DHL Express plans to close five local service centres in the UK laying off about 60 staff to adjustto the worsening economic conditions, UK media reported.
The affected locations are Galashiels in Scotland, Aintree, close to Liverpool, Scarboroughin North Yorkshire, Basildon in Essex and Southampton in southern England.
In Essex, two Basildon businesses are due to close next month with 22 DHL employees expectedto lose their jobs, the Essex Echo newspaper reported. DHL Express spokesman Nick Woods commented:“We are looking for suitable re-employment options within DHL Express and our sister DHLbusinesses.”
A further loss of 19 additional jobs is expected at the Galashiels service centre, accordingto UK’s major news provider BBC. A spokesman of the local DHL branch confirmed the closure planssaying that the move was essential to enable DHL Express to keep its “market-leading position inline with rapidly changing customer needs”. He added, however, that the company had enteredconsultation with the staff working in Galashiels. “Wherever possible we will always endeavour toretain employees in the business and we will look for suitable re-employment options.”
In Scarborough, DHL is to close its service centre in Salter Road. No announcement has beenmade on the number of jobs likely to be lost but the closure is expected to directly affect staffat Richard Todd Transport where eight drivers presently work on a subcontract basis with DHL, thelocal newspaper The Scarborough Evening News reported.
In Aintree, DHL is considering closing its depot and moving operations to Warrington,according to the local newspaper Liverpool Echo. A spokesman for the local branch confirmed theplans: “DHL Express can confirm that there is a proposal, subject to consultation, to close ourservice centre in Aintree, with the workload for this operation proposed to move to DHL’s ServiceCentre at Risley.”
The company said it would do its best to retain employees. “As we are currently engaged in aformal consultation process with affected employees, we cannot comment further at this time”, thespokesman added.
