DHL, the world’s leading express and logistics company, today announced a new direct overnight express service between Tokyo (Narita) and Shanghai (Pudong), as well as an upgrade of its Pudong Gateway in Shanghai.

The new Shanghai – Tokyo direct flight and upgrade of the Pudong Gateway further strengthen DHL’s market leadership in China, and enhance DHL’s capability and capacity both in the air and on the ground, to continuously offer the highest level of service offerings for customers in the Yangtze River Delta region. They are also in anticipation of the continued strong growth that DHL is experiencing in East China.

With Shanghai as its center, the Yangtze River Delta has recorded continuous high growth in foreign trade. In 2004, the total value of imports and exports exceeded US$400 billion (€342 billion), representing a growth of about 45 percent over 2003, and the region accounts for almost 35 percent of China’s total value of imports and exports .

The region’s rapid and steady economic development, besides triggering tremendous growth in the logistics market, has also demonstrated the strategic position that the Yangtze River Delta plays in China’s logistics market, as well as DHL’s growth in Eastern China in recent years.

“Being the first foreign express company to enter China in 1980, DHL is committed to providing a seamless connection between its network infrastructure with China’s growing economy, while maintaining its market leadership position in China’s express and logistics industry,” said Jerry Hsu, President of DHL Express for Greater China and Korea.

“The new Shanghai – Tokyo direct flight and the upgraded Pudong Gateway will greatly enhance our combined capability in these major logistics markets, and significantly strengthen our market leadership in China,” Mr. Hsu noted.

The new dedicated five times weekly service between Pudong and Narita is operated by a Northwest Airlines 747-200 freighter aircraft. With the new service, customers in 15 cities in East China will now enjoy a shorter time-to-market lead time due to later pick-up and earlier delivery times for their shipments.

Wu Dongming, Managing Director of DHL-Sinotrans, said: “Trading volumes between Japan and China reached US$213 billion in 2004, and Japanese exports to China rose for the sixth straight year last year. DHL has been committed to providing the most extensive network, and the new direct service enables better connectivity between Shanghai and Tokyo, and is in response to the needs of customers and market trends for better services to our customers in these two key markets.”

The Pudong Gateway, one of DHL-Sinotrans’ four gateways in China, is a major hub for imports and exports in the Yangtze River Delta, and complements DHL’s gateways in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The expansion of the gateway, which will be completed in August 2006, is an extension of DHL’s long-term Asian growth strategy focusing on capacity building, as well as to meet the business growth in China and the booming intra-Asia and international trade.

With the expansion, the total site area of the Pudong gateway, a TAPA-certified facility, will more than double from 5,760 sqm to 11,808 sqm. Equipped with a Quality Control Center, an in-house customs with advanced automated x-ray inspection and clearance system to streamline and speed up the clearance process for customers, the expanded facility will process 5,000 parcels per hour, up from the current 2,500 parcels per hour. It will also be able to sort 8,000 document shipments an hour, up from the current 4,000.

The new direct flight and gateway expansion form part of DHL’s latest investment in China. In April 2005, DHL launched new dedicated flights between Beijing and Hong Kong, and between Shanghai and the United States. DHL also upgraded its uplift capacity on the Hong Kong – Shanghai sector by 35 percent, and opened its Country Quality Control Center in Beijing in July. Recently in October, the company inaugurated the DHL Logistics Management University in Shanghai.