Blue Dart Express announces new Delhi-Dhaka trade lane
FE Report | Friday, 25 July 2008
India's transportation and logistics major Blue Dart Express announced a new India-Bangladesh trade lane.
Blue Dart managing director Anil Khanna announced it at a press conference in Kolkata Wednesday, an India newspaper reported.
Referring to Bangladesh, the company also announced the setting up of a new warehouse in Kolkata, which would act as a hub for shipments to and from Bangladesh. The India-Bangladesh trade lane was being launched jointly with Blue Dart's parent company, DHL, according to Amod Dasgupta, Vice-President-East, Blue Dart.
Mr. Khanna said the company is planning to establish connectivity with Pakistan and Sri Lanka even as it is mulling a price increase of about 15 per cent within this year. At present, the company has no exclusive connectivity with a foreign country.
"For the Pakistan connectivity, road links were being explored, in the case of Sri Lanka air connectivity was being looked at. There are barriers at the border route with Pakistan, but going forward we expect them to be removed," said Mr. Khanna.
Blue Dart has a 41 per cent share of the Rs. 12.60 billion (Rs. 1,260-crore) organised air express movement industry. It moved 0.19 million (1.9 lakh) tonnes of consignments in 2007. In the first six months of 2008, the figure stood at 0.18 (1.08 lakh) tonnes. Mr. Dasgupta said that the eastern region was an important market for the company with new malls and SEZs opening up new opportunities.
Along with its fleet of aircraft and as part of the DHL group (which has a 81.32 per cent shareholding), Blue Dart offers a spectrum of distribution services, including air express, freight forwarding supply-chain solutions and customs clearance.
It has 51 domestic warehouses and a fleet of six Boeing freighters operating each night to the seven metros in India. Its income stood at Rs. 8.08 billion (Rs. 808 crore) for the year ended December 2007.
Blue Dart managing director Anil Khanna announced it at a press conference in Kolkata Wednesday, an India newspaper reported.
Referring to Bangladesh, the company also announced the setting up of a new warehouse in Kolkata, which would act as a hub for shipments to and from Bangladesh. The India-Bangladesh trade lane was being launched jointly with Blue Dart's parent company, DHL, according to Amod Dasgupta, Vice-President-East, Blue Dart.
Mr. Khanna said the company is planning to establish connectivity with Pakistan and Sri Lanka even as it is mulling a price increase of about 15 per cent within this year. At present, the company has no exclusive connectivity with a foreign country.
"For the Pakistan connectivity, road links were being explored, in the case of Sri Lanka air connectivity was being looked at. There are barriers at the border route with Pakistan, but going forward we expect them to be removed," said Mr. Khanna.
Blue Dart has a 41 per cent share of the Rs. 12.60 billion (Rs. 1,260-crore) organised air express movement industry. It moved 0.19 million (1.9 lakh) tonnes of consignments in 2007. In the first six months of 2008, the figure stood at 0.18 (1.08 lakh) tonnes. Mr. Dasgupta said that the eastern region was an important market for the company with new malls and SEZs opening up new opportunities.
Along with its fleet of aircraft and as part of the DHL group (which has a 81.32 per cent shareholding), Blue Dart offers a spectrum of distribution services, including air express, freight forwarding supply-chain solutions and customs clearance.
It has 51 domestic warehouses and a fleet of six Boeing freighters operating each night to the seven metros in India. Its income stood at Rs. 8.08 billion (Rs. 808 crore) for the year ended December 2007.