UPS and Fedex set to pounce on DHL court filing in USA
DHL Airways will clarify its ownership and operational structure in a filing today with the Department of Transportation. Opponents FedEx and United Parcel Service expect to use the filing to bolster their case that the air carrier is controlled by German distribution group, Deutsche Post.
The documents were ordered by Ronnie Yoder, the DoT’s chief administrative law judge, in a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Judge Yoder is proceeding with a public hearing on August 19 to determine if DHL Airways, based in Miami, violates US laws limiting foreign ownership and control of US carriers.
At stake is the lucrative US package delivery market, which has been the domain of UPS and FedEx. Deutsche Post has made it no secret that it wants to expand in this market through its subsidiary, DHL Worldwide Express. DHL Airways flies packages for DHL Worldwide in the US.
The German postal operator also bought Airborne’s ground package delivery operations for Dollars 1.05bn in March, spinning off Airborne’s air carrier to ABX Air.
DHL Airways, while maintaining that it has always been controlled by US entities, has undergone further transformations to distance itself from Deutsche Post.
John Dasburg, DHL Airways chairman and chief executive, is leading a group of US investors to purchase the US carrier for Dollars 57m from Deutsche Post and William Robinson, a private US investor who helped found DHL Worldwide. That transaction is expected to be finished by June 30. Mr Dasburg is the former president and chief executive of Northwest Airlines.
The air carrier also announced it would change its name to Astar Air Cargo. The change “will reinforce the reality that Astar is not a corporate affiliate of DHL Worldwide Express,” the company said.
