FedEx Ground plans to build a new € 69 million ($ 110 million) sorting hub near Piedmont TriadInternational Airport, Southeast USA, and seeking aid for the construction by the county
commissioners, the news agency News & Record reported.The proposed location for the sorting facility in Kernersville is located a few miles awayfrom Piedmont Triad International Airport where the company is building an East Coast air shippinghub. The new centre’s first year of operation would bring 80 full-time jobs paying an average of $40,584 (€ 25,479) annually. Up to 470 jobs are expected to be created within six years of openingof the distribution centre.
Guilford County commissioners from the local government will hold a public hearing this weekon whether to provide $ 952,000 (€ 597,390) in incentives for FedEx Ground’s proposed shippingcentre. The board could vote to give the incentives after the public hearing. About two-thirds ofthe € 1 million ($1.6 million) in property tax revenue from the ground centre’s first three yearswould be returned to FedEx under the deal. Those close to the FedEx project reportedly say that oneFedEx facility does not guarantee another nearby, and the incentives could play a role in whetherthe ground hub comes here. Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership,said the region is competing with Tennessee and South Carolina for the ground shipping centre.
David Westrick, spokesman for FedEx Ground, said that the airport and the shipping hub wouldhave nothing to do with each other. “It is part of a national expansion plan, a multibillion-dollarplan, adding several hundred facilities. The company’s goal is to go from shipping 3.5 millionpackages per day to shipping 5.6 million by 2013. The company wants to be close to major highwaysand college students. We have work at unusual off-hours,” he said, adding that college students aremore likely to work a shift from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
FedEx Ground is the ground small-package delivery unit of FedEx Corp., operating 29 hubs andmore than 500 local pickup and delivery facilities. The company recorded annual revenues of € 3.7billion ($ 6 billion) in fiscal year 2007.
