DHL shrink to profitability

[Chubaka]

The Germans have bungled their US operation ever since buying Wilmington Airpark. They are now fast at work with a plan to stem losses. Shrinking to profitability usually does not work with airlines. In May, they present their plan. Any great thinkers out there have any idea what they might do?

 

[ABXbooger]

They were bungling their operation long before ILN...seriously how do you people come up with this stuff?

 

[fodc8]

Word on the street is that they will return to a regional hub structure similar to what they were doing pre ILN. By doing this they anticipate about a 30% reduction in ILN flying. Unfortunatly it will probably also mean more small contractors working to get the cargo to those regional hubs. Thats all just rumor however I believe some of the outstation restructuring is a good indication it's probably true.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Here's a thought:

Buy some trucks, hire some EMPLOYEES, and ditch the contractor model.....it has failed on an epic level.

Just ask FedEx Ground....of course, they're still in denial as well.

 

[ABXbooger]

I am sure that DHL will continue to make stellar decisions, what leads anyone to believe that they can fix the problem here in the states?

Since day one they have made poor decisions, evidence last nights sort...or lack there of.

 

[Clyde]

I am sure that DHL will continue to make stellar decisions, what leads anyone to believe that they can fix the problem here in the states?

Since day one they have made poor decisions, evidence last nights sort...or lack there of.

How did the sort go last night?

 

[TWA]

I was wondering how the blizzard effected things last night.

You must give credit where credit is due though. Someone (more than likely ABX) managed to keep the airport somewhat operational last night. The last I checked DAY has only been able to keep one runway open at a time.

EDIT: It looks like things were able to make it in somewhat on time, but departure is another story.

 

[hvydriver]

Actually, I was amazed almost all the flights were able to get out.

 

[ABXbooger]

sort ran late, but well within reason for as much snow as we got. Problem is the flights made it out, for the most part, but a lot of freight was left in ILN due to lack of sorters. Should not have been a sort at all last night, but DHL was adamant.

 

[ABXbooger]

I would love to know how many thousands of gallons of deice fluid were used last night...

 

[Clyde]

Actually, I was amazed almost all the flights were able to get out.

\


How late where you running last night?

 

[ABXbooger]

most were 3-4 hours. look at flightaware.com

 

[hvydriver]

most were 3-4 hours. look at flightaware.com

We had flights leaving as late as 1pm. Crews would be called and told the a/c was loaded, they'd go out, and there wouldn't even be a k loader pulled up. Had to replace several crews due to the 8 hrs. off look back rule.

 

[erichartmann]

We had flights leaving as late as 1pm. Crews would be called and told the a/c was loaded, they'd go out, and there wouldn't even be a k loader pulled up.

Welcome to the club. I don't know if it happened this time, but I do know the same thing has happened to ABX crews in the past under similar conditions.

Had to replace several crews due to the 8 hrs. off look back rule.

This has also happened to ABX crews. Probably happened this time also.

Let's face it, DHL made a bad choice when they rejected ABX's suggestion to cancel the sort. Most of the ground equipment (including K-loaders) isn't really designed to operate in several inches of snow, much less what fell. Hard to get the freight off the airplanes and into the sort, hard to get it back onto the airplanes. Less sorters and ramp workers due to level 3 snow emergency declared by the sheriff. Some of the ramp and sorters had to be used to run snow removal equipment to kee the airport open.

The storm is now over. Think about how much easier it would be to clean up if there had been no sort. It could easily have been done in time to run the normal Sunday sort. The Friday night Saturday schedule could have been shifted to run Sunday night Monday morning. The freight (most of it anyway) would have been delivered on time. Now the stuff left behind will be late. I would hazard a guess that more stuff got left behind than would have been late if the sort had run Sunday night.

 

[AV8OR]

Did I mention GITMO is reeaallyy nice this time of year! Sweet! hehehe

 

[Airbus300]

I guess it was ok to be optimistic about running a sort Saturday morning, but at 3:30 am while facing zero zero conditions riding in the crew van...that is when I would have pulled the plug on the operation. It was bad, icey, lots of snow drifts, and no freight at all being delivered to the airplanes. 6 am departures finally departed around 2p.m. The drive to the airport was also very bad....the snow plows didn't even bother plowing hwy 73.

Let's face it, DHL made a bad choice when they rejected ABX's suggestion to cancel the sort. Most of the ground equipment (including K-loaders) isn't really designed to operate in several inches of snow, much less what fell. Hard to get the freight off the airplanes and into the sort, hard to get it back onto the airplanes. Less sorters and ramp workers due to level 3 snow emergency declared by the sheriff. Some of the ramp and sorters had to be used to run snow removal equipment to kee the airport open.

 

[Chubaka]

Just have Hete de-ice the whole airpark like he usually does. That will get rid of all the snow.

 

[nitefr8dog]

Just have Hete de-ice the whole airpark like he usually does. That will get rid of all the snow.

To bad he does not get any markup for deice fluid then he could make some money on it!

 

[nitefr8dog]

I guess it was ok to be optimistic about running a sort Saturday morning, but at 3:30 am while facing zero zero conditions riding in the crew van...that is when I would have pulled the plug on the operation. It was bad, icey, lots of snow drifts, and no freight at all being delivered to the airplanes. 6 am departures finally departed around 2p.m. The drive to the airport was also very bad....the snow plows didn't even bother plowing hwy 73.

Let's face it, DHL made a bad choice when they rejected ABX's suggestion to cancel the sort. Most of the ground equipment (including K-loaders) isn't really designed to operate in several inches of snow, much less what fell. Hard to get the freight off the airplanes and into the sort, hard to get it back onto the airplanes. Less sorters and ramp workers due to level 3 snow emergency declared by the sheriff. Some of the ramp and sorters had to be used to run snow removal equipment to kee the airport open.

Tough call but Federal and UPS ran their sorts and had the same amount of delays. I guess you do not want to be the only one to cancel!

 

[fodc8]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Deutsche Post Income Dives[/FONT]
Analysts are predicting a substantial overhaul in DHL Express operations in the United States in the wake of a poor quarterly report Thursday by European parent Deutsche Post.
Deutsche Post reported a net income of $390 million, a drop of 61 percent compared to a year ago.
DHL Express posted a worldwide fourth-quarter earnings loss of $630 million due in large part to an estimated $874 million writedown of U.S. operations.
Despite the losses - and calls by financial analysts to pull the troubled DHL operations out of the United States - Deutsche Post remained publicly steadfast denouncing any such exit plan.
Frank Appel - named Deutsche Post CEO last month after Klaus Zumwinkel resigned amid allegations of tax evasion - said during a press conference announcing the parent company's quarterly results, "U.S. operations are an 'integral part' of Deutsche Post's global business and the company has 'narrowed down' options for the division.
Those options, says analyst Ed Wolfe of Bear Sterns, include closing 85 small ground and air terminals -- as much as 25 percent of its U.S. capacity.
Details of the DHL restructuring plan are expected to be released within a week.
Michael Fabey
Traffic World