Bangalore to be first Indian city for BlueDart-DHL Smart Truck solution

10th August 2011
Bangalore to be  first Indian city for BlueDart-DHL Smart Truck solution
Jerry Hsu, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific and ( right) Dr. Keith Ulrich, Vice President, DHL Solutions & Innovations with the Smart Truck at its Bangalore unveiling on Aug 10 2011 ( Inset the hand held device at the heart of the 'smart' system) IndiaTechOnline photo

The world’s largest air freight mover and contract logistics service provider, DHL, is to use Bangalore as the pilot, to launch worldwide, a Smart Truck project aimed at a sharp reduction in the travel time of its delivery fleet.

Having deployed some 20 such trucks on its home turf in Berlin and Cologne, harnessing dynamic routing and tour planning technology, backed by GPS navigation, real time traffic inputs, DHL and its India partner, BlueDart have instrumented five such trucks to bring the solution to Bangalore – which is home to their biggest logistics facility – 2,26,000 sq feet of space at the International Airport.

The Smart Truck solution reduced the number of miles traveled by 15 per cent and length of average route by 8 per cent during its pilot stage, reducing both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, said Dr. Keith Ulrich, Vice President at DHL Solutions & Innovations (DSI)
Designed to provide solutions to urban logistic challenges such as traffic restrictions, density and clogging, while ensuring environmental protection and fulfilling customer need for on-time delivery, these “intelligent” pick-up and delivery vehicles compute delivery deadlines to calculate the ideal sequence for shipments, and use real-time GPS to avoid jams and optimise routings, thereby enabling flexibility and last-minute pick-ups, he added

Jerry Hsu, CEO, DHL Express Asia Pacific, said: “DHL’s GoGreen program commits us to continually address issues that affect the environment and seek innovative solutions to reduce our carbon footprint and provide better services to customers. In fast-growing, emerging markets such as India those needs are critical and will grow more so as the world continues to urbanize and megacities proliferate. To ease congestion, improve services and cut pollution, we need solutions that will make a positive impact on the environment, such as the DHL Smart Truck.”

Anil Khanna, Managing Director of Blue Dart Express, said: “Adapting Smart Truck technology to work in a city like Bengaluru will have far reaching positive benefits for our clients, the city’s economy, the environment, and in the long-term for all emerging markets. The Blue Dart Smart Truck pilot, will cover all Asia-Pacific inbound shipments on five routes in the city, with the system sorting deliveries to reduce errors and increase visibility. We have made adaptations to the original system to additionally overcome problems with consignees’ addresses and lack of postal codes.” 

BlueDart-DHL deploy  7 Boeing aircraft in India and operate through  426 retail counters, shipping some 360 tonnes ( so far in 2011).  Aug  10 2011