DHL Aviation has tapped ECS Group subsidiaries Wexco Group and Wexco NZ to provide GSSA services in Australia and New Zealand starting 1 December 2023.
The four-year contracts were finalised in end-September, which will see Wexco sell the capacity on board 45 weekly flights, with 550 tonnes of capacity to be filled each week. DHL operates 26 flights from Australia and 19 flights from New Zealand transporting perishable commodities alongside regular horse shipments.
“The wide variety of perishable commodities alongside regular horse shipments, make DHL Aviation an exciting airline partner and we are therefore all the more delighted to enter into this partnership,” stated Wexco general manager, Richard Valenzuela.
DHL Aviation connects to many international destinations out of Australia and New Zealand, including Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bahrain, US, and various European locations. Its Australian flight schedule offers a Melbourne (MEL) to SIN connection, 5 times per week; Sydney (SYD) to SIN operations, 7 times per week; MEL to Auckland (AKL) to Christchurch (CHC), 5 times per week; and SYD–AKL–CHC, 6 times per week. Weekly uplift consists of meat, chilled salmon and other perishable produce to Asia, whilst exports to New Zealand include general cargo, e-commerce, regular horse movements, and perishables, which are predominantly stone fruits.
Out of New Zealand, DHL flies from CHC via AKL to SYD, 6 times per week, and CHC–AKL–MEL, 5 times per week, connecting with intra-Australian road feeder services where necessary. Main commodities include fish, dairy, general cargo and horses to Australia, and meat, fruit, and seafood to destinations in Asia.
“DHL operates a fleet of more than 20 Asia Pacific dedicated aircrafts and is committed to ensuring reliable and efficient service performance, in particular when it comes to supporting trans-Tasman trade. We have invested heavily in Oceania over the past five years and partnering with equally driven partners is essential to the success of our challenging growth strategy,” says Nathan Vellasamy, Vice President at DHL Aviation, Air Capacity Sales, Asia Pacific.
Parent GSSA company ECS Group now represents DHL in more than 20 countries across the globe.