In 2008, DHL abandoned its domestic shipping operations in the United States, putting thousands of employees out of work and leaving behind a very nice air cargo facility at a decommissioned air base in Ohio. A company started using the base recently, shipping unspecified “consumer goods,” but no one will identify who it is. One likely suspect is Amazon.

Amazon? In the cargo business? It makes sense if you remember Christmas of 2013, when Amazon’s carriers failed to deliver a percentage of last-minute gifts that the retailer found unacceptable. Since the 2013 late delivery debacle, the retailer has been looking to diversify its selection of shipping carriers, perform some of its own deliveries, and hire independent contractors to make deliveries in their own cars. They want to depend on existing major carriers less.

Vice’s Motherboard did some fab reporting and dot-connecting, noting that the four flights per day land at two airports that are 60 miles from Amazon distribution centers, and two airports that are only 20 miles from distribution centers. A spokesperson from Air Transport Services Group, which Mystery Company has hired to handle the operation, said that the freight is “consumer goods” and that he couldn’t elaborate further.

Could the facility belong to some other mysterious consumer goods company? Sure. Yet the possibilities are interesting: could Amazon have its own version of FedEx SmartPost, where they move packages around the country and then turn them over to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver to customers’ doorsteps? That would be a good option. A cargo service could also be a money-making operation, much like Amazon’s server-rental services.

A Secretive Air Cargo Operation Is Running in Ohio, and Signs Point to Amazon [Motherboard]

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