Online furniture retailer to open 319,000-sq.-ft. facility near Jaxport terminals

Article, which currently operates warehouses in Seattle, Los Angeles and New Jersey, will significantly expand its available space with the Jacksonville location.    Online-only furniture brand Article will double the size of its U.S. distribution space in 2018 by opening a 319,000-square-foot facility near the Port of Jacksonville’s North Jacksonville terminals, the port announced Dec. 18.
   Article currently operates warehouses in Seattle, Los Angeles and New Jersey but will significantly expand its available space with the Jacksonville location.
   The Vancouver, BC-based original modern furniture brand, which ships roughly 10,000 orders per month, said it anticipates 30 to 35 percent of all orders will eventually be shipped through the new Jacksonville facility. An opening date for the facility is still to be determined.
   “Our goal is to create remarkably better furniture experiences, and a key part of that is creating and maintaining efficient delivery processes,” Article Co-Founder, Director and CEO Aamir Baig said in a prepared statement. “We saw an opportunity to improve service to the southeastern region of the U.S. by opening a fourth warehouse. Jacksonville is the ideal location for our next facility because it places us within a daylong drive of more than 60 million consumers, dramatically reducing transit and delivery times.”
   The port said that its strategic location, worldwide connections and other logistical efficiencies were among the factors that attracted the big distribution center to Jacksonville.
   In addition to the port’s direct trade with Asian ports through both the Panama and Suez canals, worldwide cargo service from more than 40 ocean carriers and an on-dock rail facility, the port, Northeast Florida also offers more than 36 daily train departures via two Class I railroads – CSX and Norfolk Southern – and one regional railroad, Florida East Coast Railway, as well as quick access to three major U.S. interstates.
   “Article’s commitment is just one more indication of Northeast Florida’s increasing competitiveness in the marketplace,” Port of Jacksonville CEO Eric Green said. “As we continue to invest in the port of the future, more and more innovative companies like Article are taking notice of our region’s transportation advantages and the opportunities to grow their businesses here.”
   The Asian sector currently accounts for nearly 40 percent of the port’s total cargo container business. A federal project to deepen Jacksonville’s shipping channel to accommodate the world’s largest cargo ships is set to begin construction in early 2018.