FedEx Ground opens DC at Baltimore's Tradepoint Atlantic logistics hub

Memphis-based transport and logistics giant FedEx Corp. said Wednesday it had opened a distribution center near Baltimore that will help the company meet growing demand for small package delivery services.

FedEx' small package ground-delivery unit, FedEx Ground, will operate the 307,000-square-foot facility located on a 50-acre plot in Sparrows Point, Md. The DC will employ 275 employees when it opens, with the potential to add positions in response to future demand, FedEx said.

The opening marks a step forward in plans to rebrand the site from a former Bethlehem Steel Co. manufacturing plant into a global logistics hub known as "Tradepoint Atlantic."

FedEx Ground transports nearly 8 million packages daily, which is double the daily volume that it handled 10 years ago. In response to that growing demand, the company launched a nationwide network-expansion plan in 2005, which has added 15 major hubs and expanded or relocated 500 more facilities to date. The division now operates more than 590 distribution hubs and local pickup-and-delivery stations to support its delivery service to businesses and residential customers throughout the U.S. and Canada.