FedEx to enlarge Harrison operation
Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006
FedEx Freight, FedEx’s lessthan-truckload subsidiary, said Monday that expansion plans for a 92, 000-square-foot addition to its headquarters in Harrison will be submitted to the city’s planning board by the end of April.
Dennis Beal, vice president of physical assets, said FedEx Freight needs more office space to accommodate its continued growth. Company officials declined to say how much the expansion would cost.
“ When you expand, you have to have a facility in which to house people, ’’ Beal said of the addition, which could house as many as 600 new workers to be hired over a three- to five-year period.
About 1, 300 people now work at the Harrison campus on Forward Drive.
The company has already been adding new employees to its payroll monthly, Beal said. With limited space available, the company has created temporary office space in meeting rooms and other underutilized areas, he said.
The proposed three-story addition represents the fourth expansion of the 220, 000-square-foot building on FedEx Freight’s 50-acre campus. Beal said an additional 10 acres could be used if another expansion is needed.
Construction of the proposed addition could be completed within nine to 12 months after ground is bro- ken. Groundbreaking could coincide with the city’s approval, which is expected by the end of April, Beal said.
He declined to say which departments were experiencing rapid growth, but said some were growing faster than others.
FedEx Freight also operates 340 terminals throughout the United States that employ between 20 and 600 people, Beal said.
FedEx Freight said promotions such as a no-fee moneyback guarantee helped sales grow 14 percent to $ 932 million in the second quarter, compared to $ 820 million for the quarter ending Nov. 30, 2005. It also reported strong fiscal-year figures. FedEx Freight had $ 354 million in operating income in fiscal 2005, a 45 percent increase compared with $ 244 million for fiscal 2004. It also reported $ 3. 21 billion in sales for fiscal 2005, a 19 percent increase over sales of $ 2. 69 billion for fiscal 2004. Fed-Ex’s fiscal year begins June 1. The last headquarters expansion took place in 2000, Beal said, when American Freightways owned the business. Memphis-based FedEx Corp. acquired the 19-year-old American Freightways for $ 1. 2 billion in November 2001. FedEx Freight, created in 2002, is the combination of American Freightways and Viking Freight, a California-based carrier acquired in 1998.
To contact this reporter: lwhalen@arkansasonline. com
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