"DHL has stringent security standards"
Scott Price, CEO of DHL Express, Asia Pacific, was in Nepal in September to participate in the silver jubilee celebration of DHL's presence in Nepal. Excerpts from an interview:
What is the essential difference between the business of air freight companies and air express companies?
Courier business globally has evolved from document courier service business to air express business to logistics business. Globally, air express and logistics service providers work very closely with customers to meet their express and logistics needs. The essential difference is air express companies go the last mile and have door to door delivery capabilities while airfreight companies strictly operate from airport to airport leaving the customers to handle the majority of logistics.
What changes have you seen in the business sentiment and investor confidence after Parliament was restored in Nepal ? How is this reflected in your own view of business in Nepal ?
Over the three or four months, business sentiment has shown a marked improvement with a strengthening of the macro-economic and political frame conditions. However to catch up with the speed of the rest of the South Asian region, there is a need for improvement in basic governance, law and order. Top level commitment on sustained reforms is other necessity.
Having said that, let me also add that small countries like Nepal have tremendous potential to be able to compete due to low-cost mass production provided win-win policies are developed by the government.
After the multi-fibre agreement expired in 2005, countries like Nepal lost many advantages that they had. It calls for the government and the export community to sit down and come up with long term strategy first identifying their competitive edge and then utilising these advantages to compete in international markets.
What is DHL’s regional outlook for South Asia ?
In South Asia , India is driving the growth while the economies of Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are performing strongly. There is a common denominator of thriving apparel industry and DHL is present in all these markets to support our customers. We trust that Nepal would be able to leverage its supply of natural and human resources to claim its position.
What measures do you have in place to ensure that security of the shipment is ensured via DHL and that no contraband items are smuggled?
DHL has very stringent security standards in place. We have invested heavily in technology and human resource to monitor shipments from door to door. In Nepal, we work closely with the customs and narcotics control department to intercept any suspicious shipments. All outgoing and incoming shipments handled by DHL Nepal are checked jointly with the customs department to ensure illegal items are not smuggled out or brought into the country.
