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More than 500 jobs to be axed if DHL Freight UK closes

DHL looks set to close down its UK domestic road freight business DHL Freight UK due to continuing losses and the failure of various previous restructuring initiatives to bring the business back to profitability.

The company confirmed to Lloyd's Loading List that it had entered into a period of consultation with its affected workforce following a strategic review of its UK operations. It said DHL Freight UK had "identified some business proposals", which would "involve restructuring the UK business", which currently employs approximately 600 staff across 16 sites in the UK.

The staff union GMB confirmed the consultation had begun "with a view to (DHL) closing its UK operations due to continued losses in profits". It said the proposals could lead to the loss of 520 jobs and the closure of DHL Freight UK's depots at Aberdeen, Bellshill, Newcastle, Warrington, Wakefield, Coalville, Norwich, Andover, Bristol, and Exeter.

The GMB said the company's Cardiff and Hemel Hempstead sites had closed in the last few months, and Exeter partially closed, resulting in a loss of nearly 100 jobs already.

In a briefing to DHL Freight UK staff, which was made public by the GMB and seen by Lloyd's Loading List, DHL management said the DHL Freight UK business "has not been in a profit-making position since 2006?To address this, a country wide strategic review of the DHL Freight UK operations has taken place and it has been identified that we need to make fundamental changes to our UK operation."

DHL said part of these changes could involve synergies with the group's contract logistics business, DHL Supply Chain, "and it is proposed to realign and integrate some of our current service offerings to mitigate further financial losses and leverage support from the wider DPDHL group. The services which we believe would be compatible with the Supply Chain business include Gerlach, Euroline, BMW and Euro Connect and the potential transfer of some domestic customers."