The move from ILN to CVG will be about 50 miles to the southwest, but the new facility is expected be worlds apart in terms of capacity. Local reports said Amazon will be investing about $1.5bn to build a new, 3 million-square-foot facility to accommodate express e-commerce traffic from more than 200 daily takeoffs and landings by the Prime Air fleet. The e-tailer said the new processing hub will use algorithms, robotics, machine learning and other high-tech innovations to increase delivery speeds for customers.
“As we considered places for the long-term home for our air hub operations, Hebron quickly rose to the top of the list,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, referring to the Kentucky town where CVG is located, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Benefits to CVG, he added, include a large, skilled workforce and a centralized location “with great connectivity to our nearby fulfillment locations.”
The 900-acre site, which will be leased to Amazon for a period of more than 50 years, will also include a 350,000-square-foot loading wing, some smaller accessory buildings and parking positions to accommodate more than 100 aircraft, Amazon said. CVG’s board also said it will invest $5m in infrastructure improvements to the site, such as utility extensions.
