posted 05-31-2008 08:55 PM                    

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ABX Air's night sorting operation will be eliminated under a contract DHL Express and UPS are negotiating, with up to 6,100 jobs being cut, the Wilmington News Journal reported late Thursday.

Deutsche Post World Net announced Wednesday that its DHL subsidiary planned to partner with UPS to handle its North American air shipments. ABX currently provides that service, along with ASTAR Air Cargo, which DHL partially owns. Both operate from Wilmington's DHL Air Park, a privately owned airfield.

DHL contributes more than 70 percent of ABX's revenue, according to its parent Air Transport Services Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ATSG).

John Graber, president of ABX, told the News Journal that when DHL's restructuring is complete, the company will have 900 or 1,000 employees in Wilmington, versus about 7,000 it now employs. The cargo airline has about 10,000 employees worldwide.

ABX's daytime sorting operation is likely to continue, "but that's really the only piece that's left as we understand it," Graber said in the story.

About 3,100 people work on the night-sorting operation, some of them area farmers who moonlight for health coverage and extra money, the newspaper said.

Deutsche Post said in a news conference in Bonn, Germany, that DHL is restructuring because its U.S. operations have been losing money, with a projected $1.3 billion loss this year, according to the newspaper. At the news conference, DHL Express President John Mullen added that Wilmington will no longer operate as a domestic hub for DHL.

In a separate news release, ASTAR crew members represented by the Air Line Pilots Association criticized the move, saying that it will call for a government inquiry into "the absurd result of a company depending on its chief competitor for the most crucial aspects of its express operation."

The Airline Professional Association/Teamsters Local 1224, which represents ABX pilots, weighed in on the issue Wednesday, calling for the resignation of Air Transport President Joe Hete, among other criticisms.

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posted 06-03-2008 09:30 PM                       

quote: Charles Caron

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I work part time at the main PO in Billings and every day I see UPS, Fedex, and DHL trucks dropping off parcels to be forwarded to remote parts of the state.

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