FedEx Ground opens $130m distribution hub in Pacific Northwest
FedEx has opened a major new US distribution hub for its small package ground delivery unit, FedEx Ground. Part of the company’s eight-year-old nationwide expansion programme, the $130m Troutdale facility in Portland, Oregon, replaces the former FedEx operation on nearby Swan Island.
FedEx said the 447,000 square foot hub at the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park features technology that can move packages at 540 feet each minute along 15 miles of conveyor belts, processing up to 22,500 packages every hour.
The company said its plans for expansion should see the facility capable of processing 60,000 packages each hour.
FedEx Ground’s western region vice president John Hiltz said: “This new facility will help us meet the growing demand of local shippers, improve service on packages coming into the area for final delivery and serve as one of just two gateways for shipments destined to Canada.”
The new FedEx Ground hub is the company’s 10th new hub using advanced handling systems. More than 500 existing facilities have been expanded or relocated, allowing a 60% increase in daily package volumes at FedEx Ground, from 2.1m pieces in 2003 to more than 3.5m today.
About 750 employees now work out of the new Troutville facility, with FedEx planning to expand its workforce there to more than 1,000.
“Enhancing our distribution capability in the Pacific Northwest is an important step in our ongoing efforts to increase the size, speed and efficiency of our network,” said Hiltz.
