Private Sector Logistics Support World Food Programme in Haiti Earthquake Response

Santo Domingo, February 12, 2010

Three of the world's largest logistics companies - TNT, UPS and Agility - have been playing a vital role in delivering food and other humanitarian supplies to victims of the Haiti earthquake, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

WFP is the humanitarian community's lead agency for logistics and has been coordinating the delivery of supplies into Haiti from a base in Santo Domingo in neighbouring Dominican Republic on behalf of organisations involved in the relief effort.

UPS and TNT staff have been assisting with receipt and transport of relief cargo at Santo Domingo airport and in the WFP Dominican Republic operations centre, while Agility has been working to support planning, coordination and communications among all humanitarian organisations at the airport.

TNT and UPS also worked together to organise an airlift of 100 metric tons of high energy biscuits into Miami, TNT providing the aircraft and UPS receiving and storing the food until it was called forward by WFP for delivery in the early days following the quake.

"This is a perfect example of how the humanitarian community and the private sector can come together to save lives in an acute emergency," said WFP Haiti Emergency Coordinator Carlos Veloso in Port-au-Prince. "The quick integration into our logistics system of these three companies is a product of past experience and serves as a model for private sector involvement in humanitarian emergencies."

UPS, TNT and Agility work together in Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) through which assets in locations closest to a disaster zone can quickly be made available, giving an invaluable boost to the humanitarian response. All staff , services and assets have been donated free of charge by the three companies.