Wal-Mart ended merchandise flight with DHL
Friday, August 15, 2008
WILMINGTON — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ended its agreement to have DHL fly Wal-Mart merchandise nightly from Fayetteville, Ark., shortly after DHL's May 28 announcement that it intended to hire United Parcel Service for its U.S. cargo airlift work, according to a pilot who flew the route for ASTAR Air Cargo, a DHL contractor.
"It was within a week of the announcement," said Jim Pebler, a Wilmington-based pilot who has flown for ASTAR and its predecessor company, DHL Airways, for 18 years.
The flights typically carried 40,000 pounds of jewelry each night for Wal-Mart, Pebler said.
More than 1,100 pilots for ASTAR and fellow cargo airline ABX Air, along with thousands more cargo sorters, could lose their jobs flying cargo domestically to and from DHL's Wilmington freight hub if DHL completes its planned deal to hire UPS. DHL, owned by Deutsche Post World Net of Germany, says it hopes to reduce U.S. losses that it puts at about $1 billion a year.
UPS would handle the DHL cargo sorting and flying from its Louisville, Ky., hub, making DHL's current Wilmington operation with ASTAR and ABX Air unnecessary.
Wal-Mart quit using DHL for the flight from Fayetteville, where it has a jewelry distribution and repair center, because DHL had changed its flight route patterns in ways that didn't serve all the locations Wal-Mart has, said Dan Fogleman, a spokesman for the retailer. Fayetteville, about 30 miles from Wal-Mart's corporate office in Bentonville, Ark., was among the areas affected by the DHL route changes, Fogleman said.
"We still do business with DHL," he said.
Fogleman declined to say how much additional business Wal-Mart does with DHL, or whether the retailer has shifted any of its shipping business to DHL competitors UPS or Federal Express.
DHL declined to discuss its business with Wal-Mart.
"Although we cannot speak about specific customers due to confidentiality agreements, we have no indication of customer loss as a result of our pending agreement with UPS," DHL said.
The pilots' unions have been critical of DHL's plan, and have made their concerns known to both major-party presidential candidates. The unions have also lobbied Ohio's congressional delegation, which is calling for a government antitrust investigation to determine whether a DHL-UPS would reduce competition in the U.S. express shipping market. DHL and UPS say it would not, and that they are negotiating what could be a 10-year contract.
"The agreement would be solely a customer-vendor arrangement whereby DHL purchases certain airlift and related services from UPS, as we do currently from other providers," DHL said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
