Kasich hails new cargo hub, other economic gains in area

Governor John Kasich speaks Thursday at a press conference announcing the approval of a deal with the Toledo Port Authority and BX Solutions at Toledo Express Airport. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Calling one of the founders of a new logistics company at Toledo Express Airport “a really courageous young man,” Gov. John Kasich said the planned startup of BX Solutions, Inc., is further evidence of an economic revival in northwest Ohio.

“The sun is starting to rise,” the governor said during a news conference at the Toledo Maritime Center during which the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority formally announced its deal with BX Solutions to take over the former BAX Global cargo hub. “Get rid of that negative attitude. We are starting to win up here.”

Mr. Kasich touted the creation of “1,400 jobs in nine months” in the Toledo area, including the more than 500 that the new company, founded by former BAX managers, expects to hire within its first year of operations.

Other big developments the governor cited included the CSX Transportation Corp. intermodal terminal in North Baltimore and the recent spinoff of Marathon Petroleum Corp., headquartered in Findlay, from Marathon Oil.

And Mr. Kasich predicted “another significant announcement Monday” related to regional employment that will be “connected” to northwest Ohio’s recent successes in transportation and logistics.

The news conference followed a port authority board meeting during which the agency’s directors approved a contract with BX Solutions to establish package-handling, transportation, and distribution operations at the airport hub that BAX vacated early last month as parent DB Schenker shut down its domestic air freight operations.

Mayor Mike Bell, left, looks over at Chris Marshall, BX Solutions' chief executive officer after he was recognized by Gov. John Kasich. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

The agreement with BX, headed by former BAX manager Chris Marshall, has a rolling one-year term that will automatically extend by one month at the start of each additional month. BX will pay the port authority a fixed annual rent to use the hub — $1 million next year, $1.25 million in 2013, and $1.5 million after that — plus percentages of its gross revenue: 2 percent of revenue between $20 million and $40 million, and 3 percent of revenue between $40 million and $60 million.

Mr. Marshall called the agreement “the first of multiple steps” needed to establish BX’s operations at Toledo Express.

Except to say that the firm plans to focus initially on trucking and has strong customer prospects, Mr. Marshall declined to discuss details of the business. BX’s leaders “all live, and have families, in this community, he said, and the BAX shutdown left “many talented employees” idle and available to work with the new company, which expects to be up and running before the year’s end.