Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DHL Global Forwarding South Asia, Thomas Tieber sees growth opportunity in Pakistan despite all its challenges. DHL Global Forwarding Pakistan further plans to expand its business in the country.
In an exclusive interview to Business Recorder, he showed an optimistic outlook about logistics industry here. He was on a three-day visit to Pakistan.
"We are looking at Pakistan from a positive perspective. We are operating in 220 countries and territories around the world. Every country has its own set of challenges. In Pakistan, the infrastructure needs to be improved, for example. And there are for sure a large number people who need to be trained. At the same time, you have sectors like the textile industry which is doing relatively well and you have other strong industries, too. Nevertheless, the world as a whole is experiencing uncertain times and Pakistan will feel its impact too," he said.
He emphasised that DHL Global Forwarding is here for the long term. DHL Global Forwarding has good experience in Pakistan and plans to expand its operations, Thomas affirmed, "We are looking to engage more local partners in order to grow our operations here. We need to have strong local partners and local sub-contractors. And we need them to be able to operate at the international standards of quality that we promise to our customers" He further said, "We work with our local and multinational partners to provide consistent standards of service. One of the examples is our First Choice program, a process improvement programme developed in-house. We are the only freight forwarding company in Pakistan which engages our local partners in such programmes in order to improve their productivity and their processes. And these are the things that give us an edge over our competitors".
Discussing their future plans he said, "We want to deliver the same quality of services in Pakistan as in Singapore, Germany and the US. For that we have to educate and train our people here so that we can live up to our customers' expectations globally despite any infrastructural issues we may face."
DGF Pakistan has invested more than $9 million over past four years. Their investment is mostly in IT infrastructure because they understand that it is equally important to have a proper IT infrastructure to be connected to the world. "We have spent a lot of money in our facilities, offices and in training our people, which we think is one of the most important factors for success in Pakistan. The world is getting more connected than ever before. Pakistan needs to establish high standards of transportation and regulations to be internationally competitive," said Thomas.
He added, "Logistics is extremely important for Pakistan because while moving goods from one point to another, things can become relatively more expensive if the logistics cost is extremely high. Logistics costs - such as ocean freight port to port costs - form only 20% of total logistics cost while the remaining 80% is the domestic feed and the transportation cost. The government of Pakistan could look into the possibility of training more people in logistics. It's not only good for us. It's good for the industry. And what is good for the industry is good for us."
He further elaborated, "Once you have a better regulated and better managed logistics industry, you will automatically attract investors. In Pakistan there is no formal governing body for the transport and logistics industries although logistics is an integral part of any economy. Without proper logistics, infrastructure and regulations, it is very difficult to be competitive."
DHL Global Forwarding Pakistan is not only bringing in foreign direct investment ,but has been a spring board for a number of its employees to find jobs with DHL in Singapore, Malaysia, the US and the UK. Those people, who have made a career abroad through this organisation, will come back one day with international exposure and will be able to serve the country better.
He is of the view that Pakistan has a large domestic network of railways which is not being utilised; otherwise trade companies would use the rail networks. Thomas also pointed out that the port facility is under-utilised while the airport facilities could be upgraded. All this will come automatically if the logistics industry is better developed.
Thomas says, "DHL Global Forwarding Pakistan has the widest network worldwide. That's one of the edges we have. However, our operations in Pakistan are not only about import and export but about local business too. Sector-wise, we have expertise in the life sciences, especially in cold chain management. We also have a lot of know-how in fast-moving consumer products which is a very fast growing sector in Pakistan due to its large population of under 25 year-olds with an increasing purchasing power who demand access to branded products. These products need to be distributed according to very tough standards which DHL can fulfil. All in all, as DHL, we are in all sectors in Pakistan and we can provide the specific expertise needed for each one of them."
Tieber has been associated with logistics industry for the past 20 years and based in Bangkok, he is responsible for performance and long-term strategic development of DHL Global Forwarding across 11 countries in South Asia.