GLOBAL LOGISTICS COMPANY DHL is not reeling from the economic hard times that continue to plague Barbados and the wider region.
In fact, senior officials of the firm which has been operating for the last 28 years are reporting increased business and projecting major growth in 2017.
BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY spoke to DHL Express Americas chief executive officer, Mike Parra, Caribbean region managing director Reiner Wolfs, and Barbados country manager Nikkolai Cowan last week.
They all spoke positively about the Barbados market, and said DHL had moved beyond being mainly an exporter of documents and importer to facilitator of exports from Barbados, and stimulator of electronic commerce.
“We are seeing growth taking place within the exports into the Eastern Caribbean and also we are seeing the imports coming in from Miami into Barbados. One of the things we attribute that [growth] to is sticking close to our customers,” Cowan said.
“We know it’s a difficult time so we stay close to our customers to ensure that they know that we are here to support them and . . . while doing that we also are taking on new customers. We are projecting that we will have growth in 2017.”
Wolfs was even more upbeat about the prospects for the market.
“I think that with the e-commerce that’s really hitting hard in a good way within the Caribbean and with the new products, and retail expansion throughout Barbados and the Caribbean I think it’s going to be a very healthy growth. We continue to add people in Barbados as well as we grow our business and I think that’s going to continue,” he said.
While not able to give a figure, Wolfs said additional jobs were likely as DHL expanded in Barbados in the coming years.
“Rather than adding people ahead of the curve, we tend to add resources as we organically grow and it’s not going to be any different here. For us it’s a growing market,” he added.
Wolf also said the company was not daunted by the fact that Barbados and the Caribbean were in economic difficulty.
“In the Caribbean some [countries] will be thriving when others are slowing down a little bit but overall we always grow very healthily and in Barbados specifically we have always done very well and we continue to do very well. We did our latest review . . . and the numbers are fantastic. So I don’t share the sentiment that business in Barbados is struggling, it certainly is not for us,” he said.
Parra echoed the views of Cowan and Wolfs when he said that “we see Barbados as a continued conduit of growth for us in the Caribbean”. He added that customer service was key to the company’s success.
“We are committed to customer service and we are insanely customer-centric. In every one of our locations across the Caribbean we have dedicated customer service representatives. Right here in Barbados we have dedicated local customer service representatives, that speak local, act local and think local with a global approach,” Parra stated.