DHL Express officially closed down its US air hub at Wilmington, Ohio, on Friday (July 24), markingthe end of an era for the $300 million facility opened in 2005, and has moved back to its former
base at nearby Cincinnati.The hub transfer is the latest stage in the downsizing of DHL Express in the USA followingits withdrawal from the domestic market at the start of this year and is designed to end thecompany’s heavy US losses. Thousands of jobs have been lost at Wilmington, mostly at serviceprovider ABX Air, as well as across the DHL Express US network.
DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker told US media: “We are sensitive to the impact this decision hashad on our employees, on the employees of our current air services vendors and on the southwestOhio communities in the Wilmington area and did not take this action lightly.”
Baker said the decision to end domestic express services and focus on international expressservices was made to “finally address significant on-going losses in the US market, to allow DHLExpress to remain a viable competitor in the US international air express business, and to continueto provide future employment opportunities in the US.”
DHL expects to add about 800 employees to the operation in Kentucky. ABX Air and Astar AirCargo, which have been the principal air carriers for DHL Express’ air freight in the US, willprovide air delivery services to DHL in Kentucky under continuing contracts.
Wilmington-based ABX Air will continue to provide air carrier service to DHL with aircraftand pilots until the contract ends in August 2010. But it will keep its corporate headquarters inWilmington along with aircraft maintenance, charter flights and its aircraft component salesbusinesses. “There’s a solid future for ABX; it’s just going to be much smaller than we ever werebefore,” ABX President John W. Graber said Friday as he thanked his outgoing employees. Astar AirCargo will also continue to move air freight for DHL with the contract running until 2019.
DHL began operating in Cincinnati in 1983. In May 2008, DHL announced it would move its cargosorting operations back to the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, where thecompany was based prior to moving to the new $300 million Wilmington facility in 2005.
ABX Air employed some 8,000 people in Wilmington during the peak of DHL’s operations there.Over the last few months, thousands of workers have been made redundant with the latest mass layoffof over 1,000 employees announced two weeks ago. ABX officials said: “Employment rolls fell to1,900 by Monday, July 20, and will dip to 400 by Aug. 31.”
In cooperation with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, DHL and ABX haveestablished the Air Park Transition Centre to help laid-off employees learn new job skills and findwork. With a mix of funding from DHL, the state and federal government, employees are eligible forup to $15,000 each for career training and college expenses, said Mary Ellen Diersing, an ABXemployee and the manager of the centre.
No agreement has yet been reached over the future of the DHL-owned Air Park at Wilmington.
