May 18 - The supervisory board of Deutsche Post has appointed Tim Scharwath to head up its DHL Global Forwarding, Freight division.

New ceo Scharwath joins DHL from Kuehne + Nagel International, where he has served as a member of the management board responsible for global airfreight since 2011.

The news follows last year's resignation of Roger Crook as the division's management board member due to "personal reasons" since then Renato Chiavi has served as interim ceo.

Scharwath will join the group within the next 12 months. In the meantime, DHL group ceo Frank Appel will retain responsibility for this division.

Amadou Diallo remains ceo of the company's Freight business, responsible for Road Transport.

Meanwhile, at the logistics provider's AGM, Appel said that DHL considers itself to be well on track to achieving its short and medium term earnings targets.

The company forecasts an operating profit of between EUR3.4 billion (USD3.8 billion) and EUR3.7 billion (USD4.1 billion) for the 2016 financial year.

The first quarter of 2016 saw group EBIT rise by more than 21 percent year-on-year to EUR837 million (USD943 million), which DHL says is the strongest first quarter in the history of the company.

Although DHL's Global Forwarding, Freight division experienced a challenging year in 2015, its profits have increased significantly in the first quarter of 2016 and DHL believes that the business is showing signs of "considerable progress".

Appel noted that 2015 was "not an easy year" and one that was characterised by challenges: "2015 was a year of transition in which we worked hard to ensure we are in a position to make optimal use of opportunities for growth. Our successful start to the year is a clear endorsement of this course."

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