BLUE DART EXPANDS HUB AT BHIWANDI

Mumbai : August 20, 2003

Blue Dart Express Limited, South Asia's leading express company, today announced the expansion of its warehouse facility at the octroi-exempt area, Bhiwandi, near Mumbai. The facility, spread over 26,000 sq.ft. and located on the North-South Highway close to various industry and customer warehouses, is Blue Dart's superhub for its countrywide ground network operations.

The facility houses a dedicated operations office, a booking counter for walk-in customers and a full-fledged vehicle maintenance unit, apart from the warehouse.

The expanded warehousing area includes a built-up area of over 8,000 sq.ft. with a well-defined stacking space upto 15 ft. Specially designed flooring and vehicle docking bays allow smoother, quicker movement of equipment and enable faster loading, unloading and stacking of shipments. This results in better manpower utilisation and minimum manual handling of packages. Multiple docking bays will enable simultaneous operations of 9 vehicles, reducing the current turnaround time per vehicle from 50 minutes to 30 minutes. The facility handles movement of 67 heavy vehicles daily and 3200 tonnes of cargo to almost every state countrywide each month.

Bhiwandi is connected to Blue Dart's extensive communication network through the intranet and internet, over VSAT located at the warehouse, and by leased lines.

Speaking on this development, Arun Kulkarni, Senior Vice President - Administration and Ground Operations, Blue Dart Express Limited, said, "Bhiwandi is a commercially important location in our ground network as it is located outside the Octroi Zone, providing greater convenience and cost-savings to our customers. Over 135 customers are serviced around the Bhiwandi area alone. Blue Dart has supported growth and industry in the region for 20 years and, with our enhanced capacity and improved infrastructure, we are equipped to handle greater volumes and increased customer demand."

Blue Dart, South Asia's leading courier and integrated air express package Distribution Company with dedicated aviation infrastructure, offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 13,600 locations in the region. Through its sales alliance with world #1, DHL Worldwide Express, Blue Dart offers its customers the DHL advantage of global reach, unmatched cross-border specialisation and greater network flexibility. Blue Dart has been re-certified recently, as one of a handful of Indian companies, to the new global ISO 9001-2000 standards. The Blue Dart team drives marketplace leadership through its unique aviation system, cutting edge technology, innovation and value-added services to deliver unmatched standards of service quality to its customers.

For further information contact :
marketing@bluedart.com
Dated :August 20, 2003