Special Report: Rocky road ahead for logistics operators amid pandemic

THIS was supposed to be a good year for DHL Express (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Volumes were growing at a healthy clip of 6% year on year and it had just invested RM25 million in a new, larger facility in Johor. Then the ­Covid-19 pandemic broke out and changed everything.

“We started off very well. Our volume and revenue were growing. We were ready to take off when the pandemic hit us,” recalls Derek Tully, vice-president of operations of DHL Express.

The country’s largest international express delivery operator with a 55% market share saw its cargo volumes plummet 35% y-o-y in the first week of the Movement Control Order (MCO) when factories deemed non-essential were required to shut down in mid-March.

Since then, however, DHL Express has made an impressive recovery following the easing of restrictions on most economic sectors from May 4.

“Our volumes are back to pre-pandemic levels. But the situation is evolving all the time. Is it going to stay that way? I don’t know,” Tully tells The Edge in a recent interview.

Tully attributes the company’s swift rebound in part to how quickly it reacted to the crisis. When the gravity of Covid-19 became clear, the management and operations teams immediately got together to brainstorm ways to deal with the crisis.