DHL has ushered in a new chapter in the German automotive industry. Since March, Deutsche Post World Net's express and logistics subsidiary has been handling supplies to the BMW Group's 14 production sites in Germany, Austria and the UK. This marks the first time that a vehicle producer has transferred its entire part load volume to the transportation network of a single service provider. Under the agreement, DHL not only delivers materials from the company's 1,800 suppliers in 18 countries to the BMW plants, but also subsequently returns all multi-use containers to the suppliers. Once the system has been fully implemented in the first quarter of 2006, DHL Freight will handle 400,000 consignments, or more than 925,000 tons of production materials a year on behalf of the BMW Group. That corresponds to 60,000 truck loads.

The BMW Group chose the DHL concept over 20 competing offers. The company was impressed by the high performance strength of the standardized, Europe-wide DHL network as well as the know-how of DHL's freight division in the areas of automotive engineering and international procurement logistics. By merging single shipments, DHL will also help reduce the total traffic volume.

Peter Kruse, in charge of the German and European express business on the Board of Management of Deutsche Post World Net, says the message is clear: "The fact that a global player like the BMW Group has entrusted us with such a crucial task in the area of production logistics is a sign of confidence in DHL's performance strength - and endorses our competence and know-how in the automotive and freight businesses."

The new contract, which will run a minimum of three years, extends the long-standing and successful cooperation between DHL and the BMW Group in contract freight forwarding and the project business to a key logistics segment. Network integration will be accompanied by an adjustment of DHL Freight's real estate and IT infrastructure.

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