ABX Air latest layoffs to end 228 jobs
Monday, December 08, 2008
WILMINGTON — ABX Air Inc., which operates DHL's U.S. ground and air freight hub at Wilmington and flies cargo nationally from there, said it is laying off 228 employees between last week and Dec. 19.
It is the latest in a series of layoffs ABX Air has announced as DHL reduces its business at the hub, in preparation for shifting the domestic cargo work in 2009 to United Parcel Service at Louisville, Ky. Since mid-November, ABX has announced planned layoffs of 615 employees between now and July 2009, with the bulk of them to be gone by Jan. 14, 2009.
The latest layoffs will include cargo sorters, ramp loading workers, technicians, drivers and supervisors, ABX said in a letter it filed on Thursday, Dec. 4, with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Ohio officials have said DHL's plan to shift its U.S. cargo sorting and flying to UPS will wipe out approximately 7,000 remaining jobs at DHL's Wilmington hub plus an estimated 2,000 support jobs in the community. The hub is the region's largest employer.
DHL's restructuring plan, aimed at reducing what it says is an annual loss of $1.3 billion for its U.S. express delivery operations, includes cutting back its U.S. service to only cross-border, international deliveries after Jan. 30.
