FedEx Chooses Carson for New Distribution Center

Small-package carrier FedEx Ground will begin building a 218,000-square-foot distribution center in Carson next week, the company said Thursday.

Set to open in the Dominguez Technology Center in late 2005, the facility is part of a $1.8-billion nationwide network expansion that will double the company’s average daily capacity to 5.1 million packages by 2010.

The local facility will replace a Torrance operation that opened in 1995. No layoffs are planned.

The company estimated that the new distribution center would handle about 11,000 packages an hour when it opened. Full capacity at the center, which will take a “number of years to reach,” will be 15,000 packages each hour, said David Westrick, a FedEx Ground spokesman.

FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of shipping giant FedEx Corp., said it chose the 20-acre site in part because of its proximity to major highways. When it reaches full capacity, the facility could employ up to 600 people, more than triple the number working in Torrance.

“Carson is good for us because we’re all about location,” Westrick said.

Added Daniel J. Sullivan, FedEx Ground’s chief executive, “The Southern California region is an important growth area for our company.”

A similar distribution center is slated to open in Anaheim this year. FedEx Ground had 2003 revenue of $3.6 billion.