BERLIN, July 16 (Xinhua) -- DHL Express will purchase up to 21 new Boeing cargo planes in order to meet booming demand for its e-Commerce delivery services, the German logistics company announced on Monday.
DHL Express, a subsidiary of the Bonn-based Deutsche Post DHL Group, told press that it had placed a binding offer for 14 Boeing 777F planes and secured an option to acquire a seven additional cargo aircraft at a later point.
"The purchase of the 14 Boeing planes forms part of the gradual renewal of our intercontinental fleet. As an especially fuel-efficient and reliable cargo plane with an impressive range, the long-haul aircraft will help us achieve our environmental goals and service more markets with direct flights", a statement by DHL Express read.
According to Boeing, the deal struck with the German logistics company for the initial sale of 14 aircraft is worth 4.7 billion dollars. The first four planes manufactured by the U.S. aviation giant are scheduled to be delivered in 2019.
DHL Express emphasized that the replacement of 14 older planes with the new Boeing 777Fs offered the company "significant cost- and efficiency advantages". Having previously leased aircraft for long-haul flights in the past, the Bonn-based logistics company expressed confidence that the acquisition of its own cargo fleet would now improve its profitability in the moving forward.
"We have already been using this type of plane for many years which has proven to be excellently suited for our operative business. As a consequence, it was an obvious choice to use this cargo plane again", DHL Express chief executive officer (CEO) Ken Allen said.
The Boeing 777F is the world's largest twin-engine cargo jet and can carry a payload of 102 tons on flights with a length of over 9,000 kilometers. Down-payments by DHL Express for the 4.7 billion-dollar order in 2018 are already included in the annual investment forecasts of the company.
DHL Express estimates that the total volume of cross-border e-Commerce will continue to grow by an annualized 19.2 percent to 4.48 trillion dollars in 2021. While meeting a resulting increase in demand for related logistics services, the company said it would nonetheless lower its CO2 emissions by 18 percent with the new and more efficient Boeing 777F planes.
DHL Express currently operates more than 600 flights per day to 220 countries with a network of 17 partner airlines. Together with the wider Deutsche Post DHL Group, the company has set itself an ambitious goal to eliminate all net- CO2 emissions from its logistics services to zero by 2050.
