ICE Picks DHL

International Cruise & Excursions Inc., one of the world's leading cruise providers, has signed an agreement with DHL to use the express delivery and logistics company for all its domestic and international express shipping needs.

ICE will use Plantation, FL-based DHL's next day, second day, and international express services for the transportation of time sensitive contracts, business documents, and cruise tickets to customers, as well as bulk marketing materials for its affiliated resorts.

With up to 1,000 cruise tickets processed daily at its headquarters in Phoenix, AZ, ICE sought an express delivery and logistics partner that could reduce duplication and simplify shipping processes.

ICE said DHL provided a technology solution that enabled it to fully integrate its customer relationship management system with the DHL shipping system, doubling the productivity of its ticketing processors.

DHL supports ICE with the DHL EasyShip Enterprise platform, a shipping system that manages multiple shipping stations with a single server, enabling ICE employees to process twice the number of tickets daily than were processed previously. DHL's e-commerce consultants worked with ICE to code the programming language to connect the ICE Web-based application directly with DHL's EasyShip. The solution enables ticket processors to use the ICE customer relationship management application to process shipments and print shipping labels easily from any shipping station.

DHL also provides ICE with customized weekly service reports to provide greater visibility into DHL's on-time performance

ICE also said that while the majority of shipments have been handled as three-day delivery, DHL's domestic service portfolio has allowed the company to upgrade its service to two-day delivery which has led to notable improvements to customer service.

With many of ICE's international customers based in Canada and Mexico, the company uses DHL's network presence and competitive service offerings throughout North America.