DHL Launches Trans-Atlantic LCL Service

DHL Global Forwarding and sister company Danmar Lines are launching a trans-Atlantic expedited less-than-containerload service connecting 19 European ports and New York.

The Deutsche Post World Net subsidiaries will blend ocean and trucking services to speed European goods to U.S. customers, the companies said Wednesday.

Once Danmar containerships arrive in New York, the LCL shipments will be transferred to DHL trucks and routed to customers within three to four days.

DHL said the trans-Atlantic service will be similar to its trans-Pacific LCL service, launched in 2007. It will be five to 16 days faster than traditional LCL service, DHL said.

It also will give the forwarding company new inroads into the U.S. international freight market. Last week sister company DHL Express began hiring as many as 300 workers at its air hub in Cincinnati, Ohio.

U.S. Monthly Container Trade: By The Numbers.

The company left the U.S. domestic freight and package market in 2008 after losing billions of dollars in a struggle to compete against FedEx Express and UPS.

It still has 34,000 employees in the U.S., engaged in international transportation, logistics and freight forwarding, Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel said.

The company is expanding its LCL services globally. In May, DHL launched a direct LCL service connecting India to Europe, North America and other markets.

In the trans-Atlantic, it will compete with an air-ground LCL service offered by U.S. trucking giant Con-way Freight and Dutch express carrier TNT. Con-way and TNT move trans-Atlantic LCL shipments through hubs in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.