FILE PHOTO: Frank Appel, Chief Executive Officer of German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post DHL, addresses the company’s annual news conference in Troisdorf near Bonn, Germany March 10, 2020. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
June 18, 2020
DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) – German logistics group Deutsche Post AG said its dependence on Amazon is falling as the coronavirus crisis prompts a big rise in parcel shipments by other customers which it expects to continue in the second half of 2020.
Deutsche Post expects to exceed its original assumption for 5% volume growth in the German parcel market, Chief Executive Frank Appel told journalists late on Wednesday.
The company is attracting new customers as more people shop online, helping reduce its dependence on Amazon, Appel said, adding that the U.S. company previously accounted for about 6% of its parcel business in Germany and just 2% worldwide.
Deutsche Post DHL, one of the world’s biggest post and freight companies, expects the fact that many fewer passenger aircraft are flying will result in a big shortage of air freight capacity in the second half of the year, meaning higher prices.
Appel said this is an advantage for DHL as it operates 250 cargo aircraft in its express division alone – and thus has better access to aircraft than its competitors, adding he expects more passenger planes to be converted for cargo.
(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, writing by Emma Thomasson, editing by Michelle Martin)
