Amazon comes to Queens,
JFK Airport & Woodside sites
AIRPORT VOICE, JANUARY 2020 3
BY JEFF YAPALATER
Amazon distribution has
set up shop in Staten Island,
the Bronx, Woodside and now
is expected to land at JFK
Airport.
Amazon’s in-house cargo
service, Prime Flight is expected
to be wheels down at
JFK in the first quarter of
2020 according to knowledgeable
cargo individuals. The
behemoth distributor will be
taking a large space at one of
the airport cargo buildings.
This move coincides with
JFK airport improvements
in the final stages for two new
cargo facilities in the final
planning stages and both taxi
way and upgraded infrastructure
to make cargo handling
more efficient in the North
Cargo area of JFK.
This Amazon cargo facility
at the airport will be another
important distribution
point in the metro area along
its the fulfillment enters to regional
sort centers and finally
end up at their local Delivery
Stations in Staten Island and
Hunts Point in the Bronx.
Amazon ships more than
2.5 billion packages a year
in the U.S., while FedEx and
UPS ship 3 billion and 4.7 billion,
respectively, according
to recent estimates from Morgan
Stanley. Amazon’s deliveries
will reach 6.5 billion
by 2022 at $10 a package, analysts
said, posing the threat of
a $65 billion loss in revenue
for UPS, FedEx and the U.S.
Postal Service (USPS) from
Amazon’s business.
The JFK Post Office facility
now handles hundreds
of thousands of e-commerce
packages and it will be interesting
to see how the Amazon
Prime cargo will impact the
revenue these package bring
to the USPS. There are regular
seasonal surges which
have traditionally been impacted
by manpower and storage
facilities that may not be
an issue moving forward with
Amazon’s own operations.
Amazon has 150 U.S. delivery
stations that employ more
than 90,000 company associates
who earn at least $15 per
hour with benefits. Amazon’s
Delivery Service Partner
Program also gives entrepreneurs
the opportunity to start
and develop their own local
delivery services.
Amazon has become its
own biggest carrier after
cutting ties with FedEx and
reducing its reliance on
UPS, which delivers about
half the company’s packages
globally.
“Amazon’s transportation
network is built on a foundation
of 20 years of operations
and logistics experience, an
unwavering commitment to
safety, technological innovation,
and talented teams who
are obsessed with delivering
for our customers,” Amazon
Worldwide Operations Senior
Vice President Dave Clark
said .
For an initial investment
of $10,000, anyone can deliver
packages from Amazon warehouses
to their destinations
using Amazon vans and logos
while simultaneously operating
their own delivery businesses.
The program allows
Amazon a better opportunity
to avoid problems with lastminute
delivery.
The Amazon Staten Island
855,000-square-foot facility is
manned by more than 2,000
full-time employees. The
four-story warehouse named
JFK8 (after John F. Kennedy
International Airport)
opened in September, marking
Amazon’s first foray in
fulfilling orders from a center
located within the city or
state.
The Woodside facility,
which has an address of 26-
15 Boody Street, sits near the
intersection of the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway and the
Grand Central Parkway, providing
easy access to vast areas
of the city.
Now, the online shopping
behemoth has signed a lease
for a 117,00 square foot warehouse
at 1300 Viele Avenue in
Hunts Point. The property at
1300 Viele Avenue was purchased
by the current owners,
MRP Realty, and AEW
Capital Management for $26.5
million.
Amazon is the latest company
to enter the ‘last mile’
trend of snatching up warehouse
space in The Bronx.
Last year, Walmart’s Jet online
retailer snatched up
200,000 square feet at the former
ABC Carpet warehouse
along the Bronx River and
Bruckner Boulevard.
The former Whitestone
Movie Theater site is being
turned into a two-level
840,000 square foot ‘last
mile’ warehouse as well and
is being billed as one of the
first of its kind in the country
and the first in the East
Coast.
Anti terrorism
dogs die overseas
Reported conditions stimulate changes
A complaint made to the
OIG hotine alleged that the
Department of State was
providing Explosive Detection
Canines (EDCs) to foreign
partner nations without
the proper follow-up to ensure
they were receiving adequate
healthcare. Canines
were “dying due to various
medical conditions, lack of
veterinary care, and poor
working conditions,” according
to a complaint received
by the Office of Inspector
General (OIG).
As a result, the OIG included
five recommendations
made to the Department of
State: to develop and implement
a strategic
plan that addresses the
health and welfare of canines
in the Kingdom of
Jordan; conduct follow up
health and welfare checks
more frequently; develop and
implement a plan to address
canine retirement and adoption;
develop and negotiate
written agreements related
to the canine program with
partner nations; and develop
and implement policies and
procedures for all aspects of
the canine program, including
health and welfare.
As part of the first recommendation,
OIG also recommends
that the Department
cease providing canines to
Jordan until there is a
sustainability plan in place
to ensure canine health and
welfare. The Department
concurred with four recommendations
in their entirety
and partially concurred
with another. It did
not agree with the portion of
the recommendation
that advised ceasing to
provide dogs to Jordan until
a sustainability plan is in
place.
In addition they have also
developed an action plan
to enhance the strategic direction
and oversight of the
Explosive Detection Canine
Program. This includes securing
written commitments
from partner nations
with canines that clearly
outline preconditions for the
assistance, additional funding
for health and welfare
visits and technical assistance,
routine monitoring
by U.S. personnel, and sharing
canine best practices
and expected standards with
partner nations.
Additionally, the DOS
have not sent canines to
Jordan or Egypt since the
OIG released its September
2019 findings. The IG recommended
that State establish
written plans to address canine
safety; develop a standard
plan for dog retirement
and adoption; coordinate
with partner nations on welfare
checks; and develop a
timeline for implementing
a self-sustained canine program
in Jordan.
As of late 2018, the department
had deployed over
100 dogs to six countries
through the CVC program,
61 of which were sent to Jordan.
Approximately 70 dogs
remained active in seven nations
from the ATF program,
of which 28 were in Jordan.
State did not provide detailed
information on any dogs outside
of Jordan.
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