Over the course of two months, DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international provider of air, sea and road freight services, delivered over 65 million personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, disposable shoes and thermometers via several full-chartered planes to Kuwait.
DHL has been working with private healthcare entities, pharmaceutical and medical distributors to ensure that these supplies are consolidated from across China and delivered to Kuwait City. These critical goods are subsequently delivered to medical professionals peppered across healthcare facilities in the country as they battle the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the frontlines.
Firas Sukkar, Country Manager, DHL Global Forwarding, Kuwait said, “As the pandemic continues to evolve and world economies grapple with the uncertainty it brings, it is essential that we continue to extend our expertise and services to support the needs of our frontline healthcare workers.”
“Whilst we have had to navigate through logistical obstacles – a result of ongoing border restrictions and commercial flight suspensions –our efforts have thus far paid off thanks to our global footprint, extensive network and our dedicated employees who worked round the clock to meet our customers’ needs. Equally, we are humbled and privileged that DHL’s logistics solutions are contributing to the frontline fight against Covid-19,” he added.
DHL’s considerable expertise and experience in humanitarian relief efforts – coordinated mainly out of its Global Competence Center (GCC) for Humanitarian Logistics in Dubai – have been well deployed in the current crisis. Launched in 2019, the GCC leverages Dubai’s strategic location to access several major logistics hubs including the International Humanitarian City, the global hub for humanitarian preparedness and response and a major logistics center for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
At the height of the global airfreight capacity crunch back in mid-April to end June, DHL set up control towers in China (in Guangzhou and subsequently in Shanghai) to manage the consolidation of essential medical supplies and provide data analytics services designed to offer heightened levels of freight visibility. The team then carved out specific routes to transport the shipment to different parts of Middle East and Africa via Dubai. This ensured a steady supply of medical necessities out of China, which was the world’s dominant manufacturer and exporter of a variety of medical supplies. In the first half of 2020, China reported a 32.4% and 46.4% spike in exports of masks and medical equipment respectively.