Talks between DHL and UPS over carrying some of the European express company’s packages in the US have come to an end, the Associated Press reported Friday. The proposed 10-year joint venture which would have seen UPS transporting DHL freight between airports throughout North America could have generated up to US$1 billion in annual revenues for Atlanta-based UPS, the world’s largest parcel shipping company.

DHL which struggled to establish its US domestic express business in the face of competition from deeply entrenched UPS and FedEx, said last year it was pulling out of the US ground and air domestic service.

DHL said it will continue using ABX Air and ASTAR Cargo as its air service providers, but would move hub operations from Wilmington, Delaware to Cincinnati, Ohio where it will reopen its fully automated sorting hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, after being wooed back with a $1.8 million tax incentive package.