Memphis Air Cargo Hub

FedEx's midnight sort that made a Tennessee city the world's premier cargo airport hub.

Overview

Fred Smith founded FedEx on the hub-and-spoke overnight idea, a thesis famously sketched at Yale, and moved operations to Memphis in 1973 for its weather record and central position. The SuperHub launches hundreds of flights a night in synchronized waves, sorting packages by the million through early morning. FedEx is Memphis's largest employer, and the overnight network seeded specialized logistics, including the surgical implant business that ships devices ahead of morning operations. Memphis duels with Hong Kong and Anchorage for the top of the world cargo rankings, a city whose real product is a schedule.