DHL bids Kentucky farewell
06-25-2005, 06:35 AM
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DHL bids Kentucky farewell
Saturday, June 25, 2005
DHL bids Kentucky farewell
Shipping giant gives official word hub going to Wilmington
By James Pilcher
Enquirer staff writer
ABX Air, the company that operates a cargo airline and runs the Wilmington hub on behalf of shipping giant DHL, said Thursday it had been selected to join the Russell 3,000 stock index.
The news comes after the company was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in early May.
The Russell 3,000 index lists the 3,000 largest U.S. publicly traded companies and is reconstituted every May 31. ABX Air is one of 208 companies being added to the index.
ERLANGER - DHL has made it official that it is moving north, notifying the state of Kentucky that it will eliminate 600 jobs on Aug. 22 when it plans to close its hub and sort operation at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
The Brussels-based shipping giant issued a legal notice to the state late Thursday, marking the start of the official countdown to the move of all major U.S. operations to its new expanded hub in Wilmington, about 50 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
A federal law requires employers of more than 100 to give 60 days' notice of a major job reduction of 50 or more positions.
The company announced last June that it was moving to Ohio and that the target date was the end of September.
But DHL officials said Friday it was too early to tell whether all 600 workers would lose their jobs, since the company is trying to get those employees to transfer to Wilmington. It's even planning a shuttle service between the Cincinnati area and Clinton County.
"In terms of involuntary severances, we won't know a number until the very end," said DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker, who said layoff notices have not been handed out to individual workers. "It all depends on how many people ultimately decide to take a position up in Wilmington. And yes, we are trying to convince as many workers as we can to make that transition."
The Cincinnati hub now employs about 1,200 DHL workers, with another 700 or so working for Astar Air Cargo, the airline that carries freight on behalf of DHL. Most of those airline workers also will transfer to Wilmington.
DHL will keep the recently built $220 million sort building as a backup hub for Wilmington, and nearly 300 employees will stay in Erlanger.
"That will stay that way indefinitely," Baker said.
The company purchased the Wilmington facility as part of its $1 billion merger with Airborne Express in April 2003.
It is close to finishing a $295 million expansion at that base thanks in part to $422 million in incentives from Ohio that included a state guarantee on $300 million in low-interest bonds taken out by the company.
That helped DHL decide to consolidate the hub there, with Kentucky officials saying last year that they didn't get much of a chance to compete for the hub.
700 jobs to be added
The Wilmington facility employs about 8,000, and another 700 jobs are being added with the new expansion, which is scheduled for completion by October.
Those positions report to ABX Air, the company that operates another airline serving DHL and that operates the hub on behalf of DHL.
The layoff notice "was not a surprise, but that does not mean that it will hurt any less for those employees who could be looking for new employment for their families," Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president Gary Toebben said Friday. "This will certainly have an impact on our economy, and we hope that those 600 employees are picked up locally."
The chamber plans to hold a one-day job fair at DHL's Erlanger facility at the airport on Aug. 16 9 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
Toebben pointed out that FedEx Ground, the road shipping unit of Federal Express, has started hiring workers for its sort hub in Boone County.
That facility opened in April, with initial employment at 350 workers.
Some projections call for 1,500 positions to be needed over the next few years.
But Baker said that while turnover has been slightly higher than normal, the Erlanger operation has been able to maintain a full staff. DHL has offered bonuses of four weeks' pay for workers who stay until the closing of the hub here, as well as severance packages for those who decide to leave at the end.
Airport officials did not comment on the news of the pending job cuts but pointed out that DHL will continue to own the building there.
E-mail [email protected]
DHL bids Kentucky farewell
Shipping giant gives official word hub going to Wilmington
By James Pilcher
Enquirer staff writer
ABX Air, the company that operates a cargo airline and runs the Wilmington hub on behalf of shipping giant DHL, said Thursday it had been selected to join the Russell 3,000 stock index.
The news comes after the company was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in early May.
The Russell 3,000 index lists the 3,000 largest U.S. publicly traded companies and is reconstituted every May 31. ABX Air is one of 208 companies being added to the index.
ERLANGER - DHL has made it official that it is moving north, notifying the state of Kentucky that it will eliminate 600 jobs on Aug. 22 when it plans to close its hub and sort operation at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
The Brussels-based shipping giant issued a legal notice to the state late Thursday, marking the start of the official countdown to the move of all major U.S. operations to its new expanded hub in Wilmington, about 50 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
A federal law requires employers of more than 100 to give 60 days' notice of a major job reduction of 50 or more positions.
The company announced last June that it was moving to Ohio and that the target date was the end of September.
But DHL officials said Friday it was too early to tell whether all 600 workers would lose their jobs, since the company is trying to get those employees to transfer to Wilmington. It's even planning a shuttle service between the Cincinnati area and Clinton County.
"In terms of involuntary severances, we won't know a number until the very end," said DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker, who said layoff notices have not been handed out to individual workers. "It all depends on how many people ultimately decide to take a position up in Wilmington. And yes, we are trying to convince as many workers as we can to make that transition."
The Cincinnati hub now employs about 1,200 DHL workers, with another 700 or so working for Astar Air Cargo, the airline that carries freight on behalf of DHL. Most of those airline workers also will transfer to Wilmington.
DHL will keep the recently built $220 million sort building as a backup hub for Wilmington, and nearly 300 employees will stay in Erlanger.
"That will stay that way indefinitely," Baker said.
The company purchased the Wilmington facility as part of its $1 billion merger with Airborne Express in April 2003.
It is close to finishing a $295 million expansion at that base thanks in part to $422 million in incentives from Ohio that included a state guarantee on $300 million in low-interest bonds taken out by the company.
That helped DHL decide to consolidate the hub there, with Kentucky officials saying last year that they didn't get much of a chance to compete for the hub.
700 jobs to be added
The Wilmington facility employs about 8,000, and another 700 jobs are being added with the new expansion, which is scheduled for completion by October.
Those positions report to ABX Air, the company that operates another airline serving DHL and that operates the hub on behalf of DHL.
The layoff notice "was not a surprise, but that does not mean that it will hurt any less for those employees who could be looking for new employment for their families," Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president Gary Toebben said Friday. "This will certainly have an impact on our economy, and we hope that those 600 employees are picked up locally."
The chamber plans to hold a one-day job fair at DHL's Erlanger facility at the airport on Aug. 16 9 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
Toebben pointed out that FedEx Ground, the road shipping unit of Federal Express, has started hiring workers for its sort hub in Boone County.
That facility opened in April, with initial employment at 350 workers.
Some projections call for 1,500 positions to be needed over the next few years.
But Baker said that while turnover has been slightly higher than normal, the Erlanger operation has been able to maintain a full staff. DHL has offered bonuses of four weeks' pay for workers who stay until the closing of the hub here, as well as severance packages for those who decide to leave at the end.
Airport officials did not comment on the news of the pending job cuts but pointed out that DHL will continue to own the building there.
E-mail [email protected]
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