DHL adds extra five Boeing 767 freighters through Cargojet tie up
DHL Express has entered into a long-term agreement with freighter operator Cargojet that could potentially see the express firm acquire shares in the freighter company.
The five-year deal, with options for an extra two years, will see Cargojet provide an extra five Boeing 767 freighters in addition to the 12 freighters currently utilised by DHL Express.
The extra aircraft will be put into action in 2022 and 2023 under ACMI, CMI, charter, and aircraft dry lease services.
The aircraft will support DHL’s requirements for Europe and North, South, Central and Latin America, as well as Asia.
Additionally, DHL intends to be Cargojet’s inaugural launch customer for the state-of-the-art 777 widebody long-range conversion cargo aircraft, which are expected to be deployed in late 2023 or early 2024.
“In the Americas, DHL increased its overall aviation capacity by 18% for the 2021 peak season in response to surging demand, particularly in the e-commerce segment,” the company said.
“It recently added a new weekly air connection from Vietnam to the US adding 102 tons of additional capacity for customers shipping out of Asia into the Americas region.”
In addition, Cargojet will issue to DHL warrants to acquire up to 9.5% of Cargojet’s outstanding voting shares at a price of C$158.92 per share over a period of seven years, with vesting tied to the delivery by DHL of up to C$2.3bn in business volume during the same term.
“Cargojet is an important aviation partner of DHL in North America and we see this expansion of our relationship further strengthening intra-regional and intercontinental links to and from this region,” said Mike Parra, chief executive of DHL Express Americas.
“Its versatile cargo fleet and high on-time reliability positions us well to further capitalize on the dynamically growing e-commerce market, in particular. This step builds on the significant investments we have made in DHL’s aviation capacity and capabilities over the last two years in the Americas.”
Damian Brett www.aircargonews.net