DHL Express, one of the world’s biggest delivery companies, has hired 10,000 additional workers as it prepares for record volumes in the run-up to the holiday season on the back of a boom in online shopping.
The Bonn-based group said it expected total deliveries during the period — which includes the “Black Monday” and “Cyber Monday” sale events — to be more than 50 per cent higher than last year, and that it had invested €1bn to increase its operational capacity.
The UPS and FedEx rival, which already employs 100,000 people worldwide, has added more than 8,000 permanent jobs, and 10,000 in total, the company said, as its ecommerce business has grown about 35 per cent this year.
“From an ecommerce perspective some might even say that Covid-19 brought 2030 to 2020, with online shopping and the necessary shipping as the new normal,” said Michiel Greeven, who is responsible for global sales at DHL.
“Particularly in current days of uncertainty, many giant stores will be going online with their sales promotion,” he added.
The Covid-19 pandemic has driven record numbers of safety-conscious consumers online, according to analysis by research company eMarketer. In the US alone, online sales will reach $794.5bn this year, the group estimates, up more than 32 per cent year on year.
Amazon, one of DHL’s customers, announced in September that it would hire an additional 100,000 employees, in its fourth recruitment drive this year.
DHL Express has also benefited from increased demand for its dedicated air cargo services, as thousands of passenger aircraft — which usually carry freight too — remain grounded across the world.
“Deutsche Post [DHL’s parent] is the best name in Europe to play the shortage of belly cargo capacity,” Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska wrote in August. “It is the world’s largest air freight forwarder and commands 20 per cent of the world’s air cargo fleet in its Express division.”
To fulfil customer requirements, DHL Express has rapidly increased its daily schedule, and will expand its capacity by more than 3,000 intercontinental flights per year, at it adds six new aircraft to its fleet.
Earlier this month, parent Deutsche Post DHL raised its target for earnings before interest and tax for 2020 by 16 per cent, to between €4.1bn and €4.4bn on the back of a strong performance across key parts of its business.
Preliminary third-quarter earnings increased by about 45 per cent to €1.37bn, the group said, despite paying more than half a million employees a bonus of €300 each.
The Express division’s pre-tax profits grew to €750m, up from €454m in the same period last year.
Additional reporting by Dave Lee
