Exclusive | US-China trade war impact eased by booming e-commerce says chief executive of parcel delivery giant DHL Express
- Online orders made up for what ‘would otherwise be a subdued trading’ environment between China and the US, says CEO John Pearson
- Revenue in DHL Express’ Asian operations rose 3.3 per cent in 2018, the slowest growth in five years
The movement of goods in the US-China trade corridor remained “very strong” for DHL Express in 2018 even as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies escalated, according to John Pearson, the logistics company’s chief executive.
Pearson, who became CEO in January after more than three decades at the firm, said e-commerce activity made up for what “would otherwise be a subdued trading” environment between China and the US.
“When you are all things to all people, all industries, all products and all channels, there are going to be things that are fairing better when other things aren’t. E-commerce definitely continued to trade well up to and including 2018,” Pearson said. “We remain optimistic, as we do with Brexit, that the trading environment will return to a more positive platform.”
DHL Express is the international delivery arm of Deutsche Post DHL Group. It handled nearly a million packages a day in its core on-time delivery service, which it calls time definitive international (TDI).
Revenue in the Express’ Asian operations rose 3.3 per cent to €5.74 billion (US$6.46 billion in 2018, its slowest growth pace in five years.
By comparison, revenue increased 8.2 per cent in its European operations and 9.5 per cent in its Americas business last year.
