“We are not dependent on passenger aircraft to carry our packages — we have our own aeroplanes.” Nicholas Darby of AI Couriers, the local DHL operators, was explaining that the reduced number of commercial flights into Gibraltar had no effect on his company’s courier service. DHL has a worldwide fleet of 258 planes which carry its own customers’ packages and nothing else. One of those modern aircraft is permanently based at Seville, from where it receives all courier envelopes from the area between Málaga and Seville. The plane takes off every day, calls in at Vitoria in the Basque country to pick up their packages, and then flies straight to DHL’s main European distribution centre in Leipzig, Germany. DHL has been owned by the German post office Deutsche Post for the last 18 months, adding even more efficiency to the international operation. The advanced in-house system means that the local company can still provide a next-day delivery service to anywhere in Europe — and to New York — from Gibraltar. “If we collect a package from your office by 3.45 in the afternoon we will deliver it by 9.00 the next morning,” Gibraltar-born Nicholas told me. DHL covers the whole world but of course some countries may take a day longer to reach. AI/DHL was established locally some 26 years ago; in fact, as Nicholas pointed out, they were the first-ever courier company on the Rock and they are still growing. He told me how the service works: “It begins when a customer calls us to say there is a package to be collected from their home or office. We establish whether it is a document or a parcel and then log the call on a daily sheet. Immediately, we call one of our six messengers, who each have their own route, and the package is picked up. If the pick-up is in town then the package is brought to our office here in Engineer Lane for processing; otherwise it goes straight to our Operations Office at the airport. “It is then sent, along with most other packages, by DHL’s lorry to Seville where the company has its own centre at the airport. From there it is flown to our regional clearing centre in Vitoria and then on to Leipzig for international distribution.” He added that every envelope or parcel is scanned and tracked by his office as a complimentary service to the customer. Nearly all members of AI’s staff of 14 have been with the firm for many years, some having been there from the beginning, 26 years ago — which is always good for building customer confidence. And if you’ve ever had a package delivered to you by AI, you may have noticed that after you’ve signed for it the messenger runs a hand-held scanner across the bar code on the paperwork. “When he returns to the office,” Nicholas elaborated, “the contents of the scanner are downloaded into the main computer. This scanning and downloading is repeated at every stage of the package’s journey.” And the reason was impressive. “If you’ve got internet access,” he told me, “you can go to www.dhl.co.uk, type in the packet’s airway bill number and you will immediately be told where the package is and when it’s leaving there for the next stage of its journey.” And if you haven’t got internet, then AI will check the web for you if you are concerned about the parcel’s progress. All packages remain completely within the DHL international network at every stage, a strategy that has contributed strongly to the company’s reputation for reliability and efficiency. AI will also collect anything for you from a foreign address. Just give them the details and sit back and wait for a quick delivery, especially if you have a DHL Import Express Account, when you can do it all by phone or fax and pay when you’re billed. Proof of AI/DHL’s reputation is in their customer list: “We serve many government departments, the retail and offshore banks and the Finance Centre as well as many smaller companies and plenty of private individuals,” Nick explained. I also learned that AI/DHL has an incoming freight service for merchandise cargo which uses BA flights from Gatwick to Gibraltar. One other thing I must mention as well is that everyone at AI/DHL is proud of their delivery bike — which would be more accurately described as a four-wheel pedal van. It’s their clean machine for around-town deliveries, and all the staff say it would be good for the environment if more companies used these fuel-free vehicles. It keeps the messenger fit too, although its gearing makes it fairly effortless to move along. AI International Couriers Ltd is near the bottom of Engineer Lane, just off Main Street. Open from 9 –5 straight through from Monday to Friday, their telephone number is 200 73775 and their fax 200 74389

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