TRUCKING INDUSTRY WORLDWIDE * The Netherlands - DHL sells UK domestic parcel arm to HDN

The Netherlands -Road Transport -5 January 2010: -- DHL has been busy over the Christmas period, divesting itself of two loss-making business: DHL Container Logistics and its B2B and B2C parcel operation known as Day Definite Domestic, a division of DHL Express (UK)... First to be sold was the container operation, which was snapped up by rival haulier Maritime Transport shortly before Christmas for an undisclosed sum, with the Felixstowe haulier taking control from 1 January... However, DHL dropped another bombshell as CM went to press, with the announcement that its DHL Express division was offloading its domestic parcel operation to Home Delivery Network (HDNL)...


* Comment - DHL sell-off a 'desperate move', says TI

London,UK -Transport Intelligence/Road Transport, by Dominic Perry -9 January 2010: -- DHL's sale of around two-thirds of its loss-making DHL Express UK division has been described as "a desperate move" by analyst Transport Intelligence... No figures are available regarding the size of the deal, however, well-placed sources indicate that DHL paid HDNL around £200m to take the business off its hands... The divestment of the UK operation follows hot on the heels of a similar move in France, plus DHL's well-publicised exit from the US domestic market following serious losses at the business there... Thomas Cullen, chief analyst at Transport Intelligence, says that the sell-off is a reaction to losses at the business... Neither DHL or HDNL wished to comment on the structure of the deal...