SAN FRANCISCO¡ªReflective and candid answers given at a press conference staged by the global CEO of DHL Express yesterday revealed that he had a few regrets about decisions leading to the express carrier¡¯s domestic woes.
¡°We probably should not have acquired Airborne Express,¡± said John Mullen. ¡°That set us back financially, and it was hard to absorb or change that company¡¯s culture.¡±
He added that Airborne was a ¡°loss-making company,¡± and that it weakened the DHL brand. ¡°It¡¯s an old lesson,¡± I guess,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s OK to be number two, but you don¡¯t want to be number three.¡±
Mullen also told LM that he was not sure if UPS or Fedex could deliver the same level of flexible service once provided by DHL.
¡°That¡¯s a question they will have to answer for domestic shippers,¡± he quipped.
Meanwhile, Mullen reiterated many of the statements made a day earlier in Bonn, Germany.
"DHL remains committed to the U.S. express market," said Mullen. "A continued U.S. presence is essential to our entire global Express network: Close to half of our top 200 customers are based in the U.S., and U.S. trade lanes make up close to half of our global volume, and half of our global shipments touch the U.S. We are here to stay."
Founded in San Francisco in 1969, DHL is a Deutsche Post World Net brand. The group generated revenues of more than 63 billion euros (more than $93 billion) in 2007.
