Express delivery company DHL will open a regional sort center today in Salt Lake City, creating 38 new jobs.
The 24,500-square-foot center at 1900 S. Industrial Road (1900 West) is the second of seven regional centers that will be added to the DHL network over the next two months as part of a $1.2 billion investment program the company launched in June, according to a Thursday press release. On Wednesday, the company announced the opening of a sort center in Denver.
"The decision to locate one of our seven new regional sort centers in Salt Lake City was primarily a strategic one," said Dan McDonald, DHL senior vice president of network planning, in a Thursday conference call. "The new facility in Salt Lake City will enhance our comprehensive ground network operation. . . . We're trying to grow with our customers as we increase our U.S. market share."
Steve White, senior vice president of hub and gateway operations at DHL, said the company is investing $3 million in the Salt Lake center. In addition to providing the 38 jobs, he said, the center will contribute about $750,000 annually to the local economy through payroll and taxes.
ABX Air Inc. provides employees and services at several DHL facilities in the United States and will continue that relationship in Salt Lake City. Tom Poynter, senior vice president of ground operations at ABX, said the new center here will operate six days a week.
The sort center will handle a variety of items, including letters, parcels and container freight. It has a capacity of 4,000 letter pieces per hour and 7,000 parcels per hour and will serve eight DHL service stations in the region, according to the press release.
"(The new center) will directly benefit DHL's customers in the region by expanding overnight delivery services throughout Utah and into parts of Idaho, as well as providing greater connectivity across our North American service network," said Fred Beljaars, DHL executive vice president for operations, in a prepared statement.
Workers at the center, who will sort parcels and load and unload trucks, will have an average wage of about $10 an hour, Poynter said. And the number of jobs at the Salt Lake facility should grow.
"Obviously, the holiday rush will give us immediate freight, and we'll add jobs accordingly," he said during the conference call.
More long-term growth also is a possibility, McDonald said. "One of the things we haven't suffered from is a lack of growth."
DHL, which is owned by Deutsche Post World Net of Berlin, is beefing up its ground network to better compete with rivals UPS and FedEx. The company plans to have a total of 19 regional centers and more than 7,950 truck runs per week by the end of the year. McDonald said the company is focusing on creating a "one-day footprint" nationwide.
"Salt Lake and Denver, the two hubs we've announced specifically, really create a land bridge east-west," he said.
And he said he thinks UPS and FedEx are feeling "nervous" about competition from DHL.
"Part of the reason we're expanding is because we've seen significant growth in our product line, and I think that bodes well for us," McDonald said.
Beljaars agreed. "DHL promised to bring competition and choice to the U.S. express delivery and shipping market, and to provide businesses and consumers with a strong alternative to the duopoly of FedEx and UPS — and we're delivering on that promise."
E-mail: gkratz@desnews.com