United Parcel Service said its plan to take over U.S. air shipments for Plantation-based DHL Express will preserve competition and 40,000 U.S. jobs.

"Any suggestion that UPS could somehow manipulate the way in which DHL packages move through our system to gain competitive advantage is simply untrue," Burt Wallace, UPS president of corporate transportation, said in congressional testimony Tuesday.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing in Washington on competition in the package-delivery industry. UPS and DHL are still negotiating an agreement, Wallace said. Malcolm Berkley, a UPS spokesman, said before the hearing there is no timetable for reaching a deal.

UPS is trying to blunt criticism from Ohio lawmakers and labor-union leaders that its plan with DHL will harm competition and cost jobs. UPS said May 28 it was working an agreement to take over shipments from two DHL vendors with a hub in Wilmington, Ohio.

Removing business from existing DHL vendors, Miami-based Astar Air Cargo and Ohio-based ABX, will cost 10,000 jobs, said John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, in testimony. Prater said his union represents 500 Astar pilots.

Courtesy of Postcom.org