More Details on Amazon’s Sand Island Development

First came the details on the massive Sand Island land purchase by Amazon - $125mm for 14 acres or a whopping $204 psf. And in more recent months we’ve learned more about the proposed use of their new facility as a “delivery station” with multi-level garage. As described by Amazon on their website, these buildings are where “customer orders are prepared for last-mile delivery to customers.” These local terminals receive goods from Amazon’s fulfillment centers which are then sorted into delivery routes to be picked up by drivers. This type of hyper-local fulfillment is one of many ways Amazon continues to separate itself from competitors like FedEx and UPS.

Rewinding to the longer history of Amazon servicing Hawaii, starting in 2018 at Honolulu International Airport and then later in 2020 for both Kahului Airport on Maui and Kona International Airport, Amazon Air established “regional gateways” for daily flights from the mainland. This would presumably be their best delivery method for meeting next day or 2-day delivery standards.

As Hawaii’s largest market and population base, it makes total sense for Honolulu to be the home base for a large-scale delivery facility. Unless Amazon flies between islands, I would have to believe the direct daily flights to Maui and the Big Island will continue to be the method by which residents of these islands receive packages on a timely basis. Even so, there has to be an intermediate step from airplane to customer delivery where goods are off-loaded, sorted and stored. No details exist now, at least that I can find. Will this lead to more small-scale delivery stations on the outer-islands? How big when you consider the potential size of the Oahu facility on a 14 acre lot. I’ll keep trying to untangle the mystery of Amazon delivery. There’s no shortage of unconventional side-steps when it comes to the logistics of servicing a geographically disparate place like Hawaii.