DHL Worldwide Express, international air express service provider headquartered in Brussels, will implement a 4.5 percent fuel surcharge on all its products in response to the substantial increase in the cost of jet fuel worldwide.
Tensions in the Middle East have spiraled airline and insurance costs driven by war risk and security costs, which in turn has necessitated this fuel surcharge, according to a company press release.
The surcharge, effective March 1, 2003, has already been introduced by other parties in the aviation industry and is based on an established formula derived from information published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy.
”Over the past year, DHL has made every effort to keep costs down for the benefit of its customers despite the escalating costs. In the past three months alone, the spot prices of fuel rose sharply causing a 45 percent rise in the cost of kerosene/jet fuel since January 2003. Pricing of kerosene / jet fuel as it stands now is over a 100 percent increase since January 2002,”, the company press release stated.
“When much of the aviation industry introduced the fuel surcharges during the first quarter of this year, we at DHL refrained from doing so in order to keep increased costs from affecting charges to our customers. However, due to the current conflict in the Middle East and the tremendous elevation in jet fuel cost since the beginning of the year, we have been required to implement the additional surcharge,” commented Philip Couchman, regional director of DHL Middle East.
Couchman emphasized that “DHL does not wish to impose this surcharge any longer than is absolutely necessary, and the intended surcharge reflects the true cost increase which will be adjusted month by month in line with the recognized fuel cost index.”
DHL Worldwide Express is currently the only delivery and logistics company in the Middle East that owns and operates its own fleet, consisting of seven aircraft along with a transport network that includes heavy vehicles and facilities. The DHL Global air network links over 120,000 destinations in more than 220 countries and territories. Based in Brussels, Belgium, DHL is 100% owned by Deutsche Post — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
