City Manager Kenny Haskin is hopeful that a FedEx Freight facility recently opened in Texarkana, Ark., heralds further economic growth for the city.
The FedEx Freight center opened last December on U.S. Highway 67, replacing a facility on Gilliland Drive. The move allowed FedEx to double its number of Texarkana employees to about 95, company spokesman Ron Mears said in an email.
That kind of job creation should not be taken for granted, Haskin stated Friday.
"In keeping with the city's commitment to economic development, Texarkana, Ark., welcomes the new FedEx Freight center. FedEx's investment in our community has created new jobs, and the economic impact to Texarkana has been tremendous," Haskin said.
"The new facility is larger and allows us to better serve our customers in the region now and the future," Mears said. FedEx chose the site because of its ease of access to major highways, proximity to customers and a strong local community workforce.
The service center is more than 132,000 square feet in size and sits on 60 acres. It features 155 doors at which trucks load and unload freight. It is one of about 370 FedEx service centers that together handle more than 115,000 shipments a day.
FedEx Freight provides "less-than-truckload," or LTL, options for shipping customers. LTL shipping is the transportation of freight where multiple customers share space on the same truck.
The Texarkana service center includes a fleet of trucks with the latest safety features, including collision mitigation technology, lane departure warnings and roll stability systems. The service center uses a fleet of electric forklifts that are energy efficient and offer reduced emissions.
Referring to AR-TX Regional Economic Development Inc., a new organization devoted to bringing businesses and jobs to the region, Haskin said he looks forward to more such businesses calling the Arkansas side home.
"City leaders are excited about the future of Texarkana, Ark., and look forward to working with the REDI group, which will be actively pursuing further economic development of this caliber in our area," he said.