Wed 16 Apr 2008
In brief: DHL would keep its US activities
Posted by Matthieu Desiderio under air, economics, finance, freight, logistics, road, transport
Apparently, the German postal service Deutsche Post would not sell its US subsidiary DHL Express USA. After a couple weeks of debate (see References from the Transport Information Group below), it seems like this “potential deal” was solely speculation or fake information.
The real problem is that DHL Express USA, even though number 3 far behind the two giants UPS and FedEx, is loosing a lot of money since it tookover Airborne Express in 2003 (for €1 billion). Analysts say that Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) may already have lost up to €7 billion with its US activities.
Next step in Deutsche Post agenda will be in May 2008, with the announcement of what the company will do with the US subsidiary. Apparently, negociations really occured with FedEx but failed… causing Deutsche Post to keep working on drastic operating cost reductions in the United States.
What is coming next? We would easily use and welcome some insiders’ hints…
References
- Article: Deutsche Post conserverait sa division express aux USA, Le Lloyd, Apr. 15, 2008: here
References from the Transport Information Group
- DHL, FedEx & Co: Deutsche Post Names New CEO, Feb. 21, 2008
- Is DHL going bad?, Feb. 14, 2008
- DHL + FedEx… Is there a deal somewhere?, Feb. 6, 2008
- In brief: Is FedEx going to “eat” DHL?, Jan. 29, 2008

May 21st, 2008 at 3:01 am
We will know on May 28. My guess is that DHL USA will announce layoffs and possibility of closing some terminals and revamp it’s sorting system to be more efficient. I really don’t think they will abandon the U.S.