DHL to cut 159 jobs in JLR’s supply chain
DHL has this morning confirmed it is to cut 159 jobs that it has at Jaguar Land Rover sites in the West Midlands and Merseyside.
The move will see one in six staff at DHL Supply Chain lose their jobs.
A spokesperson said: “As part of our contractual renewal process and recognising the need for productivity improvements and in the face of challenging trading conditions in the automotive sector, we have reviewed the UK linefeed and freight operations service provided to Jaguar Land Rover.
“Regrettably, as a result of this review, we have identified the need to reduce our salaried linefeed headcount by approximately 135 people and the UK freight team by 24. Our EU freight organisation is unaffected by these proposals. We have communicated this news to potentially affected staff and will shortly enter into consultation with the company and their representatives to discuss their options.”
The company will look to redeploy staff and said it was “confident of reducing the number at risk”.
The decision is the consequence of a difficult year for the automotive manufacturer, which has been beset by problems including Brexit preparations, plummeting sales in China, the shift away from diesel and the disruption and uncertainty caused by electric vehicles in the short term and connected and autonomous vehicles in the long term.
This week JLR’s full-year figures showed it had sunk to a £3.6bn loss.
In January 2019 the company also announced that it would be making 4,500 jobs in an attempt to make massive savings.
The struggling company has been at the centre of takeover rumours, with Peugeot and Vauxhall owner PSA Group said to be in the running. Current owners Tata Motors acquired the business from Ford for £1.15bn in 2008.
