DPD commits to China-Europe ‘preighter’ service

French post office-owned parcel delivery giant DPD has launched a China-Europe ‘preighter’ service to accommodate a surge in e-commerce traffic.

Its Hong-Kong based subsidiary Lenton Group has signed a strategic partnership with Hainan Airways, initially for a one-year period, to operate two weekly round-trip flights between Haikou and Paris.

The first flight took place at the end of last month.

Before the pandemic, Lenton’s cargo was flown in the bellyholds of passenger aircraft but with the reduction in air travel, particularly between Asia and Europe, orders for Chinese products to Europe now have to be shipped on dedicated cargo flights, DPD said.

“Two weekly round-trip flights carrying e-commerce parcels will inject DPDgroup’s European network with greater volumes. With a capacity of 72 tonnes, these cargo aircraft will serve as both a huge facilitator for cross-border development for all parties concerned and an accelerator for e-commerce as a whole.”

A spokesperson confirmed to Lloyd's Loading List that the flights are operated by Boeing 787-900 passenger aircraft converted to carry cargo.

Following the announcement of its five-year growth strategy, Together & beyond, last month, DPD is “focused on capturing the growth of international e-commerce while developing a global, interconnected network with sustainable delivery and digital solutions,” the company said.

“To execute this ambitious strategic plan, DPDgroup will rely on majority-owned, Asian-based Lenton Group to connect markets across the globe and build intercontinental volumes.”

DPD launched DPD China in 2019 under the Lenton Group umbrella.

“Benefiting from the rollout of multimodal services between China and Europe, Lenton Group is implementing additional logistics solutions to strengthen its connections with the DPDgroup network in Europe,” the company added.

Describing itself as “an Asian-based, cross-border service provider with five decades of experience” and “the exclusive GSA for Cathay Pacific since 1989,” Lenton “offers a full range of port-to-port and delivered products, from time-critical hand-carry and next-flight-out courier, to cost-effective hybrid e-commerce solutions.

DPD claims to be the largest parcel delivery network in Europe, delivering 7.5 million parcels daily – 1.9 billion parcels per year – through its brands DPD, Chronopost, SEUR and BRT.