ABX Air says DHL plan would cost 6,000 ABX jobs
The president of ABX Air said a plan by DHL to hire United Parcel Service Inc. as its air cargo carrier in the United States is expected to cost 6,000 ABX workers their jobs at a freight hub in this southwest Ohio city.
ABX Air President John Graber told the Wilmington News Journal for a story Thursday that ABX Air’s night sort operations would be eliminated under the plan.
Graber and other ABX Air executives have been meeting with employees to tell them about the effects of the DHL plan if DHL succeeds in reaching a contract agreement with UPS.
The night airfreight operations would no longer be needed because UPS has its own system, he said.
DHL is the struggling U.S.-based express shipping unit of German postal service Deutsche Post AG. DHL contracts with ABX Air to operate the hub.
Messages were left at DHL Thursday and at ABX Air, a unit of Air Transport Services Group Inc., seeking comment from Graber. ABX Air spokeswoman Beth Huber said he was unavailable.
Huber said DHL told ABX Air officials Tuesday that it was going to reduce the aircraft it would need from the ABX Air fleet by 39 jets over a period of 12 to 18 months. She also said DHL said it was in negotiations with UPS, but that a deal had not been completed and ABX Air couldn’t speculate on it.
Graber told the News Journal that he projects ABX Air would have a work force of about 900 to 1,000 in Wilmington if the restructuring is implemented. ABX Air currently has about 7,000 employees at the DHL Air Park in Wilmington.
The president of ABX Air said a plan by DHL to hire United Parcel Service Inc. as its air cargo carrier in the United States is expected to cost 6,000 ABX workers their jobs at a freight hub in this southwest Ohio city.
ABX Air President John Graber told the Wilmington News Journal for a story Thursday that ABX Air’s night sort operations would be eliminated under the plan.
Graber and other ABX Air executives have been meeting with employees to tell them about the effects of the DHL plan if DHL succeeds in reaching a contract agreement with UPS.
The night airfreight operations would no longer be needed because UPS has its own system, he said.
DHL is the struggling U.S.-based express shipping unit of German postal service Deutsche Post AG. DHL contracts with ABX Air to operate the hub.
Messages were left at DHL Thursday and at ABX Air, a unit of Air Transport Services Group Inc., seeking comment from Graber. ABX Air spokeswoman Beth Huber said he was unavailable.
Huber said DHL told ABX Air officials Tuesday that it was going to reduce the aircraft it would need from the ABX Air fleet by 39 jets over a period of 12 to 18 months. She also said DHL said it was in negotiations with UPS, but that a deal had not been completed and ABX Air couldn’t speculate on it.
Graber told the News Journal that he projects ABX Air would have a work force of about 900 to 1,000 in Wilmington if the restructuring is implemented. ABX Air currently has about 7,000 employees at the DHL Air Park in Wilmington.
Deutsche Post said in March that its fourth-quarter profit slid by more than 60 percent after it wrote down the value of its DHL unit. DHL is cutting its network capacity in the U.S. by 30 percent.
The American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, has launched a petition drive aimed at saving DHL/ABX Air jobs in Wilmington.
