DHL Express has reached an agreement to sell its Dutch subsidiary Dedicated Distribution Services (DDS) and its Belgian subsidiary Van Osselaer Pieters Colli Service (VOP ) to Österreichische Post AG, the Austrian Postoffi ce.

“It is our explicit strategy within DHL Express Global to focus on core express products and services. Our primary focus is to ensure that our businesses are synergistic. This means putting emphasis on systematised products with similar features, standard shipment characteristic and high quality levels.

This divestment programme is an important step to bring healthy returns on capital employed,” said John Mullen, chief executive offi cer of DHL Express global and member of the board of management at Deutsche Post World Net.

After transferring the DHL Freight business from express to logistics in 2006 and integrating the standard parcel business in Germany into the mail division, the current sale of the two Benelux subsidiaries is another milestone in DHL’s strategic approach to simplify its business processes and to increase the transparency of its product offerings.