COLUMBUS — The state of Ohio is beginning its examination of whether cargo delivery company DHL's proposed hiring of United Parcel Service to handle DHL's U.S. air package transport would violate antitrust laws.

Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers said Monday, June 23, that she has asked DHL, its owner Deutsche Post and UPS to preserve all records related to the planning and negotiation of the deal. Rogers, in a letter to the companies that she publicly released, said she may undertake an investigation of whether a DHL-UPS deal would reduce market competition.

Ohio officials have estimated that DHL's cost-cutting plan to hire UPS for flying packages within the United States will wipe out an estimated 6,000 jobs at DHL's Wilmington air freight hub, a major regional employer. That is because the cargo flying that ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo do for DHL from Wilmington would no longer be needed, since UPS has its own sorting and air transport network elsewhere.

DHL and UPS both will cooperate with Ohio's review, spokesmen for the companies said. DHL, however, repeated its position that it believes any deal with UPS would be a customer-vendor arrangement that would not require any government regulatory approval.