DHL

While Larry Hillblom was studying law at University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in the late 1960s, he accepted a job as a courier for the insurance company Michael's, Poe & Associates (MPA). He started running courier duty between Oakland International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, picking up packages for the last flight of the day, and returning on the first flight the next morning, up to five times a week.

After he graduated, Hillblom met with MPA salesman Adrian Dalsey and they planned to expand MPA's concept of fast delivery to other business enterprises. They flew between Honolulu and San Francisco, transporting bills of lading for their first client, Seatrain Lines.

Hillblom put up a portion of his student loans to start the company, bringing in his two friends Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn as partners, with the combined initials of their surnames as the company name (DHL). They shared a Plymouth Duster that they drove around San Francisco to pick up the documents in suitcases, then rushed to the airport to book flights using another relatively new invention, the corporate credit card. As the business took off, they started hiring new couriers to join the company. Their first hires were Max and Blanche Kroll, whose apartment in Hawaii often became a makeshift flophouse for their couriers.

In the 1970s, DHL became an international delivery company, similar to Loomis and Purolator who were the only other international courier companies at the time. In 1979, under the name of DHL Air Cargo, the company entered the Hawaiian Islands with an inter-island cargo service using two Douglas DC-3 and four DC-6 aircraft. Adrian Dalsey and Larry Hillblom personally oversaw the daily operations until its eventual bankruptcy closed the doors in 1983. At its peak, DHL Air Cargo employed just over 100 workers, management and pilots.

The only major competitor in the overnight market was Federal Express (FedEx), which did not open its first international service until 1981, expanding to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nevertheless, the domestic market was extremely profitable, and DHL was the third largest courier behind FedEx and UPS.

Deutsche Post began to acquire shares in DHL in 1998, acquiring a controlling interest in 2001. …

DHL Express's global headquarters are part of the Deutsche Post headquarters in Bonn. Headquarters for North America are located in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Plantation, Florida, while its Asia–Pacific and emerging markets headquarters are located in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and mainland China. The European hub is in Leipzig, Germany. Most of DHL Express's business is incorporated as DHL International GmbH. DHL's Caribbean service is centred around the markets of: the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Sint Maarten, and Trinidad & Tobago. Therein a partnership for strategic express mail agreement has been according with national-owned postal agency of Barbados (the Barbados Postal Service).

Major competitors include FedEx, UPS, and national post carriers such as United States Postal Service (USPS) and Royal Mail. However, DHL has a minor partnership with the USPS, which allows DHL to deliver small packages to the recipient through the USPS network known as DHL Global Mail, now known as DHL eCommerce. It is also the sole provider for transferring USPS mail in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

DHL offers worldwide services, including deliveries to countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar (formerly Burma). As it is German-owned, DHL is not affected by U.S. embargoes or sanctions and will ship to Cuba and North Korea. However, there are strict codes for delivering to North Korea, as the country has shaky relations with the West.

As of 2007, DHL took measures to control their environmental footprint by the use of alternative fuel vehicles. DHL changed vehicles in certain delivery fleets in order to use alternative fuels. Certain new vehicles used compressed natural gas.

In December 2014, Deutsche Post DHL purchased the StreetScooter company, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles as part of its long-term goal to reach zero emissions in its delivery operations. By year end 2016, some 2,000 vehicles had been produced.

In 2016, BYD supplied DHL with electric distribution fleet of commercial BYD T3, which was used for daily logistics in the Central Business District (CBD) of Shenzhen and surrounding areas.

As of 2016, electric vans with a much greater range were to be required to achieve the long-term goal of replacing the entire Deutsche Post and DHL Express fleet of approximately 70,000 vehicles with StreetScooter models.

In 2022, DHL equipped 67 trucks in the US with TRAILAR solar mats, which power lift gates and other equipment for fuel savings.

As of 2017 the Deutsche Post/DHL GoGreen program planned to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and local air pollutants; The long-term goal, summarized by Frank Appel, chief executive officer, was more aggressive. "From now until 2050, our mission will be to drive our business toward zero [logistics related] emissions. We are setting the standard for the future of the transport sector and doing our part to help the world community reach its goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius."

The DHL Express financial results are published in the Deutsche Post AG annual report. In 2016, this division's revenue increased by 2.7% to €14 billion. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 11.3% over 2015 to €1.5 billion.

Recent Financial Data Quarter Ending 30 September 2024: Revenue: $23.446 billion (6.9% increase year-over-year). Twelve Months Ending 30 September 2024: Revenue: $92.791 billion (0.25% decline year-over-year). Annual Revenue for 2023: Revenue: $91.503 billion (10.8% decline from 2022). Annual Revenue for 2022: Revenue: $102.58 billion (3.17% increase from 2021). Annual Revenue for 2021: Revenue: $99.425 billion (26.33% increase from 2020).

Deutsche Post owns five airline subsidiaries operating for DHL Express, operating approx. 250 aircraft and another 21 aircraft on order, which are collectively referred to as DHL Aviation. DHL Express is an equal partner in a sixth airline that operates for DHL Express: