I think if you regard the Global "Shipping" Program as the glorified forwarding service that it is, the concept of the central hub makes more sense. It's sort of like travelling the city by bus. The bus may not take the most direct route to where you're going, but it picks up a lot of people along the way who are going to similar destinations. It may even reduce the number of cars on the road by a handful.
For what it's worth, a while ago my wife purchased something from Malaysia. Because there really isn't a lot of commerce between our two countries, her shipment went to New York first, then over to Alaska, then down to California, over to Vancouver, and then over to our location on Vancouver Island.
