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DHL Starts Ground Service From Regional Hub From March Air Reserve Base

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

By The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Sep. 30--International cargo giant DHL begins operations today from its just-finished regional hub at March Air Reserve Base, culminating a hectic and often-controversial year that included battles with neighboring communities and Mother Nature.

The first DHL trucks are expected to pull into the hub at the south end of the Air Reserve base about 9 p.m.

Within days, about 100 rigs will be rolling into and out of the $60 million, 305,000-square-foot sorting center every 24 hours.

Air operations are set to begin Oct. 7, when a jet from Phoenix is expected to land at about 10 p.m.

Seven nightly flights will operate in and out of March from about 8:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., delivering packages to and from Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Reno, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Sacramento.

DHL supporters hail the start-up of business, saying the cargo carrier will spawn future job creation and business development along the Interstate 215 corridor.

Critics say it is speculation to label DHL a magnet for high-paying jobs. They worry that noise from the DC-9 and Boeing 767 cargo jets will be disruptive and bring down property values.

The noise controversy erupted again this week when it was revealed that DHL jets will fly above the Mission Grove and Orangecrest communities.

Flight patterns released to the public last year indicated jets would not fly above those neighborhoods.

Public officials now say those earlier patterns were misleading but insist DHL jets will fly so far above homes that their effect will be minimal. Aside from concerns about noise, DHL also had to deal with last winter's heavy rains, which cost the company 100 building days.

Riverside Councilman Frank Schiavone has asked DHL to delay opening of its air operations until questions about its air route are answered.

DHL spokesman Richard Gibbs said DHL is moving ahead with plans to open as scheduled.

At least one resident who lives in the flight path called noise concerns "much ado about nothing."

"Those planes will make little noise," said Robert Hudson, 65, who served as an Air Force mechanic and has lived in his Good Hope residence for 19 years.

Hudson said he barely hears March's C-17 cargo planes when they take off from the base and fly over his house. He expects DHL's fleet will be just as quiet or quieter.

The noise was not the only issue confronting DHL. Senior project manager Ben Shearer said last winter's heavy rains cost 100 building days.

"We only had 365 days to finish this project," Shearer said.

When the weather cleared, Shearer said hundreds of skilled tradesman -- including as many as 300 carpenters -- worked each day to complete the 1,500-long building on time.

Work continued this week.

Welders put the final touches on the floors, sending showers of sparks from their second-floor perches to the ground below.

Uniformed security officers stood ready as workers wearing badges went about their jobs.

The arrival of DHL makes March Air Reserve Base the first joint-use military base in the country to share an airfield with a private international air-cargo carrier.

"This is a blue-ribbon day," said Phil Rizzo, executive director of the March Joint Powers Authority, which is working to redevelop portions of the air base downsized in 1996.

"The whole I-215 corridor provides a major opportunity for growth."

Rizzo said Philips Consumer Electronics, which also is on property once owned by the military, will benefit from DHL's presence.

So will other businesses the JPA hopes to attract in the future, such as pharmaceuticals, Rizzo said.

ABX Air has contracted with DHL to operate and staff the new cargo port, which is a part of DHL's $1.2 billion expansion into the North American express-delivery market.

More than 200 of the 250 or so new jobs at the DHL hub will be for sorters, working 20 hours a week at $9.45 to $10 an hour. The official Web site of ABX Air promises 55 cents more an hour for workers on the shift. It also promises medical benefits, a 401(k) savings plans and a steady increase in pay.

Economist John Husing last year touted the economic benefits of an air-cargo distribution hub, saying that such centers offered blue-collar workers an opportunity to make good wages and move up the company ladder.

Husing said this week that ABX is going to have trouble staffing the DHL hub at the wages advertised. Husing said he expected the company would have offered at least $12 an hour, full-time jobs with benefits.

Competitors in the region are offering such jobs and having a hard time finding workers, Husing said.

"I am assuming they're (ABX) going to gear up to that level or they're going to have a fairly labor-short economy," Husing said.

Schiavone, the Riverside councilman, said he never was sold on the idea that DHL was going to bring high-paying jobs to the Inland area, but that it would be a catalyst for economic growth in other areas.

Shearer, the senior project manager, said that 50 new jobs are created for each plane that lands at March. Those jobs include everything from selling fuel, uniforms and snacks for airplanes and workers.

"We figure we're going to have the vending machines three times a night," Shearer said.

Murrieta resident Catherine Barrett-Fischer, who heads the environmental group Community Alliance for Riverside's Economy and Environment, said it should come as no surprise to anyone that most workers at the DHL center will not be earning a living wage.

"This is what our research showed and what we told the March Joint Powers Commission all along," Barrett-Fischer said.

Theo Mabon, 45, who has experience in shipping and handling, said he was hoping to find a full-time job at the cargo hub earning between $13 to $15 an hour.

The Moreno Valley resident said if the hours are right he would be willing to take a part-time job for the $9.45 hourly wage.

"It's good that we have these jobs and maybe it will turn into something full-time once I'm there a while," Mabon said.

By Joe Vargo and Kimberly Trone

DHL CARGO HUB:

--Cost: $60 million, about $30 million for the building and $30 million for the three-story, almost 5-mile conveyor system

--Location: Near Heacock Street and San Michele Road

--Size: 305,000 square feet, expected to grow to 380,000

--Packages: 22,000 a day

--Jobs: 250, ranging from $9.45-per-hour sorters to $100,000-a-year airplane mechanics

--Economic impact: $9.7 million annually from salaries, landing and rental fees

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Press-Enterprise

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