DHL pulls international hub out of Brussels after dispute over night flights

The DHL parcel delivery service said Thursday it was pulling its intercontinental hub _ and thousands of jobs _ out of Belgium because authorities refused to accept an increase in noisy night flights.

DHL workers immediately went on strike to protest the loss of some 1,700 jobs, instead of the thousands in additional jobs they had been promised under the company's planned expansion of its hub in the Belgian capital.

"We had a vision of making Brussels national airport the most modern and state-of-the-art hub of global logistics network. However we have now reached the point where we realize that there is no political support," said DHL Express Europe CEO Peter Kruse.

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, however, said the talks finally broke down because DHL kept on adding "additional conditions, additional planes, more flights. Of course, they made it impossible."

A month of negotiations between the company and national and regional authorities failed over the number of intercontinental night flights the company wanted to land at the airport just outside the city, disrupting the sleep of thousands of area residents.

"We cannot accept that a company disregards environmental and citizens' concerns in such a way," said Belgian Vice-Premier Laurette Onkelinx.

The company announced its decision to unions early Thursday and personnel went on strike, briefly blocking the ring road round the capital.

"At first everybody was talking about expansion and now we are shrinking," said union spokesman Johan Lievens. DHL has almost 3,000 workers at Brussels airport.

DHL will move its intercontinental hub in 2008 either to Leipzig, Germany, or Vatry, France, leaving Brussels only as a regional hub, the company said.

Aircraft noise is a sensitive issue, and the regional governments of Brussels and northern Flanders objected to increasing night flights over the capital region.

Unions fear that DHL's departure could cause other companies that rely on its operations to leave as well.

DHL Worldwide Express Inc. is owned by Germany's Deutsche Post World Net, and local newspapers in Germany already predicted Leipzig would be DHL's choice.

For the past month, Verhofstadt's liberal-socialist government had made the expansion of DHL one of its prime objectives, and it teetered on the brink of a crisis two weeks ago as the ruling parties were caught between the interests of trade unions, citizens and businesses.

Aircraft noise caused a government crisis only last year, when plans to spread the late-night noise around more equitably backfired. The issue has never been fully settled since.

Neighborhood committees around Zaventem international airport on the northern edge of Brussels claim that the relentless noise at night would balloon medical spending by 250 million euros (USD304 million) annually had DHL expanded.

Jobs to go as DHL scraps Brussels expansion plan
Agence France-Presse English Wire 10-21-2004

BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (AFP) – International courier service DHL said Thursday it had scrapped plans to expand operations in Brussels with the loss of up to 1,700 jobs, after Belgian politicians failed to resolve a row over night flights.

The German-owned company, an affiliate of Deutsche Post, launched a review of its operations earlier this year covering a shake-up of its complexes in Brussels and Germany.

But the Brussels plans stalled on Belgian demands for tighter limits on the number of night flights out of Brussels airport. Negotiations between federal and regional governments at one stage even threatened to topple the government.

"DHL regrets that despite intensive involvement of the (Belgian) government and major efforts by DHL, no official nor adequate proposal has been sent to the company's management," said DHL in a statement.

"This will prevent DHL from implementing its long-term expansion plan at Brussels National Airport and from creating an intercontinental hub," it added in a statement.

According to media reports, DHL workers have decided to launch strike action following the company's decision, made at an extraordinary board meeting.

There was no immediate reaction from the Belgian government.

Verhofstadt called a meeting with the heads of government of Flanders and Wallonia, respectively Belgium's northern Flemish-speaking and southern French-speaking regions, the Belga news agency said.

DHL said it would continue with its current operations in Brussels until 2008, and then maintain a regional centre here. It is meanwhile studying two locations for its intercontinental hub: Leipzig in Germany and Vatry in France.

Among the measures which the courrier company had been seeking was a doubling of the number of night flights allowed out of the Belgian capital's airport.

On Tuesday Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt urged DHL to consider replacing its noisier McDonnell-Douglas 11 cargo planes with quieter version by 2011 and not 2018 as the company had suggested.

DHL Express underlined that the company would "remain an important employer in Belgium".

It said in a statement: "DHL management will continue to work in close collaboration with employee representatives on appropriate joint solutions for all envisaged impacted employees."

The company's European head Peter Kruse added: "We feel sorry but understand and respect the position of the involved governments.

"We thank Prime Minister Verhofstadt and the other parties for their involvement and continuous efforts to make this considerable investment possible in Brussels."

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