Major German logistics service provider DHL Group is reinforcing its strategic focus on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, pledging to strengthen its presence in the region by leveraging its sound infrastructure network and robust “new three items” and e-commerce development.

“The Greater Bay Area is one of our most strategic locations. In China, we have 54 branches, nine of which are in the Greater Bay Area. We have about 400 people employed there,” said Aditi Rasquinha, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Greater China.

The Greater Bay Area serves as a critical gateway for DHL Global Forwarding’s China business, with over 25 percent of the company's total air freight volume and 20 percent of its ocean freight volume in the country flowing through the region last year.

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This strategic location enables DHL Global Forwarding to efficiently connect businesses within the Greater Bay Area to global markets, supporting both local companies expanding overseas and international firms entering the Chinese market, she told China Daily in an interview.

The 11-city cluster boasts a developed infrastructure network with world-class airports, a high-speed railway and ports. According to the statistics released by Airports Council International, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen airports all rank among the world’s top 20 cargo airports worldwide, handling a combined 9.2 million tons of cargo last year, accounting for 7.2 percent of the world’s total.

Against the backdrop of prolonged China-US trade tensions, the Greater Bay Area has emerged as a crucial pivot for rerouting global supply chains. While direct exports to the US face headwinds from tariffs, the region’s diversified manufacturing base and robust infrastructure have enabled it to capture growing demand from emerging markets, such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

To navigate shifting trade policies and maintain competitiveness in the changing global landscape, DHL Global Forwarding is making flexible adjustments to its capacity, Rasquinha said.

“In the past, when China-US trade was more active, much of our capacity was allocated to trans-Pacific routes. Today, we are shifting part of that capacity to intra-Asia routes or from Asia to regions such as Latin America and Europe to better meet evolving cargo demand. At the same time, we continue to provide more multimodal solutions to help our customers manage changes in their production and trade lanes,” she said.

The senior executive believes the development of "new three items" — namely, new energy vehicles (NEVs), lithium batteries and solar products — and e-commerce in China will bring fresh opportunities for logistics service providers like DHL.

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“During the first eight months, the chargeable weight of cargo we've handled for automotive and related industries to the ASEAN market have doubled. The energy sector saw a year-on-year increase of over 40 percent while the electronics and consumer goods sector have also shown good growth momentum,” Rasquinha said.

“Trade is like water. It will always find a way,” she added.

Official data showed that the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area recorded 5.98 trillion yuan ($840 billion) in the value of imports and exports in the first eight months, growing 4.5 percent year-on-year.

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com