Interview: Garry Kemp, DHL Middle East Director

Interview: Garry Kemp, DHL area director for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey

How has DHL Express performed in the Middle East over the past year?
Over the last 12 months, we have continued our focus on providing reliable, fast, efficient and secure solutions for customers in the Middle East and beyond. It’s been a challenging year though, as the economic difficulties arrived in the Middle East later than across Europe and the United States. Almost all businesses across the globe have been affected in some way by the economic crisis and many of those businesses are our loyal customers.

Have you adopted a particular approach to tackle the market downturn?
We took the global economic crisis in our stride and focused our energies on logistical and operational process efficiency, as well as airline safety and standardisation. At the same time, we ensured employees were satisfied and able to perform at their best in 2009.

What factors have helped to improve your operational efficiency in the Middle East?
The new infrastructure that was put into place in 2008, including our facilities in Jordan and Jebel Ali Free Zone, have made a positive impact on DHL’s service, both in the region and throughout the world. Due to the geographical location of Jordan, the new hub has improved our regional infrastructure and increased the transit speeds of goods travelling via road. The launch of Aerologic, a joint venture cargo airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, in 2009 has also strengthened DHL’s aviation network. Our new B777F is now in operation connecting Bahrain to the European aviation network.

Have there been other focus areas for DHL during the global recession?
Our focus on expediting and streamlining processes in 2009 was coupled with efforts to boost our safety standards in the region, which resulted in a number of milestones. For example, DHL Aviation EEMEA earned IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification, which uses internationally recognised quality audit principles to assess the safety of airlines. The entire team at DHL Aviation EEMEA, which is based in Bahrain, worked hard to achieve this certification and demonstrate our commitment to quality and safety.

Any other highlights from 2009?
DHL Express received the ‘Best Company to Work For’ award in Saudi Arabia earlier this year in recognition of employment practices and high working standards for employees. Nour Suliman, general manager of DHL Express KSA, was presented the award by Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research and Marketing Group, during a special ceremony in Riyadh.

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