Shipping news

When Cheney Brothers unveiled plans four years ago to develop a state-of-the-art distribution center on 35 acres adjacent to the Punta Gorda Airport in Charlotte County, more than a few logistics experts were puzzled.

Though the company would receive more than $1.5 million in state and county financial incentives to sweeten the deal, and its planned warehouse would be located next to Interstate 75, the concept hardly seemed to make sense.

Gulf Coast distributors traditionally locate either on the Interstate 4 corridor, between Tampa and Orlando, to the north, or in Fort Myers, to the south in Lee County.