DHL trains crew, eyes logistics equipment

DHL ground crew participates in the 3-day Disaster Response Team training at the Mactan airport. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

AS part of the company’s advocacy to be able to respond quickly in times of natural disaster, the Deutsche Post DHL Group plans to buy its own emergency logistics equipment as early as next year.

The equipment will include forklifts and other cargo and logistics support equipment, which specific budget has already been approved for next year, said DHL group Carl Schelfhaut, head of the international relations and CR disaster preparedness and response.

Schelfhaut’s statement came during yesterday’s final day of the DHL’s three-day Disaster Response Team (DRT) training in Lufthansa Technik center at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Around 30 volunteers from DHL participated in the three-day training. Schelfhaut said that this is the second training that was done in the Philippines, and the first to be done in Cebu.

“We chose Mactan because we had a deployment here and we had the GARD (Get Airports Ready for Disaster) training here. Mactan is the ideal location to get to as near to reality as possible,” he said. “We operated during Haiyan, during Yolanda. This is the best that we could get to make the volunteers to see what it is like. It’s hot, it’s not comfortable. They have the feel of reality.”

DHL was the only private company to assist the airport in terms of logistics support during Yolanda.