The Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) continues to expand civilian emergency preparedness and will be supported by DHL Freight in the future. At the beginning of November, the logistics service provider of the Federal Government's Transport Organization joined, which in a crisis is to ensure transports for the supply of the population, economy and the armed forces. According to BALM, Christian Hoffmann, President of the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM), and Anabela Pires, Chief Executive Officer of DHL Freight GmbH Deutschland, signed in Cologne on 10 November the certificate of the company's participation.
Cooperation for times of crisis
The Federal Office carries out tasks in civil emergency preparedness on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport. According to its
own statements, it coordinates measures across transport modes to maintain the supply of the population, the economy and the armed forces in crisis situations. The basis is the Traffic Performance Act and the Traffic Assurance Act.
In deployment situations, BALM draws on the so-called Transport Organization of the Federal Government (TOB) – a selection of nationwide more than 1,100 transport and logistics companies that have pledged their support in crises and participation in civilian emergency preparedness. The companies provide transport services in crises to move, for example, supplies, relief goods or critical goods.
Early preparation for the real emergency
According to BALM, the agency has been conducting nationwide talks with transport and logistics companies since 2019 to involve them in emergency preparedness. The
aim is to plan capacities and processes early in close exchange with the industry and to be able to act quickly in an emergency.
With the entry of DHL Freight, the network expands to include one of the largest European providers in road freight. DHL Freight operates in Europe a network for piece goods, full-load, special and bulk transports. For this, the company combines road and rail transport. Around 14,000 highly qualified employees connect people and businesses and enable global, sustainable trade.
“An important step for supply security”
“With DHL Freight GmbH, we gain a highly skilled, multimodal transport and logistics company for the Federal Government's Transport Organization for Civil Emergency Preparedness,” Hoffmann said at the signing. The support of DHL Freight GmbH
is in view of the current security-policy challenges “an important step in terms of forward-looking crisis preparedness.”
DHL CEO Anabela Pires also emphasized the company's social responsibility:
“The inclusion in the Federal Government's Transport Organization is for DHL Freight a recognition of our logistical capability and a clear commitment to our social responsibility.” Logistics goes beyond the purely economic mandate, Pires said. “Especially in times of uncertainty, reliability matters.”
Significance for the industry
With DHL Freight's participation, the Federal Government's Transport Organization is further expanded and supply security in Germany strengthened. At the same time, the accession shows that the federal government, through BALM, is increasingly relying on established logistics companies to ensure the supply of the population, economy and armed forces in
