Deutsche Post, the German parent of package carrier DHL Express and forwarder Exel, said it was reorganizing to put its Express operations under a single top executive and was shifting its road cargo forwarding from that division into its Logistics unit.

DP named John Mullen to head Express globally, ending a dual management structure for the division. Mullen has already been operating the Americas region, where DHL Express has been losing U.S. customers in the wake of a complex air hub consolidation and does not expect to turn a profit until 2009.

Peter Kruse, who has headed DHL Express Europe, "leaves the management board in best mutual agreement," said DP, and will now be a special representative to corporate CEO Klaus Zumwinkel.

DP has said its express service has been making money outside the U.S. market. This management restructuring, it said, "will result in a streamlined management, development and harmonization of all global Express products." It will focus even more on its growing international business, DP said.

The German mail, logistics and freight giant said that with its integration of recently acquired Exel going well in the Logistics division, it was now folding into that segment the European highway freight operations worth more than $5 billion annually. Logistics remains under former Exel chief and board member John Allen.

DP said that would help in a couple of ways. The reshaped Express operations would be more easily compared with competitors' operations for capital market transparency, DP said. And the Logistics division should be able to handle more trucking needs internally that it formerly bought from other vendors across Europe.

John D. Boyd