WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service said Thursday it had reached a multi-year deal with DHL eCommerce for last-mile parcel delivery services in the United States expected to be worth more than $10 billion.
DHL eCommerce, which is part of German logistics giant DHL Group, said the deal will help it grow in the U.S. market over the next several years.
Postmaster General David Steiner said in an interview that no one else delivers to 170 million U.S. households six days a week and gives
DHL "the opportunity to play in the largest market in the world." He said DHL either had "to invest a ton of capital to build out an end-to-end network, or they need to partner with someone that has that last mile capability" like USPS.
DHL eCommerce handles pickups and sortation across its 19 U.S. hubs before USPS will complete the final mile for all deliveries.
DHL eCommerce Americas CEO Scott Ashbaugh said the deal would help the company grow in the United States and target slightly heavier parcels. He said the company could add more U.S. hubs. "We expect to roughly double our business by the 2030 horizon," Ashbaugh said.
The deal is critical to the financially strapped USPS, which has warned it could run out of cash as soon as February. Last month, Amazon.com said it had reached a new agreement with the U.S. Postal Service on package deliveries.
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
