Just In Time For Hurricane Season

“We are committed to sharing our core competence in logistics and transportation as well as our expert manpower in support of disaster relief efforts,” said John Mullen, CEO for DHL Express Americas, as he helped launch DHL’s Disaster Response Team (DRT) Americas.

DHL established its DRT Americas as part of a worldwide network of response teams intended to support the United Nations and the international community’s humanitarian relief efforts. In April, DHL inaugurated its DRT Asia Pacific to provide coverage to that region.

The DHL effort is an example of what Carlos Monteiro-Pereira, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, described as “how valuable the support from companies can be in supplementing the existing disaster management system.”

The DRT Americas will draw on a pool of 80 trained DHL employees who, in addition to their normal jobs at DHL, have volunteered to take part in humanitarian missions with the DRT. They include experts in cargo handling, warehouse management, inventory control, customs clearance, road operations, communications, safety, security and other areas.

For coverage of DHL and other companies’ support of relief efforts following hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in the U.S. and the Asian tsunami of 2004, see:

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath: Fading into a bad dream

Tsunami aftermath: How to make good logistics better

Delivering relief to tsunami victims