Left to right: Andries Retief, CEO Southeast Asia DHL SupplyChain, Oscar de Bok, Global CEO DHL Supply Chain, Javier Bilbao,CEO Asia Pacific DHL Supply Chain.
DHL Supply Chain, the global market leader for contract logisticssolutions, plans to invest EUR350 million in Southeast Asia overthe next five years to expand its warehousing capacity, workforceand sustainability initiatives.
This is part of a series of strategic investments by DHL SupplyChain over the past year, already adding up to EUR1.35 billionglobally. These investments into the supply chain infrastructure,people hiring and development, as well as automation,digitalization and sustainability in India, Latin America andSoutheast Asia support the omnisourcing strategies of DHL’scustomers in all major geographies, across all industries.
“There is an incredible opportunity for businesses in SoutheastAsia to strengthen supply chain resiliency. Companies are lookingat diversifying their supply chains. Southeast Asia, with itsefficient work environment and effective trade agreements such asthe China-ASEAN FTA, stands to benefit the most. Our multi-marketinvestment of EUR350 million in this region complements our globalinvestment strategy. These are strategic investments we take -despite the generally softer market environment – because we investin the future growth of our business and strongly believe in thestrategic expansion and diversification of our regional businesses.This puts us in a prime position to support our customers’ growthand omnisourcing strategy in the long term,” said Oscar de Bok,CEO, DHL Supply Chain.
DHL Supply Chain expanding capacity and future-proofing logisticscenters
With this investment, DHL Supply Chain will increase its current1.6 million square meters of warehouse space in Southeast Asia by25 percent, or 400,000 square meters. Highlights of this investmentinclude:
"We are not just increasing our capacity, but we are buildinglogistics centers that can cater to future demand for our customersthrough robotics and sustainability initiatives. For example, weare e our upcoming fifth facility in Penang – PLH5 withstate-of-the-art automated pallet storage and retrieval system andgoods-to-person robotics technology to handle small parts picking,”added Javier Bilbao, CEO, DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific.
DHL Supply Chain will continue to develop its Warehouse ManagementSystems (WMS) while introducing other warehouse technology inselected markets such as auto-stores, automated storage andretrieval systems (ASRS) for pallets and large goods, and automatedguided vehicles (AGVs). These digitalization initiatives also allowemployees to upskill themselves in such implementations.
Investing in talent and green supply chains
DHL Supply Chain reinforces its commitment to people development asit seeks to create over 3,000 job opportunities across SoutheastAsia by 2024. This forms part of a broader strategy to nurturetalent to support new growth areas and meet evolving customerdemands in automation, digital analytics, electric vehicle (EV)handling, reverse logistics, and solution design.
In support of DHL Group’s roadmap to have climate-neutral logisticsby 2030, and also customers’ Scope 3 emissions reduction targets,DHL Supply Chain plans to double its EV fleet in Southeast Asiaover the next five years.
DHL Supply Chain is also committed to having carbon-neutralfacilities for all new buildings. Today, 100 percent of DHL SupplyChain’s facilities in Singapore and Malaysia have achieved carbonneutrality, showcasing its leadership in championing sustainabilityin the supply chain sector.
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