DHL expands sea-air multi-modal offering to Africa

DHL has expanded its global multi-modal product offering, boosting Asia-Africa trade lane growth in eight new destinations on the African continent.

Dubbed ‘DHL SEAIR’, the new offering combines sea and air freight solutions in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Dakar (Senegal), Luanda (Angola), Douala (Cameroon), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), and Pointe Noir (Republic of the Congo).

The combined services allow customers to manage their supply chains more cost-effectively and quickly, offering a 30 to 50 percent faster service when compared to ocean freight and with cost savings of 40 to 60 per cent compared to standard air freight.

Combining sea and air freight is also a more environmentally friendly option according to DHL, as the sea leg enables fuel savings and significantly lower CO2 emissions.

Kelvin Leung, CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding, said: “Trade between Asia and Africa rose more than 400 percent in the past decade from 2001 through 2010. The accelerating rate of Asian trade and investment in Africa holds great promise for Africa’s economic growth and development and maintaining this momentum is key.

“As such, the need for speedy and cost-effective connectivity between the two regions has never been greater. With 41 points of origin in Asia now connecting to as many as 26 destinations in Africa via DHL’s SEAIR product, DHL offers more than 1,000 point pairs across the two continents as well as tailor-made solutions on request.”

With the DHL SEAIR service, shipments originating from Asia travel via ocean freight to Singapore, Dubai, Incheon, Sydney or Los Angeles, and onward via air freight to 169 destinations across the world. For customers in Africa, shipments will be forwarded primarily through Dubai and then transferred into pre-booked air cargo space to be flown into Africa.

I an online statement, DHL claim the new services make them more reliable. ‘DHL’s vast network of offices and operations, expert staff, pre-determined routes and secure handling not only stabilises the supply chains of customers in Africa throughout the year, but makes DHL SEAIR a viable alternative during peak season congestion as well’.

'Furthermore, DHL SEAIR uses a single combined transport document to track a customer’s shipment throughout its journey for increased security, visibility and ease of management.’