DHL expands its road and air network to Iraq

Being the first express and logistics company to operate in Iraq following the UN Security Council's vote to lift economic sanctions against the country, DHL has positioned itself as an integral element to Iraq's revival process.

Having commenced their Iraqi operations with three weekly flights from Bahrain to Baghdad, DHL has recently expanded their air and road operations to and within Iraq, with the aim of further speeding up the commercial activities essential to Iraq's economic revival.

Now with a new Express Center identified at the heart of Baghdad, as well as the Palestine Hotel office, and with DHL staff (the majority of which are Iraqi nationals), situated within all major Iraqi cities, DHL is currently operating up to six daily flights to Iraq utilising a combination of Airbus A300s, Antonov AN12s and Boeing 727s. This brings the number of flights into Iraq to over 100 per month.

According to Phil Couchman, DHL Area Director - Middle East, "DHL has become one of the Iraqi people's few links with the outside world since the breakdown of Iraq's communication infrastructure."

DHL has further expanded its road network to and within Iraq with the company's 40-foot trucks flowing daily from the Middle East through Kuwait to service the Southern part of Iraq, such as Basra, Talil and Umm Qasr. In addition, a Baghdad-based cargo aircraft has been assigned by DHL to operate exclusively within the Iraqi territory and currently services the areas from Baghdad to Kirkuk, Mosul, Talil and back to Baghdad three times a week.

"The expansion of our road and air services, both to and within Iraq, will play an indispensable role in assisting the local and international businesses in their efforts to rebuild Iraq by speeding up the delivery process of the enormous volumes of supplies needed for the country's reconstruction, in terms of the country's infrastructure, telecommunication facilities and equipment for the production of electrical energy and their energy dependent industry" continued Couchman.

According to Peter Toghill, DHL Iraq Country Manager: "We are confident that our current road and air network which now covers the majority of main Iraqi cities, will further assist in speeding up Iraq's business development. Plans are currently underway for further expansions in our Iraqi operations, the imminent ones being the opening of the trucking route from Amman (Jordan) to Baghdad as well as a more in-depth coverage of the Iraqi cities through the establishment of new DHL offices followed by local recruitment drives."

DHL is currently the only express and logistics company in the Middle East that owns and operates its own fleet out of Bahrain International Airport. The fleet consists of sixteen aircrafts that operate out of the Bahrain Hub and an extensive land transport network that includes heavy vehicles and facilities.