
Deutsche Post AG (),
trading as DHL Group, is a German
multinational package delivery
Package delivery, or parcel delivery, is the delivery of shipping containers, parcels, or high-value mail in single shipments. The service is provided by most postal systems, express mail, private courier companies, and less-than-truckload shipp ...
and
supply chain management
In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement (purchasing raw materials/components), operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished produc ...
company headquartered in
Bonn
Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. The postal division,
Deutsche Post
(, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...
, delivers 61 million letters each day in Germany, making it Europe's largest such company. The trade name's eponymous parcel division
DHL
DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
is a wholly owned subsidiary claimed to be present in over 220 countries and territories. DHL Group was the largest logistics company worldwide in 2022.
DHL Group is the successor to the German mail authority
Deutsche Bundespost, the oldest modern postal service in the world, tracing its roots to the
middle ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. It was privatized in 1995 and became a fully independent company in 2000. Since its privatization, Deutsche Post has significantly expanded its business area through acquisitions. In late 2014, the group acquired
StreetScooter GmbH, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles. Two years later, the group acquired
UK Mail, a business-focused postal service in the UK for US$315.5 million (£243 million). The former company became a division of the Deutsche Post European parcel network.
The 2016 earnings of Deutsche Post DHL Group before interest and taxes (EBIT) was €3.491 billion (up 44.8 percent over 2015), with a net profit of €2.64 billion on revenue of €57.334 billion. Return on equity, before taxes, was 27.7 percent.
The group's long term credit rating, in November 2016, was BBB+ with a Stable outlook per Fitch's.
DHL Group is listed on the Börse Frankfurt (
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (, former German name: , ''FWB'') is the world's 3rd oldest and 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time).
Organisation
Located in Frankfurt, ...
) as DHL and is in the
Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an Index (economics), index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calcul ...
. In 2016, 20.5% of the group's shares were held by the state-owned
KfW bank; 79.5% were freely floating: 65.6% held by
institutional
An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...
and 10.8% by private investors.
Recent history
DHL Group has become a large, world-wide company in about two decades. The following are significant dates in the development into its current form.
*2 January 1995: Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst becomes Deutsche Post AG; this is the company's privatization. The government of Germany still owns a large share of the company; the state development bank
KfW owns 50 percent.
*1998: Deutsche Post begins acquiring shares in DHL International.
*1999: Deutsche Post World Net acquires the Dutch distribution company
Van Gend & Loos from
Nedlloyd and in 2000 the Swiss distribution company
Danzas.
*20 November 2000: Deutsche Post AG becomes a fully private company, with a new board of directors, in an IPO listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The government of Germany sells one third of its shares and KfW bank sells some of its shares.
*December 2002: Deutsche Post AG acquires the remaining shares in DHL International.
*August 2003: The company acquires the
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
-based
Airborne Express (est. 1946). The company integrates Van Gend & Loos, Danzas, Airborne Express, and its own EuroExpress into DHL to form
DHL Express.
*December 2005: The group acquires the logistics company Exel in the UK, a £3.7 billion (€5.5 billion) takeover; Exel provided transport for corporate customers.
*2006: DHL GlobalMail UK merges with Mercury International.
*December 2014: The group acquires
StreetScooter GmbH, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles in Aachen, Germany.
*December 2016: The group completes the purchase of
UK Mail, a business-focused postal service - "one of the largest integrated parcels and mail operations in the U.K." - for US$315.5 (£243) million. The former company becomes a division of the Deutsche Post European parcel network, although its web site reveals only a relationship with
DHL Express.
*February 2019: The group reaches an agreement with
SF Express (
SF Holding) for its supply chain operations in China.
Financial data
Corporate divisions
Post and parcel division

The postal
division delivers approximately 61 million letters every working day in Germany,
and provides services across the entire mail value chain, including production facilities at central hubs, sales offices and production centers on four continents.
This division inherited most of the traditional mail services formerly offered by the state-owned monopoly, for which it uses the
Deutsche Post
(, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...
brand. Its
exclusive right to deliver letters under 50 grams in Germany expired on 1 January 2008, following the implementation of European legislation.
[Businessweek.com 2 Aug 2007](_blank)
In 2002, Deutsche Post was granted a license to deliver mail in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, breaking
Royal Mail
Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
's long-standing
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
.

In 2016, in Germany alone, the Post & Parcel (P&P) division delivered over 1.2 billion parcels, an increase of 9.3% over 2015, much of it as result of shipping products purchased by customers on-line. The e-commerce aspect helped to generate a great deal of revenue. This division's revenue increased by 4.1 percent to €16.8 billion while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 30.8 percent to over €1.4 billion.
eCommerce division
Since financial year 2019, DHL Group has been pooling its international parcel delivery operations in the eCommerce division.
Express division
The
DHL Express division offers worldwide courier, express and parcel shipment service, combining air and ground transport, under the DHL brand. It owns five airlines:
European Air Transport Leipzig
European Air Transport Leipzig GmbH – often shortened to EAT Leipzig or EAT-LEJ – is a German cargo airline with its head office and main hub on the grounds of Leipzig/Halle Airport in Schkeuditz, Saxony. It is wholly owned by Deutsche Po ...
,
DHL Air UK,
DHL Aero Expreso,
SNAS/DHL and
Blue Dart Aviation.
In 2016, this division's revenue increased by 2.7 per cent to €14 billion.
The operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 11.3% over 2015 to €1.5 billion.
Express is divided into business units along regions:
*
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
*
Asia Pacific
*
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
*
Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Global Forwarding – Freight division

The
DHL Global Forwarding division carries goods by rail, road, air and sea under the DHL brand and includes the
DHL Freight operation which runs a ground-based freight network covering
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and traffic into the Middle East. In 2016, this division's revenue declined by 7.7 percent to €13.7 billion but operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved from -€181 million in 2015 to +€287 million.
Supply Chain division
The
DHL Supply Chain division provides contract logistics and corporate information. In 2016, this division's revenue decreased by 11.6% to €14.0 billion versus 2015, but operating profit improved by 27.4% to €572 million.
The division consists of two main business units:
*
DHL Supply Chain provides warehousing and warehouse transport for customers from a wide variety of sectors.
* Corporate Information Solutions handles documents (collection, digitalisation, printing, storage, archival) of all types.
In July, 2020, Deutsche Post DHL Group significantly increased earnings in Q2 2020 despite COVID-19. Operating profit (EBIT) improved by around 16% to around EUR 890 million.
Electric van manufacturing

In December 2014, Deutsche Post DHL Group purchased
StreetScooter GmbH, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles in
Aachen, Germany. By April 2016, the company announced that it would produce 2,000 of the StreetScooter Work model in Aachen by year end.
The Work vehicle is equipped with lithium-ion battery packs and is powered by 30 kW asynchronous electric motors. The peak/continuous output is stated as 48 kW/38 kW. The range (before the need to recharge) is said to be 50 to 80 km, depending on the weight of the load and traffic conditions. The load capacity is 710 kg.
Deutsche Post's 2016 annual report indicates that it plans to replace its fleet of delivery vehicles in Germany with the electric StreetScooter products "in the medium term".
Electric vans and trucks with a much greater range will be required to achieve the very long-term goal of replacing the group's entire fleet of approximately 70,000 vehicles with electric StreetScooter vehicles.
A mass production plan was announced in April 2016. StreetScooter GmbH would be scaling up to manufacture approximately 10,000 vehicles annually, starting in 2017. If that goal is achieved, it will become Europe's largest electric light utility vehicle manufacturer, surpassing Renault, which makes vans such as the
Kangoo Z.E.
StreetScooter showed a larger prototype, the Work L, in September 2016 that will provide double the capacity in cargo size; its load capacity will be 1,000 kg. The range (before recharging is necessary) is estimated at "up to 100 km". The company also announced that it was developing a Work Orange model with an "electro-hydraulic three-way dumper" for use by businesses that deal in trash or construction material handling.
In 2021 plans for the sale of Streetscooter to Luxembourg-based Odin Automotive, now B-ON, were reported.
Brands
*
Deutsche Post
(, ) is a brand of the DHL Group (listed as ), used for its domestic mail services in Germany. The services offered under the brand are those of a traditional mail service, making the brand the successor of the former state-owned mail monopoly ...
– offers domestic mail services under its traditional name; the division is called Post - eCommerce - Parcel (PeP).
*
DHL
DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
– brand used as an umbrella brand for worldwide logistics services.
*
Power Packaging – supplier of food and beverage contract manufacturing and packaging services to North American companies.
*
StreetScooter – electric vehicle manufacturer owned by the group since December 2014.
See also
*
Kaiserliche Reichspost
''Kaiserliche Reichspost'' (, ''Imperial Mail''), originally named ''Niederländische Postkurs'' (Low Countries' postal route), was the name of the international Mail, postal service of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1490. Often considered th ...
Footnotes
References
External links
*
Deutsche Post ÖffnungszeitenDeutsche Post
{{Authority control
Postal organizations
Companies based in Bonn
German companies established in 1995
Transport companies established in 1995
Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50
Companies in the DAX index
Government-owned companies of Germany
Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange