DHL cutting 203 Lakeland jobs as it closes distribution center

DHL Supply Chain is closing a distribution center in Lakeland and laying off 203 employees.

The company announced the closure and the job cuts in a Feb. 9 letter posted to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act database Wednesday.

The job cuts will affect 166 laborers, 14 administrators and 23 in leadership positions.

In the federally mandated letter, the company says the facility, at 5360 Allen K. Breed Highway, will close in phases between April and December. Most employees, however, will be affected in April and then in June and July when “the work volume is significantly reduced.”

DHL did not share a reason for the closure in the letter sent to Lakeland Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley.

The phone number for a spokesperson listed as a media contact was not taking incoming calls Wednesday afternoon and the spokesperson did not respond to a text message.

DHL operated the distribution center for furniture retailer Ikea starting in 2018. Polk County property records show it paid $47.42 million for the 25.62-acre, 519,750-square-foot property at that time.

DHL Group, based in Bonn, Germany, operates five corporate divisions, according to its investor relations website. The supply chain division is in more than 50 countries with 18 million square feet of warehouse space and employing 18,000.

Its core business, according to the website, is warehousing, transport and value-added services for all industry sectors.

According to DHL Group’s most recent earnings statement released in November, its revenue for the third quarter dropped 2.3% — to EUR 20.1 billion, about $23.8 billion — driven by currency effects and lower volumes on routes to the U.S.