5 Facts About DPD

Written By Shahzad Akram

1. A LONG HISTORY

DPD’s roots stretch back to 1976, when the Deutscher Paket Dienst (DPD) was founded by a consortium of eight German freight forwarding companies. These companies were:

  • Honold Logistik Gruppe

  • Hellmann

  • Zufall

  • Streck Transport

  • Cordes & Simon

  • TTF

  • Denkhaus

  • Zeitfracht

DPD proved to be an instant success, with over 1.4 million parcels being transported in Germany alone in it's first year.

A DPD Van outside the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria

2. TAKEOVER AND GROWTH

In April 2001, DPD was taken over by France's Geopost - a subsidiary of the state-owned postal service operator - La Poste Group. Throughout the 2000s, Geopost, embarked on a series of takeovers of European courier companies, with most of these firms being re-branded as DPD. This has to lead to DPD having the second biggest delivery network in Europe and making the brand one of the most familiar and recognisable across the continent.

3. NAME CHANGE

In order to better serve the company internationally, in 2008 DPD was renamed from Deutscher Paket Dienst to Dynamic Parcel Distribution.

woman smiling at dpd driver

A smiling woman receives a package from a DPD driver

4. AN INTERNATIONAL COURIER WITH LOCAL REACH

A noticeable difference between DPD and other couriers are it's use of local subsidiaries, which allow it to use expertise and knowledge when delivering packages within a specific country. Compare that to some other carriers, who are known for centralising their delivery operations, an approach that can lead to an inability to react quickly, when circumstances change locally. Some of these DPD local subsidiaries include:

  • Jadlog - Brazil

  • PostNord - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden

  • Chronopost - France

  • DTDC - India

  • Ninja Van - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

  • BRT - Italy

  • DPD Laser - South Africa

  • SEUR - Spain

  • Yurtici Kargo - Turkey

  • Nova Poshta - Ukraine

5. DPD FAST FACTS

  • DPD delivers 5.3 million parcels every day and 1.3 billion parcels every year.

  • DPD employs over 77,000 people worldwide.

  • DPD operates in 41 countries, across 3 continents.

Shahzad Akram
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