Changing habits, more sea freight to bring DHL double-digit growth

DHL says it will achieve high double-digit growth in revenue and shipment volume next year as well as increase market share in Malaysia.

That's because more Malaysian companies are using integrated logistics services to handle door-to-door deliveries, according to DHL Express country manager Sam Leong.

Mr Leong also pointed out in a report in The Edge Daily that Malaysia's sea freight volumes are expected to grow to 751 million tonnes by 2020, generating even more DHL business.

"We are still very confident of achieving that growth, as we are increasing penetration in a new customer base, which is the small and medium enterprises," he said.

DHL Express was said to have had 26,000 Malaysian customers, delivering 4.3 million shipments in 2006.

The report noted that over the course of the year, DHL Express has invested more than MYR23 million (US$6.85 million) in developing a service centre, opening additional service points and expanding its information technology data centre in Malaysia.

"We started investing in service points around the Klang Valley, including in Central Market, which helped us tap into the tourist potential as we discovered Malaysia to be an intermediary stop for them," said Mr Leong.

"Therefore, tourists could buy souvenirs in the country, then conveniently send it back to their home countries, before going off to another country," he said.

DHL Express has also recently added individual service points in Pulau Tikus, Penang and Miri, Sarawak.