DHL adds around-the-world flight

DHL is deploying a second dedicated Boeing 747-400 Freighter to connect the United States, Europe and Asia.
The first around-the-world air cargo service was established in September.

“Demand is currently exceeding supply mainly due to the large economies performing strongly. On major trade lanes volumes are high, but capacities are low — a trend that will continue. To increase our operational efficiency and to offer our customers the best-possible solution, we thus decided to create further capacities we have direct control over,” said Tim Scharwath, DHL Global Forwarding CEO.

With a capacity of up to 100 tons per flight, the aircraft provides significant and reliable freight space on the transpacific route from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Cincinnati and back to Incheon, South Korea. Afterward it will connect Korea to Wuxi, China, continuing to Frankfurt-Hahn in Germany and going back to Shanghai-Pudong Airport.

With the rerouting of the first service to Wuxi Airport, DHL Global Forwarding will offer twice-weekly departures from Wuxi, China to Frankfurt-Hahn, Germany.

“The increasing demand for air freight capacities on Asian routes is fueled by all major industries. Specifically China’s electronics, electric motors, electrical and mechanical appliances as well as medical equipment companies are bolstering demand,” DHL said.

“The positive development of world trade and its continuation is also clearly shown by the DHL Global Trade Barometer. The index recently increased to 66 points in March from 64 points in January, when the newly created barometer was initially published. With an index value clearly above 50, the DHL Global Trade Barometer signals solid further growth for global trade for the next three months,” the company said.

Scharwath added, “The gap between the well-performing world trade with a high demand for cargo space on the one hand, and at the same time a difficult capacity situation on the other side, has encouraged us in our decision to further deploy self-controlled capacity to the market.”

The cargo aircraft has been leased from Atlas Air through an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance agreement.