FedEx Corp. has inked a land deal to build 200,000 square feet of package and freight distribution facilities in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The proposed 120,000-square-foot FedEx Ground hub and 80,000-square-foot FedEx Freight facility are scheduled to open by July 2007. The new hub is part of nationwide effort by Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx to step up capacity and speed for handling packages in the face of mounting competition by United Parcel Service Inc. and DHL International GmbH.
"In the last few years, everything is about speed," said David Pickering, vice president of research for industrial manufacturing for Industrial Info Resources, a Sugar Land, Texas-based marketing and research firm. "All the major carriers have allocated billions to boosting infrastructure."
FedEx has said it intends to spend $1.8 billion to expand its ground network. That plan includes construction of nine new hubs and expansion of 30. The move is intended to double FedEx's ability to move packages by 2010.
"If FedEx doesn't do it, then UPS will. If UPS doesn't do it, then DHL will. It is quite a competitive market right now," Pickering said.
In May, Atlanta-based UPS announced plans for a 1.1 million-square-foot expansion of its Worldport package-handling hub in Louisville, Ky., bringing the facility to a total 5.1 million square feet, or the equivalent of more than 113 football fields. The expansion will cost more than $1 billion, and is expected to create 1,284 full-time jobs and 3,787 permanent part-time positions.
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