DHL Express Europe will continue with its Middle East investment plans despite the war in Iran as the region has a key long-term role for the business, its CEO Mike Parra said today.
The Deutsche Post DHL group has announced more than €500m in investment in the Middle East through 2030, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"The investments in the Middle East continue," Parra told journalists in Amsterdam, adding: "We see the Middle East having a key role for us from a long-term perspective".
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 resulted in the closure of airports across the Middle East and effectively halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy trading route.
Parra said that in response to airport closures the company had "connected the Middle East with Europe also via road. We are flying in out of Asia into Kazakhstan. And then from Kazakhstan, we're trucking throughout the Middle East. So we've got contingency plans that are in place."
He said higher costs were being passed on to customers in the form of a security risk surcharge.
"We're having to pay higher levels of insurance, as an example, for our pilots and the assets that are flying into markets that are at risk," Parra added.
