I still want to read and write about the DHL story. Today (February 13, 2008), Transport Topics published an article entitled: DHL to Cut 600 U.S. Jobs. I pasted it below, so that we have in mind what happened in the last few weeks

DHL Express USA will cut 600 jobs to reduce costs, as a slowing U.S. economy dampens package shipment demand, Bloomberg reported. The reduction makes up about 3% of DHL’s 21,000 U.S. employees, Bloomberg said, citing a company official.

The move follows DHL parent Deutsche Post saying in January it would write down the value of the U.S. division by about $875 million.

The cuts will help the company better align its cost structure, a company official said, Bloomberg reported.

DHL Americas is ranked No. 3 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Source: Transport Topics

This announcement comes after a tough month for DHL in January, when Deutsche Post said it would “write down the value of its DHL Americas unit by $874 million“. I also pasted what Transport Topics published on January 23, 2008: Deutsche Post to Take $874 Million Charge on DHL.

Germany-based Deutsche Post AG will write down the value of its DHL Americas unit by $874 million, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

The 600 million euros writedown comes as the North American business unit struggles to make a profit, Bloomberg said.

“Deutsche Post World Net still expects the Express division to make consistent progress in underlying profit and to reach [earnings before interest and taxes of between 900 million euros and 1.1 billion euros [$1.3 billion and $1.6 billion] in 2009,” Deutsche Post said in a statement.

The writedown of assets such as aircraft, trucks and office equipment will hurt Deutsche Post’s 2007 net income, though it will not its plans to raise the dividend by 20%, Bloomberg said.

Chief Financial Officer John Allan said in a conference call that the company was committed to retaining its presence in North America, Bloomberg reported.

DHL Americas is ranked No. 3 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

Source: Transport Topics

I still want to know which company, UPS or FedEx, would do the first move on DHL’s american activities… The comments I received for the last two articles about this issue provided information that were unclear: some said FedEx is not interested in DHL, and some said that companies that are operating DHL’s flights might… Who knows?

References

  • Article: DHL to Cut 600 U.S. Jobs, Transport Topics, Feb. 13, 2008: here
  • Article: Deutsche Post to Take $874 Million Charge on DHL, Transport Topics, Jan. 23, 2008: here

References from the Transport Information Group