DHL's Flight From Ohio: Package Carrier Received $270 Million In Economic Development Bonds

WILMINGTON (TDB) -- The trade publication Air Cargo World suggests Ohio officials were less than vigilant last year when they approved a $270 million economic-development bond package for DHL. The money was an incentive meant for the German-owned package carrier to expand its private airport hub in Wilmington in SW Ohio. Now the German firm plans to abandon the site, leaving at least 8,000 jobs in the lurch:

"DHL will be under pressure to repay $270 million in bonds the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority sold in March 2007 to back DHL's expansion and upgrade of the Wilmington hub. DHL has 40 years to repay the state. DHL also was required to continue its debt payments at the Cincinnati airport after the company left its relatively new hub there to consolidate express operations in Wilmington."

The Cincinnati airport is in Kentucky. So Ohio screwed Kentucky to lure DHL away. Now DHL is about to do the same to Ohio, by switching its air cargo service to UPS, which has a hub in Louisville. At the moment, it looks like Kentucky wins after all and Ohio gets the shaft.

DHL Change In Planes Could Wallop Ohio: But It May Help Slumping Newspaper Industry

WILMINGTON, Ohio (TDB) -- Your local fishwrapper may start delivering fresh fish alongside the traditional print content that some people already find smelly. And it's all because of DHL. As many as 8,000 jobs may be lost in Clinton County and SW Ohio if DHL ends its air-freight express contract with with two carriers based in Wilmington. But a newspaper has seen an opening to generate some revenue as DHL shrinks -- it is going into the next-day parcel delivery service in the Rocky Mountains. It sounds like an idea that might catch on.

The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Col., which is owned by Dayton Daily News corporate parent Cox Enterprises Inc. says it already delivers daily newspapers, so adding packages shouldn't be too difficult. Across the U.S., newspapers are struggling economically as readers and advertisers flee to the Internet. The Daily Sentinel looks like the first to seize an opportunity presented by DHL's shift in business strategy. The newspaper trade journal Editor & Publisher has an account of the foray into a new line of business, and says staff has already been added and more hires are expected.

DHL has ended deliveries on Colorado's Western Slope, an area that includes Vail and Aspen. Daily Sentinel Publisher Alex Taylor explains:

"We have one of the most sophisticated on-time, early-delivery networks. It makes sense to let our business partners benefit from that . . . It's one of the things we do best. Sometimes when it's snowing or there's an ice storm, you may not get your mail, but you'll always get your newspaper. If people want to pay us to carry other things, too, there's no reason we shouldn't."