DHL eyes bigger share of logistics business in SAARC region
Syed Ishtiaque Reza | Tuesday, 8 July 2008
DHL, an international express, transport, courier and air freight business leader, is planning to develop a SAARC trade lane hoping that the intra-regional trade can increase by around 11 times if the trade barriers are withdrawn.
The company is eyeing a bigger share of the logistics business in the SAARC region as the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is scheduled to be implemented by the middle of 2008.
SAFTA can spur manifold expansion of trade and investment in the region, said DHL officials, who are planning to introduce intra-SAARC logistics products in a bid to tap nearly 28 million euro of the 5.0 billion euro express logistics market in the SAARC countries by 2015.
DHL is hoping for a boost in logistics business in the SAARC region as the experience of three major trade blocks -Nafta, ASEAN and EU - proved that removal of barriers can significantly raise trade.
"We have completed the trial and error exercise to start the road express services between Bangladesh and India trade lanes from next month, which will be ultimately expanded throughout the entire SAARC region," said Zulfiquer Ali Siddiqui, National Operations Manager of DHL Bangladesh.
DHL plans to offer services like worldwide document express, worldwide parcel express, import express, economy select and road express. The company is in the process of designing these multi-modal products on both air and surface networks.
"Our expectation is very high, we know there are businesses in the SAARC region," said Kazi Sayeed Faruqui, Head of DHL National Marketing. He said DHL is upbeat about getting the result of a research work on the prospects of trade and commerce in South Asia conducted by a market research agency.
With rising spending on logistics in the region, DHL's SAARC focus will be on business areas like textiles, chemicals, auto engineering parts and spares.
Faruqui said his company is eagerly waiting for the moment when the SAARC leaders will launch SAFTA, which can lead to a manifold expansion of trade and investment in the region.
The company is eyeing a bigger share of the logistics business in the SAARC region as the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is scheduled to be implemented by the middle of 2008.
SAFTA can spur manifold expansion of trade and investment in the region, said DHL officials, who are planning to introduce intra-SAARC logistics products in a bid to tap nearly 28 million euro of the 5.0 billion euro express logistics market in the SAARC countries by 2015.
DHL is hoping for a boost in logistics business in the SAARC region as the experience of three major trade blocks -Nafta, ASEAN and EU - proved that removal of barriers can significantly raise trade.
"We have completed the trial and error exercise to start the road express services between Bangladesh and India trade lanes from next month, which will be ultimately expanded throughout the entire SAARC region," said Zulfiquer Ali Siddiqui, National Operations Manager of DHL Bangladesh.
DHL plans to offer services like worldwide document express, worldwide parcel express, import express, economy select and road express. The company is in the process of designing these multi-modal products on both air and surface networks.
"Our expectation is very high, we know there are businesses in the SAARC region," said Kazi Sayeed Faruqui, Head of DHL National Marketing. He said DHL is upbeat about getting the result of a research work on the prospects of trade and commerce in South Asia conducted by a market research agency.
With rising spending on logistics in the region, DHL's SAARC focus will be on business areas like textiles, chemicals, auto engineering parts and spares.
Faruqui said his company is eagerly waiting for the moment when the SAARC leaders will launch SAFTA, which can lead to a manifold expansion of trade and investment in the region.