WILMINGTON, OHIO (AP) - DHL Express said Friday it has decided to move U.S. hub operations for its international business from Ohio to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to save money.
Company spokesman Jonathan Baker confirmed the move, after word leaked out following an announcement to workers Thursday night at DHL’s current home, the Wilmington Air Park. The Wilmington News-Journal reported the development earlier Friday.
DHL will reactivate its automated sorting facility at the northern Kentucky airport and finish moving there by mid- to late summer. DHL had used the Kentucky facility from 1983 until its move to Ohio in 2005.
DHL’s pullout from Wilmington had been expected for months. At last count, there were about 5,000 people still working at the Wilmington airport, down from about 8,000 a year ago.
Wilmington, a southwest Ohio community of 12,000 residents, has drawn national attention as an example of the economic struggles of small U.S. communities during the recession.
DHL already has 200 employees in northern Kentucky and expects to add some 180 full-time positions and 650 part-time jobs there, Baker said. All current and former Wilmington Air Park employees were being encouraged to apply for jobs at the airport in Hebron, Ky., more than 50 miles southwest of Wilmington.
The move “will be more cost-effective for handling the company’s international express shipping volumes, and is expected to improve DHL’s long-term financial position,” DHL said in a statement.
Wilmington Mayor David Raizk said Friday morning he hadn’t been contacted yet by DHL and declined to comment immediately.
DHL owns the cargo airport in Wilmington and hasn’t announced what it plans to do with it. Local leaders are asking that the company give it to them to be redeveloped.
ABX Air, a contractor that flies and sorts cargo for DHL, has about 2,750 employees in Wilmington.
ABX spokeswoman Beth Huber said about 1,000 of those employees would be eligible to apply for jobs after the move. Some of the remaining workers are expected to be employed at a startup aircraft maintenance company at the Wilmington airport.
The announcement came as Ohio officials reported that the state’s unemployment rate in March rose to a 25-year high, 9.7 percent.
Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, whose district includes Wilmington, criticized DHL for walking away, but said, “I know the community is resilient and will recover.”
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said DHL’s move will enhance the state’s reputation as a strategic location for shipping and delivery, given that UPS has its global air hub in Louisville. DHL’s package-sorting operation “will increase future opportunities for growth in the region by DHL, as well as other businesses that support DHL,” Beshear said in a statement.
Dan Tobergte, president of Tri-Ed, Northern Kentucky’s leading economic development agency, said state and local authorities will give DHL nearly $2 million in tax credit incentives.
“Transportation jobs are valuable jobs, and they have a multiplier effect for the community,” said Steve Stevens, president of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Disappointed workers at Wilmington Air Park were told of the move by ABX at midnight Thursday, said truck driver Mitchell Adams.
“But it’s not like we haven’t been under this cloud for a while,” Adams said. “Everybody is upset. We’re all being professional about it.”
He said working at the Cincinnati-area airport isn’t an option for him. He lives in Jeffersonville, Ohio, more than 70 miles away.
“Job hunting at my age is not going to be fun,” said Adams, 58.
James Hamilton, a sorter at the airport who has worked for DHL for the past 14 years, said he won’t apply for a DHL job at the Cincinnati-area airport because most of them will be part-time.
“I wouldn’t be able to support a family,” said Hamilton, 36, of Wilmington.
Leading Ohio politicians had been pushing to try to salvage jobs for Wilmington. During last year’s presidential campaign, Democrat Barack Obama met with community officials and workers during stops in nearby Dayton, Ohio, while Republican nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin both visited Wilmington.
___
Associated Press reporters Terry Kinney and Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.