DHL: Impact of US exit limited

DHL officials have said they did not lose “significant” amounts of international express business as a result of the carrier’s withdrawal from domestic air express service in the United States this year, reports the Journal of Commerce. The article continues:

Competitors FedEx and UPS had said they would try to leverage DHL’s restructuring in the US, which put millions of dollars of domestic express business up for grabs, into a broader bid for international market share by looking to bundle the domestic shipping of former DHL customers into global business.

The package carriers have divided the domestic business, “but the changes in the US did not involve a significant shift of business internationally,” said J.R. Kenney, DHL’s executive vice president of global customer solutions for the Americas.

“They certainly shared the benefits on the domestic side,” said Kenney. “But DHL remains a very formidable force around the world.”

He said FedEx and UPS did bundle domestic and international contracts for “a limited amount of international business. … But when you have such a large piece of the international market, as DHL does, let’s just say there is enthusiasm among many shippers and importers for having that third alternative.”