DHL Express has entered into a long-term deal with freight operator Cargojet which could potentially see the express business acquire shares in the freight company.

The five-year deal, with options for two more years, will see Cargojet supply five additional B767 freighters on top of the 12 freighters currently used by DHL Express.

The additional aircraft will enter service in 2022 and 2023 under ACMI, CMI, charter and bareboat services.

The aircraft will meet DHL’s requirements for Europe and North, South, Central and Latin America, as well as Asia.

Additionally, DHL intends to be Cargojet’s first launch customer for the state-of-the-art B777 long-range conversion cargo aircraft, which is expected to be deployed in late 2023 or early 2024.

“In the Americas, DHL has increased its overall air capacity by 18% for the 2021 peak season in response to growing demand, particularly in the e-commerce segment,” the company said.

“It recently added a new weekly air link from Vietnam to the United States, adding 102 tons of additional capacity for customers shipping from Asia to the Americas region.”

In addition, Cargojet will issue warrants to DHL to acquire up to 9.5% of the outstanding voting shares of Cargojet at a price of C$158.92 per share over a period of seven years, the acquisition being linked to the delivery by DHL of up to C$2.3 billion in business volume during the same period.

“Cargojet is an important airline partner for DHL in North America and we see this expansion of our relationship further strengthening intra-regional and intercontinental links to and from this region,” said Mike Parra, Managing Director, DHL Express Americas.

“Its versatile freight fleet and high on-time performance positions us well to further capitalize on the dynamically growing e-commerce market, in particular. This step builds on the significant investments we have made in DHL’s aerospace capacity and capabilities over the past two years in the Americas.

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