FedEx Ground Plans $87 Million Ohio Hub

FedEx Corp. said Tuesday it will be build an $87 million facility in Ohio for its FedEx Ground unit, as part of plans to double its North American ground shipping capacity.

The Perrysburg Township, Ohio, facility will process 22,500 packages an hour when it opens in 2009, and eventually expand to twice that, FedEx in a statement.

The 400,000-square-foot facility will replace an existing operation in nearby Toledo, Ohio.

FedEx Ground is the company’s second-largest unit behind its air express business, and produced almost 18% of total revenue in its fiscal first quarter, Bloomberg reported.

The new Ohio hub is part of a $1.8 billion expansion begun in 2002 to compete with UPS Inc., which controls about 73% of the U.S. ground-delivery market, Bloomberg reported.

FedEx is ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.