DHL Express has confirmed that it is in talks with present suppliers ABX Air and Astar Air Cargoover providing domestic US airlift for its international shipments in future. This is parallel to
the long-running discussions with UPS over the same issue.US media citied a DHL Express USA spokesman as saying that after an eight-month period ofexclusive negotiations with UPS ended in January, the company had been free to enter talks withother cargo airlines.
ABX Air and Astar are already providing domestic airlift for DHL Express’ internationalshipments following the company’s exit from the domestic express market at the end of January 2009.An ABX spokeswoman said DHL had indicated it wanted the airline to continue providing its presentcapacity until September.
Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel already said at the company’s annual results pressconference on February 26 that talks had been started in February with potential suppliers otherthan UPS. He stressed that DHL Express was under no time pressure to achieve a deal since theexisting providers ABX and Astar were able to cope with the reduced volumes.
Following its downscaling in the USA, DHL Express expects to have about 100,000 dailyinternational shipments to and from the USA. With its major markets located on the East Coast, theWest Coast, the Chicago area and Florida, it will require either direct internationaltransportation to/from these regions or onward domestic airlift from a central sorting facility,currently Wilmington, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Ohio officials have written to new DHL Express CEO Ken Allen asking him to agreeto donate the DHL-owned Air Park at the former Wilmingon, Ohio hub to the local community. But theDHL spokesman said the company could only decide on the future of the location once it had reachedan agreement for its future air partner or partners, and it was clear whether or not it wouldrequire the facility in the future. But the company was “sympathetic” to the request for adonation, he commented.
DHL Express officially closed down its US domestic business on January 30 under therestructuring programme to reduce years of heavy losses. DHL Express USA has downsized from nearly15,000 employees at 18 ground hubs and 412 stations in early 2008 to about 3,000 – 4,000 workers at103 stations.
The former head of DHL Express USA, Ken Allen, who oversaw last year’s restructuring and thedomestic market exit, took over as Global CEO in February.
