DHL Express says it is expecting an historic peak season in global trade, as the Covid-19 pandemic sends more and more consumers online and their purchases need to be shipped.

The logistics company says it expects peak season volumes in its global network to increase 50% on last year, and the company is hiring 10,000 more staff to cope.

Chief executive John Pearson said: “Megatrends such as globalisation and digitalisation have an enormous impact on global trade. “At DHL Express it is our mission to enable global trade and support our customers during the most important days for their business. We make sure that goods are delivered as fast as possible — and Christmas gifts are being delivered to households all over the globe in time."

Consumers are shifting their shopping activities to the online world like never before, according to Pearson. 

“This will particularly apply to the upcoming mega-shopping days such as ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’, as well as to the whole Christmas shopping season. As a result, DHL Express is expecting an all-time high in e-commerce trade around the globe. Having already experienced around 35% e-commerce volume growth in 2020 in the network, the upcoming peak season will further accelerate this and result in higher shipment quantities.”

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Vice president global sales Michiel Greeven added: “Covid-19 and its effects, such as curfews or distancing, led to massive changes in the retail sector all over the world. As a consequence, the buying behaviour of consumers, but also B2B buyers, changed significantly and shifted more and more into the online world. 

“From an e-commerce perspective, some might even say that Covid-19 brought 2030 to 2020, with online shopping and the necessary shipping as the new normal.”

The company has tripled its capacity at both its Cologne and Malmö hubs and by a factor of 12 at Malpensa in Italy.

This year DHL has added four new wide-body planes to its fleet, with two more on the way, enabling the company to make more than 3,000 additional intercontinental flights each year.