In a latest move by the online retail giant, Amazon has disclosed its plans to build an air cargo centre at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport in Hebron, United States.
The project which is aimed at supporting its growing fleet of airplanes and expected to create 2,000 new jobs when completed, will cost nearly $1.5bn (£1.19bn).
The development reflects the firm’s diversification, or expansion plans which includes transporting, sorting and delivering its own packages.
Amazon last year, signed a leasing contract with Prime Air for 40 of its dedicated cargo planes.
At the moment, about 16 of those planes are in operations with more expected overtime.
Amazon.com presently displays over 30 carriers including United Parcel Services and FedEx that services its package delivery operations worldwide.
Furthermore, setting-up its own cargo centre is expected to reduce Amazon’s dependence on external cargo delivery companies and in effect, speed-up its customer ordering and delivery time globally.
Reacting to the development, Steve Banker, vice-president at ARC Advisory Group, a supply chain consulting services company, said it is a sign the virtual retail store giant is "ramping up" its business.
Adding that, "Amazon still looses money on deliveries, the IT service side of their business supports the retail operations. Owning the whole chain cuts out the middleman fees".
Although the company’s leadership have been anything but friends with the current White House, the Amazon cargo airplanes project’s job creating aspect is in sync with President Trump’s message to corporate America. I mean, they are actually facilitating his “greatest job President†ambition.