Page 16 - World Trade Center - 2024

DELAWARE’S LOCATION IS
Perfect for E-Commerce,
Warehousing
By Tina Irgang Leaderman
e-commerce sales grew signifi-
During the COVID pandemic,
cantly and though life has largely
returned to normal, the growth
of e-commerce continues.
On a global scale, shares of online sales
are projected to increase from 16% in 2021 to
22% in 2025, according to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce’s International Trade
Administration.
Delaware is in a prime position to
take advantage of this trend. In addition
to having its own international shipping
port and being located near major East
Coast airports, it’s also easily accessible
by road. For example, I-95 runs straight
through Northern Delaware, allowing
e-commerce shipments to travel from
Delaware to Florida and Maine without
passing a single stoplight.
Amazon, e-commerce’s biggest player,
recognizes Delaware’s advantages. In fact,
Amazon’s first fulfillment center outside
Seattle is located in New Castle, Delaware.
The company, like many of America’s largest
companies, is also incorporated in the state.
In 2021, the shipping giant opened a
massive 3.8 million-square-foot, five-story-
high warehouse near Newport, Delaware.
It is the largest operational Amazon facil-
ity in the country. The center also features
Amazon’s latest technology, including
robots that move products and sensors
that detect where products are stored.
Altogether, Amazon maintains four
fulfillment and sortation centers, three
delivery stations, one onsite solar location
and two solar farms in the state.
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JACOB OWENS
According to a fact sheet provided by
Amazon, the company has invested $7.7
billion in Delaware since 2010 and created
9,500 full- and part-time jobs.
Another major warehousing presence
in Delaware is Dot Foods, which in 2020
opened a $37 million distribution facility
in Bear. Dot is the country’s largest food
redistributor and a top 100 largest private
company.
“When you look at Delaware’s location
in terms of the Interstate 95 corridor and
access to the Port of Wilmington, it made
an awful lot of sense from a logistics
standpoint,” said CEO Dick Tracy at the
facility’s opening.
Kango Express: Thriving in
the E-Commerce Space
In addition to these big players, there are
countless warehousing and e-commerce
providers that may be lesser known but are
thriving in Delaware. One is Kango Express,
a business that repackages e-commerce
goods for shipping abroad to more than
200 countries.
“One of our biggest markets is the Phil-
ippines, where I’m from,” said CEO Genecris
Clark. “Filipinos can’t buy products directly
from the U.S. and get them shipped. So they
will buy online from merchants in the U.S.
and ship their purchase to our warehouse
here in Delaware. Then we repackage the
purchase and ship it to them at their door-
to-door address.”
One of the biggest reasons why Dela-
ware is a good location for an e-com-
merce-dependent business like Kango
Express is that there is no tax on shopping
in Delaware. However, the proximity to I-95
also played a role, as Kango Express trucks
COURTESY OF KANGO EXPRESS