last-mile route delivery in urban settings.

    One of the more interesting uses of AI is the development of truck platoons in Europe, where anywhere from one to four autonomous semi-trucks follow a lead truck with a human driver down the road. By synchronizing acceleration, braking, and steering among the trucks, the platoon can boost freight capacity while minimizing costs, all without handing total control over to the AI program. DHL will be involved with testing a truck platooning in the UK next year with the British Transportation Research Laboratory and truck manufacturer DAF Trucks.

    Chat Bots – DHL is looking into using autonomous customer service representatives by using deep learning-based natural language processing (NLP) technology, such as Amazon‘s Alexa, to automate some of the easier interactions between customers and DHL’s customer service representatives.

    “Automating some of the low-level queries with chat bots can really increase the value of each interaction between customer and [human] agents by letting them focus on more high-level queries,” Gesing says. “That basically increases our throughput by a multiplier, not just a marginal increase.”

    Computer Vision – DHL is exploring the use of deep learning-based computer vision algorithms for at least two use cases, including fraud detection and optimizing the loading of planes and trucks.

    Some people try to defraud DHL by re-using shipping labels, which Gesing says could be automatically detected using cameras hooked up to fraud-detection algorithms. Similarly, computer vision could boost DHL’s capability to detect the size of packages so they can be stacked better.

    “It doesn’t seem that interesting if you’re not in the logistics industry, but understanding how to best use your space and really optimizing the volume and capacity inside an aircraft or a truck” is important, Gesing says. “We’re getting better and better tools and technology to do that using AI-based vision technology.”

    Resilience 360 – DHL plans to infuse this cloud-based risk management tool with AI capabilities that will give its customers an early warning that something is amiss in their supply chains. This product uses sentiment analysis to monitor 8 million sources of data on the Internet, including social media, for anything that could signal a disruption, including unhappy customers and even labor unrest.

    “For a lot of our B2B or automotive or manufacturing customers, they have very vast supplier networks,” Gesing says. “We proactive identify risky parts of the supply chain so our customers can plan downstream more effectively.”

    DHL Global Trade Barometer –DHL feeds this this recently introduced tool with import/export data and data about containerized air and ocean freight, giving it a view into 75 percent of the world’s daily trade. It uses AI techniques to provide a three-month forecast on the direction of global trade.

    “We have data scientists all over the world, internally and partners with external companies, to do different kinds of optimization of our network, things like predicting demand and capacity needed, or predicting delays in airfreight either by trade lane, by airline carrier, or by day of the week or day of the month,” Gesign says. “It gives us a directional assessment of where global trade is headed…to really get out ahead of our current daily operations to plan more effectively.”

    Big Data to AI

    Over the past several years, DHL has invested in exploiting recent innovations in areas like big data, augmented reality, and Internet of Things. In 2013, DHL published a Trend Radar report on big data, and yesterday it published another report called Artificial Intelligence in Logistics with support from its partner IBM, which you can download here.

    AI is viewed as a big component of DHL’s digital transformation strategy, says Gesing, who works in DHL’s corporate innovation lab in Troisdorf, Germany, one of three innovation labs the company runs (the other is in Singapore, while the one in the United States is currently under development). “AI and machine learning are the extension of big data analytics,” Gesing says.

    DHL’s board views AI strategically, but the innovation centers aren’t the only places where work on AI is being done. “We have a very broad digitalization strategy that comes from our corporate board,” Gesing says. “AI is inherently part of that. But really the best teams are the ones making productive use of this are really empowered to go learn and test and use this stuff.”

    DHL isn’t doing a lot of core research into AI, because much of that work has already been done. Instead, it’s utilizing technology that has already been placed into the public domain by companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Facebook.

    “Pretty much anyone who’s doing AI is benefiting from all these great open source tools and platform from all the tech giants,” Gesing says.