The story
Founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn on Sep 25, 1969, in San Francisco.1
Origins
While Larry Hillblom was studying law at University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in the late 1960s, he accepted a job as a courier for the insurance company Michael's, Poe & Associates (MPA). He started running courier duty between Oakland International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, picking up packages for the last flight of the day, and returning on the first flight the next morning, up to five times a week.
After he graduated, Hillblom met with MPA salesman Adrian Dalsey and they planned to expand MPA's concept of fast delivery to other business enterprises. They flew between Honolulu and San Francisco, transporting bills of lading for their first client, Seatrain Lines.
Name origins
Hillblom put up a portion of his student loans to start the company, bringing in his two friends Adrian Dalsey and Robert Lynn as partners, with the combined initials of their surnames as the company name (DHL). They shared a Plymouth Duster that they drove around San Francisco to pick up the documents in suitcases, then rushed to the airport to book flights using another relatively new invention, the corporate credit card. As the business took off, they started hiring new couriers to join the company. Their first hires were Max and Blanche Kroll, whose apartment in Hawaii often became a makeshift flophouse for their couriers.
Domestic expansion
In the 1970s, DHL became an international delivery company, similar to Loomis and Purolator who were the only other international courier companies at the time. In 1979, under the name of DHL Air Cargo, the company entered the Hawaiian Islands with an inter-island cargo service using two Douglas 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 only major competitor in the overnight market was Federal Express (FedEx), which did not open its first international service until 1981, expanding to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nevertheless, the domestic market was extremely profitable, and DHL was the third largest courier behind FedEx and UPS.
Deutsche Post purchase
Deutsche Post began to acquire shares in DHL in 1998, acquiring a controlling interest in 2001. By the end of 2002, Deutsche Post had acquired all of DHL's remaining stock (the remaining 49%), and absorbed the operation into its Express division. The DHL brand was expanded to other Deutsche Post divisions, business units and subsidiaries. Today, DHL Express shares its DHL brand with other Deutsche Post business units, such as DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Freight, DHL Supply Chain, and DHL Global Mail. In 1999, Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) purchased the Dutch shipping company Van Gend & Loos as well as Swiss freight forwarder Danzas. The new DHL was launched by merging the old DHL, Danzas, and Securicor Omega Euro Express. The Packstation, an automated delivery booth, was introduced as a pilot project in Dortmund and Mainz.
2000–2010
DHL Airways, Inc., which handled all US domestic flights, was renamed ASTAR Air Cargo in 2003, following a management buyout. DHL's airline had over 550 pilots in service in October 2008. In August 2003, Deutsche Post acquired Airborne Express and began its integration into DHL.
A planned expansion by DHL at Brussels Airport created a political crisis in Belgium in 2004. On 21 October 2004, DHL Express announced that it planned to move its European hub from Brussels to Leipzig, Germany (Vatry, France, was also considered but rejected). DHL's unions called a strike in response and paralyzed work for a day.
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On 8 November 2004, DHL Express invested €120 million in an Indian domestic courier, Blue Dart, becoming the majority shareholder in the company.
In 2005, Deutsche Post made an offer to buy the contract logistics company Exel plc, which had just acquired Tibbett & Britten Group. On 14 December 2005, Deutsche Post announced the completion of the acquisition of Exel. DHL integrated Exel into its logistics division, rebranding the division's services as DHL Exel Supply Chain. Following that acquisition, DHL had a global workforce of 285,000 people (500,000 people including DPWN and other sister companies) and roughly $65 billion in annual sales.
In 2006, DHL won a ten-year contract worth £1.6 billion to run the NHS Supply Chain, part of the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Under the contract, DHL was responsible for providing logistics services for over 500,000 products to support 600 hospitals and other health providers in the UK.
In a 50/50 joint venture with Lufthansa Cargo, DHL Express co-founded a new cargo airline, AeroLogic, in 2007, based at Leipzig/Halle Airport. The carrier operated up to 11 Boeing 777F planes by 2012. In December 2007, DHL became the first carrier to transport cargo via wind-powered ships, flying MS Beluga Skysails kites.
As part of the NHS contract, DHL opened a new 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2) distribution centre in 2008 to act as a stock-holding hub for food and other products, with another distribution centre planned for opening in 2012. The two new distribution centres created about 1,000 new jobs.
In May 2008, DHL Aviation moved its European hub from Brussels Airport to Leipzig/Halle, leading to a significant increase in cargo traffic at the airport. In the same month, DHL Express announced restructuring plans for its United States network, including termination of its business relationship with ABX Air and a new contract with competitor UPS for air freight operations. Its cargo hub was also shifted from Wilmington to Louisville. The Air Line Pilots Association, International protested, but on 10 November 2008, DHL announced that it was cutting 9,500 jobs as it discontinued domestic air and ground operations within the United States due to economic uncertainty. However, it retained international services and was still in talks with UPS to transport DHL packages between U.S. airports.
In October 2008, two DHL Express Middle East senior executives, David Giles and Jason Bresler, were assassinated in Kabul by one of their own Afghan employees; they received military honors from the U.S. military, the first of such kind in Afghanistan.
DHL ended domestic pickup and delivery service in the United States in 2009, effectively leaving UPS and FedEx as the two major express parcel delivery companies in the US. Limited domestic service was still available from DHL, with the packages tendered to USPS for local delivery. In April 2009, UPS announced that DHL and UPS had terminated negotiations without an agreement for UPS to provide airlift for DHL packages between airports in North America. DHL said in a statement, "We have not been able to come to a conclusive agreement that is acceptable to both parties." DHL continued to use its current air cargo providers, ASTAR Air Cargo and ABX Air.
2011–present
The company sold its UK B2B and B2C domestic parcel operations in 2010 to British delivery company Home Delivery Network, since renamed Yodel.
In 2013, the company opened a newly expanded and upgraded global hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky. On 1 November 2013, it sold its UK domestic same-day operations to British courier Rico Logistics but continued to offer time and day definite domestic services as well as international services in the UK.
In late 2020, DHL entered agreements to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by BioNTech and Pfizer.
In March 2021, DHL Aviation announced the relocation of hub operations from Bergamo to Milan Malpensa Airport where DHL opened new logistics facilities.
In October 2021, DHL said that it would raise its rates for customers in the United States by an average of 5.9 percent, starting on 1 January 2022.
In March 2025, it acquired Packfleet, a UK-based, carbon-neutral parcel courier headquartered in London, England. Packfleet was launched as an alternative to traditional parcel couriers like DPD and Evri, combining an all-electric delivery fleet with a purpose-built technology platform.
In April 2025, DHL Express announced it would be suspending all consumer deliveries to the US, worth more than $800, due to new US customs rules. All business-to-business shipments would continue but may face delays.
In May 2025, DHL announced that its UK parcel delivery business was set merge with Evri to create a combined courier firm. Evri said the deal will also expand its international delivery capacity by giving it access to DHL's global network. DHL's e-commerce business will be renamed "Evri Premium – a network of DHL eCommerce".
In December 2025, DHL tracking scams surged by 206%. In the same month, DHL Global Forwarding became the latest CMA CGM customer to sign a biofuel with the French carrier. This agreement is for the joint use of 8990 metric tons of recycled waste cooking oil.
From Wikipedia’s article on DHL, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4