[photopress:Larry_Golfing.jpg,full,alignright]This story comes in two parts. The first is straight, factual and important. The second, straight, factual and unimportant but still fascinating.
Express and logistics provider DHL has launched operations at a $3.6 million logistics facility at the Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Zone (WBLZ) in Shanghai, as part of the further expansion of its forwarding operations on the mainland.
The new warehouse and logistics facility boosts DHL Global Forwarding’s current investment in China to $30 million. The DHL group’s total investment in the past few years is around $315 million. DHL Global Forwarding will also invest an additional $20 million in the next few years to further enhance the company’s network infrastructure, staffing, products and services to meet anticipated growth in China.
Peter Landsiedel, Asia Pacific chief executive of DHL Global Forwarding, said the company had been experiencing 50 pct annual growth in China in recent years and it expected continued levels of growth this year.
The new center is over 10,100 square meters, is the first of its kind and is the largest bonded logistic zone in China. DHL now has nine facilities in Waigaoqiao — measuring a total area of more than 50,500 square meters.
Recent investments by DHL Global Forwarding in China include warehouses in free trade zones in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as facilities in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai Pudong, Songjiang, Jiuting, and Shenzhen Nanshan.
All of which is interesting and important. Then there are the origins of DHL and the scandal that surrounded one of its founders which is also very interesting but not directly important.
Formally, DHL is a Deutsche Post company that provides international shipping of documents and freight as well as contract logistics. The company was founded in 1969 by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn; the initials D, H & L of the founders’ last names form the company name.
The trio initially provided a courier service between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii and expanded the business from there. In 1998, Deutsche Post began acquiring shares in DHL, finally reaching majority ownership in 2001, and completely purchasing it in 2002.
The joker in the pack was Larry Hillblom (1943 – 1995) who swept a wide swathe through South East Asia and was well known to most of the journalists covering the area. After being involved in the successful launch of DHL he moved to Saipan, and then traveled around and started several businesses and development projects in Hawaii, Vietnam and the Philippines.
He was an aircraft enthusiast, and flew several vintage aircraft. On May 21, 1955 Hillblom’s seaplane crashed on a flight from Pagan Island to Saipan. His body was never recovered.
Hillblom’s will stated that the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) would receive his estate. However, Hillblom had lots of children who were told that he was daddy. Under Saipan law, illegitimate children born after a will has been drawn up are entitled to make a claim on the estate.
[photopress:Larrywith_friends.jpg,full,alignright]There were dozens of claimants. Almost all represented by Saipan lawyers. As Hillblom’s body was not recovered in the crash, there was no DNA that could be used to determine paternity.
Someone, no one knows who, had scrubbed his house in Saipan clean. Everything important had been buried. There was no DNA.
It was then asked how the DNA of the children compared to each others. Since the women were in different countries, if their children shared certain DNA markers, they arguably have the same father. It was ultimately determined that a Vietnamese child, two Filipino children and a child from Guam were fathered by Hillblom.
In the final settlement, each of the four children received $90 million (about $50 million after taxes and fees), while the remaining $240 million went to the University of California for medical research. The lawyers on Saipan, almost every single one having been involved in the lawsuits at one time or another, wanted the settlement day declared a public holiday.
Source: Forbes and research.