Indonesia becoming important for DHL's global operation

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is becoming more important in the global operations of international courier company DHL International, the company's senior executive said here on Friday.

DHL's area director for South East Asia Bryan Jamison said that the rapid growth of the Indonesian operation in recent years had brought the company's service in the country at par with those in other South East Asian nations.

"Indonesia is strategically significant and it's an important country for us," said Jamison, who was in Jakarta for the company's regional meeting.

Indonesia is the third largest contributor in the South East Asian region after Malaysia and India, in terms of the revenue it generates each year, according to Jamison.

"The strategic position we took during the crisis was to take a long-term view of the business, and we invested very heavily during that time," he told The Jakarta Post.

Unlike many other foreign companies, which halted their investments or even scaled down their Indonesian operations during the peak of the country's crisis in 1998 and 1999, DHL used the momentum to boost its operations in the country.

DHL's senior technical advisor for Indonesia Mike Fitzpatrick said the company spent more than US$12 million between 1998 and 2000 to open new branch offices and install new technology.

The improvement in the service and increase in the network helped the company to raise its market share in the country to over 50 percent, Fitzpatrick said.

As a result of the company's unique position in Indonesia, as well as its strong brand, DHL always looked to Indonesia for introducing its technological advancements, Jamison said, citing the implementation of the new "cargoscan" in November last year.

"Indonesia has been very successful in taking technology and processes for the DHL network and very effectively implementing them," he remarked.

Results of the first three months of the year were very promising for DHL, Fitzpatrick said, explaining that the company's revenue in Indonesia had increased by about 4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Shipments had increased by 5 percent and packages by 10 percent, he said.

The company was optimistic that it would continue to do well for the remainder of the year, despite the impact of the economic slowdown in the United States.

DHL in fact saw a larger opportunity in the midst of the expectations of a slowdown in the second half of this year.

"Overall, the macroeconomic environment does look like it's going to be softer in the second half, but from our point of view we are receiving an accelerated number of enquiries from people to help them with their supply chain within Asia," Jamison said.

This year, DHL planned to spend $3.2 million in new investment to expand its services in the country, Fitzpatrick said.

The company opened on Friday its newest "drop center" in Kuta, Bali, bringing to three the total of drop centers on the island. The other centers are in Ubud and Sanur, with another planned to be opened in Nusa Dua.

DHL had also opened its new direct customs clearance facility at Ngurah Rai International Cargo Airport that would reduce delivery time for its customers in Bali by two days, Fitzpatrick said.

DHL began operations in Indonesia in 1973 and has a customer base of about 10,000 importing and exporting companies. The company has opened 81 branches in the country's major cities including Medan, Batam and Balikpapan. (tnt)