Photo: DHL
DHL Express and DHL Supply Chain are optimistic for their European and UK businesses in the year ahead, despite outlining an increasingly complexity trade and supply chain environment during a recent webinar.
DHL Express Europe chief executive Mike Parra said the market faced a number of challenges this year but added these developments also presented opportunities for the express industry.
On market challenges, Parra pointed out that US president Donald Trump recently outlined his tariff and regulatory plans, while trade between the UK and European Union continued to face ongoing regulatory divergence and customs complexities. Ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflicts would also impact the market.
However, these trends also created opportunities as customers spread risk with broader production and transport networks, which in turn made the supply chain more complex and drove the need to engage with transport and logistics service providers.
There is also ongoing growth in e-commerce and the rise of China+1 and nearshoring strategies with countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Turkey and Mexico seeing rising demand as a result.
Speaking about the UK, Parra said the country is unlikely to be the focus of US tariff restrictions and the impact of any potential tariffs wouldn’t be as significant as in the dedicated export nations.
The UK also ascended to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in December 2024, which could create opportunities.
Parra said: "So what is the impact on business? Well, there is the complexity of adapting to fluctuating trade rules and tariffs, and increased demand for supply chain resilience and flexibility.
"And this is where we can come in and support small- to medium-sized organisations or organisations that have moved from being small and medium-sized to a company that is medium-to-large-size."
DHL Supply Chain UK and Ireland chief executive Saul Resnick said that in the UK companies across manufacturing, consumer goods and life sciences were currently looking to reduce inventory levels and had accelerated a move towards automation and digitalisation given the downbeat economic landscape.
But he also reiterated the trend for companies to examine omni-shoring and nearshoring opportunities and said that they were looking to outsource to reduce costs.
"Across the board that change from a service focus to a cost + service focus has seen an increased prevalence of working with 3PLs, like DHL Supply Chain, which allows them to enter either into shared network environments or shared user facilities, optimising their network across state of the art infrastructure," said Resnick.
Parra added: "I want to reiterate the importance of global trade despite the challenges and uncertainties not only in 2024 but now in 2025 and how DHL Express remains a vital partner for UK business in navigating these complexities."
