DHL Logistics

DHL[4] is an American-founded German logistics company[5][6]

providing courier, package delivery and express mail service,
delivering over 1.8 billion parcels per year.[7] A subsidiary of the
German logistics firm Deutsche Post, its express mail service DHL
Express is one of the market leaders for parcel services in Europe and
Germany's main Courier and Parcel Service.[8]

Vantaa distribution centre

DHL delivery vehicle

The company DHL itself was founded in San Francisco, United
States, in 1969 and expanded its service throughout the world by the
late 1970s. In 1979, under the name of DHL Air Cargo, the company
entered the Hawaiian islands with an inter-island cargo service using
two DC-3 and four DC-6 aircraft. Adrian Dalsey and Larry Hillblom
personally oversaw the daily operations until its eventual bankruptcy
closed the doors in 1983. At its peak, DHL Air Cargo employed just
over 100 workers, management and pilots.

The company was primarily interested in offshore and intercontinental

deliveries, but the success of FedEx prompted DHL's own domestic
(intra-US) expansion starting in 1983. In 1998, Deutsche Post began
to acquire shares in DHL. It reached controlling interest in 2001, and
acquired all outstanding shares by December 2002.[9] The company
then absorbed DHL into its Express division, while expanding the use
of the DHL brand to other Deutsche Post divisions, business units,
and subsidiaries. Today, DHL Express shares its DHL brand with
business units such as DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply
Chain.[10] It gained a foothold in the United States when it acquired
Airborne Express.

The DHL Express financial results are published in the Deutsche Post
AG annual report.[10] In 2016, this division's revenue increased by
2.7% to €14 billion.[11] The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)
increased by 11.3% over 2015 to €1.5 billion.