DHL expands connections between Asia, Europe and North America


DHL Freight is further expanding its multimodal network and linking Asian overland and intermodal transportation operations with Europe and North Africa. This was announced by DHL at a joint event with Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport) at the logport site in Duisburg-Rheinhausen, Germany.

DHL is further expanding its offering through the Duisburg hub with the rail transport service for groupage transport. The company is also offering the option of consolidating shipments at the DHL Freight Terminal Duisburg. DHL customers thus have the opportunity to design intercontinental supply chains and can additionally leverage the time and cost advantages of rail transportation compared with sea or air freight alternatives. DHL customers will benefit from the geographical location of Duisburg and its close proximity to the European economic regions, as well as from its logistics connections and infrastructure.

“Use of rail networks as a transport route between Asia and Europe has proven to be a highly effective solution at DHL and is very well received by our customers as a genuine alternative. In this connection, Duisburg plays a key role as a transport hub. Shorter routes to customers and excellent intermodal connections provide many opportunities for faster delivery and the leveraging of cost advantages. We therefore intend to consistently expand this segment. Through our new LCL products in the DHL Railconnect segment, we can leverage the strengths of our overland transport networks to the great benefit of our customers,” said Amadou Diallo, CEO DHL Freight. “And we can do so all the way to North Africa. We already have customers whose commodity flows can thus be processed from China via Europe to Tunisia through the multimodal combination of road, rail and short-sea,” he added.

Since 2013, DHL has been expanding its multimodal network between China, Russia and Europe, and has enabled connections to industrial bases in Europe and Asia through its rail links and access to ports in Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. As a result of this expansion, DHL customers are able to take advantage of fixed departures each week between the Rhine/Ruhr Duisburg economic region and the business centres in the coastal region of China (Shanghai to Shenzhen). DHL additionally offers a FCL link to the intermodal connections within Europe in cooperation with Duisburger Hafen AG. The intermodal connections to and from southern, western and northern Europe ensure that Duisburg need not be the final rail destination.

Source: DHL