DHL, an international logistics and express service provider, announced on Nov. 10 that it will cut 9,500 jobs. The company will discontinue air and ground operations within the U.S. on January 30, 2009. Going forward the company's U.S. Express business will focus entirely on its international offering and will discontinue domestic-only air and ground products.
DHL Express will close all of its U.S. ground hubs, reduce the number of stations from 412 to 103 and retain 3,000 to 4,000 U.S.-based employees who are tailored to the needs of DHL's international express customers. The company said its restructuring measures will reduce U.S. operating costs by over 80%.
"This is the right move for our U.S. Express operations given the current economic climate and for the long run. When we looked for efficiencies in the U.S. Express market, we decided to focus on what we do best as a company, and that's international shipping," said John Mullen, Global CEO of DHL Express. Mullen. DHL remains committed to providing industry-leading international services and the U.S. remains an integral part of its global network. A continued U.S. presence is essential to its entire global Express network; close to half of its top 200 customers are based in the U.S., U.S. trade lanes make up close to half of its global volume, and half of its global shipments touch the U.S. We are here to stay," Mullen added.
The measures announced will have no impact to services offered by other DHL businesses in the U.S. such as Global Forwarding/Freight, Supply Chain/Customer Information Services (CIS) and DHL Global Mail are not affected by the current restructuring measures, the company said.
