DHL Express to lay off 74 in latest cutback
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
WILMINGTON — DHL Express said it will lay off up to 74 employees at its U.S. freight hub at Wilmington as soon as Jan. 23, 2009, marking the latest mass layoff at the hub as DHL prepares to end operations there next year.
DHL said the jobs at the company's 312 Cherry Lane station will be eliminated during a two-week period beginning Jan. 23. The company filed advance notice of the layoffs Friday, Dec. 5, with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
DHL, owned by Deutsche Post World Net of Bonn, Germany, has said it will drastically reduce its U.S. express delivery operations in 2009 and hire United Parcel Service to handle its remaining U.S. cargo sorting and flying operations. DHL wants to reduce the $1.3 billion loss it projects this year in its U.S. operations. Ohio officials have said that shifting the cargo work to UPS at Louisville, Ky., will wipe out the nearly 7,000 remaining jobs at the Wilmington hub, the region's largest employer.
DHL and ABX Air Inc., the cargo airline which operates the Wilmington hub under contract to DHL, have announced more than 600 layoffs combined since mid-November as DHL reduces the work it is assigning to ABX.
Separately, Wilmington Mayor David Raizk sent a letter Monday to DHL Express asking the company to donate its 2,200-acre hub airport to the Wilmington-Clinton County Port Authority, so that a regional task force can use the property to bring in new business and jobs in coming years. DHL has said it would consider donating the airport.
Clinton County values the airport at $62.2 million for tax purposes.
