Ohio Panel Holds Hearing on DHL-UPS Air Deal
About 200 people packed a legislative meeting in Ohio Tuesday to hear testimony on the potential impact of DHL’s plans to switch its domestic air cargo to UPS Inc., the Associated Press reported.
The move could cost an estimated 8,000 jobs at an air park in Wilmington, Ohio, AP said.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) said the state is evaluating the DHL air freight hub in Wilmington for other possible uses while it tries to save the jobs that could be lost if the deal goes through, AP reported.
Also testifying were other state and civic leaders as well as officials and employees of ABX Air Inc., which now transports DHL packages through the air park along with ASTAR Air Cargo, AP said.
The joint hearing was convened by the Ohio House State Government and Elections Committee and the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee.
State Rep. David Daniels (R) said he hoped he meeting could lead to a solution that benefits all parties, while local officials said the job losses would be devastating to the local area, AP reported.
The deal, first announced in May, would make DHL, a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Post, the largest customer of UPS and would add about $1 billion in revenue annually to UPS.
The U.S. Congress, prodded by the Ohio congressional delegation, has said it may hold hearings on the deal in September, while Deutsche Post Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel defended the deal in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week.
UPS is ranked No. 1 and DHL Americas is No. 3 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
