Dubbed DHL SEAIR, the combined sea and air freight offering has been expanded to Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Brazzaville (Republic of the Congo), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Dakar (Senegal), Luanda (Angola), Douala (Cameroon), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Pointe Noir (Republic of the Congo).
With the 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.
“Combining the use of ocean and air freight services through DHL SEAIR allows customers to manage their supply chains more cost-effectively. On average, the DHL SEAIR service is 30 to 50% faster than pure ocean freight, with cost savings of 40 to 60% compared to standard air freight,’ the company claimed.
“It is also a more environmentally friendly option as the sea leg enables fuel savings and significantly lower CO2 emissions. For instance, on an audited transcontinental shipment of the same weight from Penang, Malaysia to Bristol, United Kingdom, the DHL SEAIR service shaved 20 days off transit time compared to a sea freight only solution and CO2 emissions were 2.7 times less compared to using only air freight.’
Kelvin Leung, CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding, pointed out that trade between Asia and Africa rose more than 400% 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,” he said.
“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.”
