DHL will cut up to 255 Seattle-area workers

DHL, which is abandoning its air and ground delivery service within the U.S., plans to lay off 255 employees at five King County facilities, according to the state Employment Security Department.

The company alerted the state that on Jan. 18 it will lay off 68 employees at its Marginal Way facility and close sites in Kent, Bothell, Bellevue and Fife that employ 187, a spokeswoman for Employment Security said.

A DHL spokesman said the actual number may be smaller. "It will be some time before we have specific numbers and know the total impact as the result of our new routing structure," spokesman Robert Mintz said in an e-mail.

He said the company will continue to operate the Marginal Way facility, but not the four pickup and delivery sites where drivers are dispatched and packages are sorted.

DHL, which is a big player in international package delivery, said earlier this month that it will drop domestic service and close its U.S. ground hubs.

Nationally, that restructuring will eliminate 9,500 U.S. jobs at DHL Express on top of the approximately 5,400 positions already reduced since January, it said. The company said it will retain 3,000 to 4,000 U.S. Express employees, tailored to the needs of international express customers.