DHL to open international gateway in Medan

DHL to open international gateway in Medan

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Air delivery company DHL Indonesia, a subsidiary of Brussels-
based DHL Worldwide Express, said on Thursday it would open an
international gateway in Medan, North Sumatra, in June this year.

"Medan is closer to Singapore so the export-import activities
in Greater Medan will be faster, cheaper and more efficient," DHL
Indonesia gateway manager Adenan Tampubolon said during a press
visit to the DHL gateway in Jakarta.

He said DHL Indonesia currently has four international
gateways, in Jakarta, Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Denpasar
(Bali), Batam, and one domestic gateway in Makassar (South
Sulawesi) which serves domestic air delivery to eastern parts of
Indonesia.

Adenan said that last year DHL Indonesia delivered an average
of 10 tons of exported goods daily, a jump from the around seven
tons delivered daily in 2000. He added that the delivery of
imported goods also rose to a daily average of 12 tons from eight
tons per day the previous year.

He said most Indonesian exported goods were delivered directly
to Singapore, San Francisco, London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam,
while the imported goods were from the U.S., Asia and Europe.

He said exported goods mostly came from the textile and
pharmaceutical industries, while most of the imported goods were
raw materials for export-oriented industries.

DHL Worldwide Express is jointly owned by Deutsche Post World
Net, Lufthansa and Japan Airlines.

DHL has invested about US$10 million in Indonesia during the
past five years. DHL has been operating in Indonesia for 26 years
and has 65 branches with 750 employees across the country.

According to Bryan Jamison, DHL Worldwide area director for
Southeast Asia, Indonesia is the fourth largest contributor to
DHL's revenue in Southeast Asia, after Singapore, India and
Malaysia.

"(W)e are still seeing double digit growth within the Asia-
Pacific region," he said.