DHL UAE has introduced two new products with guaranteed overnight express delivery throughout the Middle East.

StartDay Express guarantees delivery before 8am while MidDay Express comes with a noon fulfilment deadline. StartDay customers will also be informed of delivery by phone, fax or email within two hours of a shipment reaching its destination.

"Though the services carry premium fees of Dh100 for StartDay and Dh50 for MidDay, there is a demand for this type of product particularly among high time-sensitive industries where every second literally counts," said Rodney Ellis, marketing manager, UAE.

"The premium fee will be reimbursed if shipments are not delivered on time because of a DHL fault."

StartDay and MidDay give DHL an edge of one hour over similar products in the market. In Saudi Arabia the guarantees apply only to deliveries in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dhahran.

"A great product selling point is that our cut-off times for pick-up remain the same," said Ellis.

DHL UAE has designed the new products by prioritising shipments that are bagged and moved separately.

"The fact that DHL operates its own regional fleet of aircraft has made the new time definite delivery products possible," said Ellis.

DHL has a regional fleet of seven aircraft, including a Boeing 757 freighter, based at Bahrain International Airport. The fleet averages nearly 160 flights a week in and around the Gulf. A similar announcement about the Time Definite Delivery service was made in Bahrain.