Local politicians this week stepped up efforts to persuade DHL Express and its parent companyDeutsche Post World Net (DPWN) to re-consider the closure of the US air hub at Wilmington, Ohio,
where over 8,000 jobs are threatened, and look at new proposals from its existing air carriers ABXAir and Astar Air Cargo.Ohio Lt. Governor Lee Fisher held a phone call with DPWN CEO Frank Appel on Monday, askinghim to review the decision to switch DHL’s North American uplift from ABX Air and Astar Air Cargoto UPS. Appel responded that DPWN wanted to seal the uplift deal with UPS but would look at otheroptions, Fischer told local media.
Separately, Ohio’s two senators and eight members of congress wrote to DPWN calling on theGerman group to look at proposals from ABX Air and Astar to operate on a new basis and thus savejobs at Wilmington. Ohio has set up a task force of local officials, business leaders, ABX Air andAstar Air Cargo executives to try to save jobs and find “economically feasible solutions for thefuture”, including retaining some DHL activities at Wilmington.
Under the US restructuring plan announced on May 28, DHL Express will phase out use of ABXAir and Astar at Wilmington over the coming year. Instead, its North America air volumes would becarried by UPS through the latter’s main US air hub at Louisville, Kentucky. The 10-year, $10billion contract is due to be finalised within the next three months.
As a result, more than 6,000 jobs at sub-contractor ABX Air, which provides cargo flights andground handling at Wilmington, and about 1,000 jobs at Astar Air Cargo, which carries about 50% ofDHL’s air volumes to and from Wilmington, are in danger, according to Ohio officials. Inadditional, up to 1,200 local jobs at DHL and other companies are at risk, they said. DHL owns theWilmington air park.
DHL Express aims to cut its US losses from an expected $1.3 billion this year to about $300million in 2011 by switching airlift to UPS, shedding up to 1,800 of its 18,000 US workforce,cutting one third of its stations and using the US Postal Service for rural deliveries.
