Pictured above: You would be forgiven for thinking that Professor John Bartholdi bears an uncanny resemblance to Santa Claus

It has been said that no one knows how to meet deadlines for deliveries around the world quite like Santa Claus. But in a recent project by Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain & Logistics Institute in the United States, students discovered that DHL Express, the world leader in international express delivery, is right behind Santa and his elves when it comes to delivering shipments quickly and reliably.

The Great Package Race, a project conducted by students at the Georgia Institute of Technology, challenges different international parcel carriers to determine who can deliver packages to a specific location the quickest time. In this year’s holiday edition of the race, the goal was to see which carrier could get packages to Santa Claus at the North Pole. DHL Express was the clear winner, beating the other contestants by more than a full day.

Under the direction of Professor John Bartholdi, the students dispatched festive packages containing Georgia Tech branded items, including t-shirts, baseball hats and coffee mugs, from the US on Friday, December 13, with the official home of Santa Claus – Rovaniemi, Finland (8 km north of the Arctic Circle) – as the final destination. The package sent via the expansive global network of DHL Express arrived first at Santa’s Doorstep on December 17, a full week ahead of the start of Santa’s own mammoth logistics operation.

“We really admire Professor’s Bartholdi’s creativity in designing a fun activity that is helping to shape and inform the next generation of logistics leaders,” commented Ian Clough, CEO of DHL Express US.  “No one knows the world like we do, and this contest is a great way of showcasing the world-class service of DHL and our expertise in international express delivery.”

For more information about the Great Package Race go to one of the following links:

http://www2.isye.gatech.edu/~jjb/wh/package-race/package-race.html

http://www.news.gatech.edu/features/delivery-santa