Stroller-maker Bonavi on expansion course with DHL Start-Up Helpdesk

• High-end baby carriages ride the rails from China to Germany
• Product sample shipping with DHL Express, replacement parts and accessories by air freight, and B2C items via DHL Parcel

The DHL Global Forwarding Start-Up Helpdesk is lending its expertise to a young Berlin company in the market to develop and optimize its supply chain: Bonavi, a manufacturer of high-quality 2-in-1 pushchair and prams. The logistics professionals at the DHL Start-Up Helpdesk have fashioned a custom, multi-modal supply chain solution for transporting Bonavi brand strollers by rail, air and sea. Thanks to it, e-tailer Bonavi benefits from the broad range of logistics know-how offered by DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Express and DHL Parcel.

The high-quality strollers are loaded directly into freight containers at the Chinese production facility and transported by rail along the New Silk Road to Germany in just 21 days. A deferment account was set up with Customs so that two-year-old Bonavi would not have to pay import duty - 19 percent of the merchandise value - immediately upon physical import. The deferment period is one month, with levies then paid directly to the German Federal Treasury. This arrangement is particularly beneficial for startups seeking to manage cash flows effectively.

“Customs and import duties, alongside production costs, are a fairly substantial part of pre-financing,” explains Nicolai Rehberg from the DHL Start-Up Helpdesk. “A deferment account offers financial leeway to young companies. At the moment, we are helping Bonavi optimize production planning so that they can gradually switch to cheaper ocean freight for their imports. Ocean transits run around six weeks.”

Whereas DHL Express is used for fast shipping of product samples between China and Germany, DHL Global Forwarding’s air freight services are the choice for supplying replacement parts and accessories. Distribution logistics and end-customer delivery solutions are provided by DHL Parcel. The baby strollers ship from the storage location in Hamburg directly to end customers or to one of 30 showrooms in the German-speaking region.

“The DHL Start-Up Helpdesk is a really unique service,” says Niklas Ott, Managing Director at Bonavi. “It’s a huge advantage to have a single point of contact for all our logistics questions. The process of setting our supply chain would have otherwise been much longer and more difficult. With DHL as partner, we are well-positioned to expand into other markets.”