Charlie Dobbie, executive vice president global network operations and IT for DHL Express, told a media briefing at the integrator's European air hub in Leipzig that there was no "management dogma" about pulling out of domestic markets.

China was the reverse case, Dobbie said. "We were the first in through our joint venture with Sinotrans and we have retained this arrangement, while other companies came and went.”

He accepted there was strong competition, but commented: “It's early days and we're going quietly. We want to build quality and develop a full network, seeing what's required. We see it as a premium-end market, not one where we will deliver anywhere at low cost."

Dobbie described DHL as “a local company with an international outlook." Despite buying a small existing operator in Shanghai through Sinotrans, the company was "hesitant" about integrating acquisitions and he said DHL preferred to grow its own business.

Network costs had been too high and investment “ahead of the curve” when DHL tried to be a domestic player globally, Dobbie said. The company had been forced out in markets where the platform or inherent profit issues “would take too long or cost too much to fix”.

He insisted DHL was “not against domestic” in principle. In markets such as Germany, Spain India and Mexico the company carries out all its own collection and delivery, and it is set to invest substantially in its main Mexico hub.

Elsewhere, however, other solutions had been necessary. “In the UK, we divested to a specialist local player, HDN. We can service every door in the UK but not necessarily sell to every door," Dobbie said.

Parts of the Nordic road express business had been taken over by DHL’s freight division and the focus in parcels and packages was now on cross-border rather than domestic traffic.

The retreat from the US in 2008 simply reflected that "we couldn't stand the losses any more," Dobbie said. "We retain more than 100 pickup and delivery stations, we still have dedicated fleets serving the main international hubs and we use 99 percent our own couriers.”

Rural Montana was a different question, he said. “We didn't want to take all that energy and capital and put it into the US when it could be going into China or somewhere else. The US became so all-consuming, there was a danger of losing focus on other markets."