OILFIELD SUPPLY and heavy engineering are among the front runners in the Import Express industry league of leading air express supplier DHL UAE.

''In the period since the 1997 launch of the service, the oilfield sector has accounted for around 18 per cent of Import Express service consignments,'' said John Pearson, general manager, DHL UAE. ''Oilfield supplies being imported into the UAE include drilling bits, oil tools and general spare parts.''

Import Express is a convenient door-to-door, all inclusive priced service offering billing flexibility and simplified reporting. It enables companies to directly receive supplies within one to three working days, depending on the country of origin.

''Currently, most people think of air express as an outbound service when in fact it is most effective in a dual inbound and outbound role,'' said Pearson.

''Importing via air express is easy and enables businesses to bring goods to market faster and improve their customer service.

''A key Import Express selling point is its packaged concept, which means shipments are despatched at pre-agreed rates. DHL is able to pay all customs duties in advance on behalf of the customer and duties are collected on delivery. Billing is in Dirhams.

DHL UAE's Import Express service has undergone major upgrades - with the introduction of six-times weekly Airbus A330 New York-London-Dubai flight to complement its daily freighter schedule and the addition of another 60 worldwide origins to the service.

''The flight provides us with faster transit times, shaving 24 hours off our USA-UAE Import Express service,'' added Pearson.

''While the additional Impex destinations mean customers can now import direct via DHL from 201 destinations, the largest network of its kind in the world.''

Currently, top Import express inbound origins to the UAE are the UK, USA and France.

''We may witness changes in the leading origins as key UAE trading partners, such as Pakistan, India, China and the Philippines are now absorbed into the Import Express network,'' Pearson explained.

''Our inclusive vision is that DHL becomes synonymous not only with international air express but also with worldwide trade, distribution and business information support and commerce.''

An added Import express service advantage is that both sender and receiver can track shipment progress on DHL's website or via its Connect software system.