Dimerco Joins the Top 20 Global Airfreight Forwarders
Los Angeles, California USA Site Visit
August 11, 2011
By
Evan Armstrong

Key Personnel:
Paul Chien, Chairman & CEO
Roy Chen, President – North America
Greg Spudic, General Manager – U.S. Central District and Regional Vice President, Marketing & Sales
Vicky Wen, Corporate Director – Marketing & Sales
Kathy Liu, Senior Manager of Sales & Marketing – Greater China
Katia Axberg, Regional Manager of Sales & Marketing – Southeast Asia

Dimerco Express Group Overview

Founded in 1971, Taiwan headquartered Dimerco Express Group began operations managing airfreight exports of Atari game consoles to the U.S. By means of a modest “low-key” management culture, Dimerco has quietly grown to be a Top 20 global airfreight forwarder and a leading 3PL (third-party logistics provider) with a list of leading, high-tech vertical industry customers. In 2010, it managed 190,592 metric tons of airfreight and 152,871 TEUs (trailer equivalent units) of ocean freight generating $524 million of gross revenue (up 35.6% over 2009) and $9.7 million of net income. Its global staff of 1,927 work in over 151 owned operations in 17 countries. Dimerco serves an additional 45 countries through a network of over 150 joint-venture, affiliate, and alliance operations.

Dimerco Global Operating Network

In addition to its air and ocean freight forwarding services, Dimerco also performs the following value-added services:

• Customs Brokerage and China AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine)
• Aircraft and Ship Chartering
• China Domestic Transportation Management
• Cargo Insurance Brokerage
• Bonded and Non-Bonded Warehousing and Distribution
• Free Trade Zone Facilities Management
• Reverse Logistics
• Vendor-Managed Inventory
• Service Parts Logistics
• In-House Logistics Support
• Supply Chain Management Consultancy

Over 80% of Dimerco’s revenues come from high-tech vertical industry customers which include: Acer, Anixter, BenQ, D-Link, Delta, Emerson, Epson, Kingston Technology, Logitech, Netgear, and Samsung.

Greater China and Southeast Asia Regional Operations

Dimerco’s “Greater China Region” (Hong Kong and China) has contributed strongly to its growth over the past 15 years and accounts for 58% of total revenues. The region’s 994 employees (42.6% of Dimerco’s total staffing) are based in 78 operations within nine business entities. Dimerco GCR managed 100,394 metric tons of airfreight and 74,307 TEUs of ocean freight in 2010. Exports accounted for over 71% of the airfreight tonnages and 81% of ocean volumes. Dimerco’s Chinese business licenses include a Class A airfreight forwarding license, multiple NVOCC (non-vessel operating common carrier) licenses, a domestic airfreight license, domestic road transportation license, Grade A customs broker license, customs supervised warehouse license, inspection and quarantine brokerage license (CIQ), customs HS code classification specialist certificate, and a Grade A bonded warehouse and cargo insurance agent license.

Dimerco Customs Related Licenses & Facilities in China

Dimerco runs major airfreight forwarding hubs in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Xiamen and ocean freight forwarding hubs in Hong Kong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Xiamen. Baiyun, Beijing, Chengdu, and Qingdao serve as added airfreight forwarding hubs. In addition to its freight forwarding operations, Dimerco manages warehousing and distribution operations in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjin and has domestic transportation management hubs in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Dimerco’s Greater China Region (GCR) network is detailed in the figure below.

Dimerco Greater China Region Operations

To process airfreight export shipments from China’s growing southwest interior areas using Dimerco’s Chengdu and Chongqing air hubs, Dimerco clears customs at the origin airport and depending upon the airfreight’s final destination, flies shipments to Dimerco’s air hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Xiamen. There they are transloaded or consolidated with other shipments onto outbound aircraft, clear customs, and are transported to hundreds of international points. To get some scope/scale of moving goods from China’s interior, it is 1,770 kilometers (1,100 miles) from Chongqing to Shanghai. Using a truck/air linehaul solution, the freight can clear customs and be transported to the Shanghai hub in 36 hours. Shipments to Beijing and Hong Kong require 42 hours of truck/air transportation time.

Other Southeast Asia countries (excluding the GCR and Taiwan) account for 18% of Dimerco’s revenues. It has a staff of 558 in 25 offices (seven business entities) covering Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. For 2010, Dimerco’s Southeast Asia Region managed 41,101 metric tons of airfreight and 34,290 TEUs of ocean freight. To complement its freight forwarding services, Dimerco has developed significant cross border transportation management capabilities. For example, it can manage less-than-truckload and truckload shipments to and from Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Dimerco Express Group’s Value Plus Supply Chain Management System

With its far-reaching operations, Dimerco requires a significant information technology (IT) backbone. In 2009 it went “live” with its proprietary systems suite, Dimerco Value Plus System, dubbed “Value+”. Value+ is built using a Web 2.0 platform supporting internet access, web applications, social networking, and robust information sharing including EDI (electronic data interchange), XML (extensible markup language), and other electronic messaging options.

Value+ supports English and Mandarin Chinese languages. In terms of functionality, it has eight main modules supporting the management of the following business functions: sales, airfreight, ocean freight, trucking, warehousing, domestic airfreight, and finance and accounting. Additionally, five sub-modules have been built to handle consolidated yield management, triangle trade and third-party billing, multimodal transportation management, customs brokerage, and automated centralized settlement. Its components are shown in the figure below.

Dimerco’s Value Plus Supply Chain Management System Components

Dimerco has built in standard and customizable shipment tracking milestones and alerts, end-to-end product inventory visibility and management tools, and has spent significant amounts on developing online reports and business intelligence reporting tools.

Dimerco Express Group Summary

Dimerco has grown substantially since it began managing Atari game console exports in 1971. Today it has major global operations which include extensive operations in Asia and China. Dimerco continues to expand its freight forwarding network and has extended its supply chain management skills by adding warehousing and domestic transportation management capabilities to its service offering. With sizeable operations in developing economies, an impressive high-tech customer base, and an integrated, end-to-end supply chain management systems suite, we predict that Dimerco will continue on its upward growth trend.