DHL has grown since 1969 to become a globe-spanning family of DHL companies, with about 380,000 employees in over 220 countries and territories that cover the entire spectrum of logistics and supply chain services. DHL is the logistics industry’s leading global brand
The DHL family of divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfilment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport, to industrial supply chain management.
John, you have personally been an integral part of DHL’s history for many years and have witnessed some of the company’s major milestones. What are you particularly proud of?
– Deutsche Post DHL Group’s aspiration is still to connect people all over the world. With innovative logistics and transport solutions, we want to help simplify their everyday lives, whether private or professional.
We test and deploy innovative technologies along the entire supply chain to make the delivery and transport process as efficient as possible and to assist our employees in their work. In addition to using augmented reality and robotics solutions in the supply chain, I am particularly proud that we have also found new ways to deliver to hard-to-reach delivery areas. Our autonomous DHL parcel drone enables us to make rapid deliveries of medicines to a remote island in Lake Victoria, and in China, a customer is regularly supplied with important documents twice a day.
In addition, the StreetScooter, which we have developed and manufactured ourselves, has already enabled us to provide an initial response to the challenges facing the logistics of the future and environmental protection.
What will DHL’s contribution in this area be in the long term?
– In 2008, the Group pledged to improve carbon efficiency by 30% by the year 2020, compared to the 2007 baseline. We achieved that goal as early as 2016 and established ourselves on the market as experts in green logistics solutions. We want to reduce transport-related emissions to zero by 2050.
As a company with global operations, we are doing everything we can to ensure that our ecological footprint is as small as possible
Our journey along that path has already begun, and I’m confident that we will achieve this important milestone for our Group – not only via the very ambitious interim targets that we have set ourselves for the year 2025.
So how is DHL celebrating its 50th anniversary?
– Various anniversary events are being held for our employees, customers and partners throughout the year. For example, we donated and delivered two Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centres equipped with modern computers to SOS Children’s Villages Colombia, in order to provide the children there with access to up-to-date technology and better education.
We are also celebrating Beethoven’s legacy and DHL’s anniversary by using our logistics expertise to transport the “BTHVN on tour” anniversary exhibition, as it makes its way through Germany, the U.S. and – from 2020 onwards – other countries in Europe and Asia. Each of our 100,000 Express employees around the world has received a special edition coffee table book, a large-format illustrated volume outlining the history of DHL’s origins.
As a founding member and global logistics partner of Formula E, we also organised an online fan competition entitled “50 Moments that Delivered”, on the occasion of the 50th Formula E race. But the absolute highlight for us is the tree planting campaign as part of Bryan Adams’ “Shine A Light” tour.
Together, we would like to set a clear example for climate protection and – in collaboration with Bryan Adams, the Arbor Day Foundation, Plant-for-the-Planet, WeForest and Taking Root – we have pledged to plant one tree for every concert ticket sold – totalling a million trees worldwide this year. So far, new areas of forest comprising around 300,000 trees have already been planted in Indonesia, Nicaragua, Malawi and the U.S.