Four years after opening the most technologically advanced air package sorting hub in the world, UPS recently announced a dramatic expansion that will increase sorting capacity over the next five years by 60 percent to 487,000 packages per hour.
The expansion plan for UPS Worldport, the sophisticated mega hub at the heart of the company's global transportation network, calls for the addition of three aircraft load/unload "wings" to the hub building followed by the installation of high-speed conveyor and computer control systems.
"We anticipate strong growth in global trade to continue for years to come," said Mike Eskew, UPS's chairman and CEO. "Expanding the centerpiece of our worldwide infrastructure is absolutely necessary to support the long-term needs of our customers."
While the final configuration of the work has yet to be set, the expansion will cost at least $1 billion. Work will begin later this year and be completed by 2010. Despite the mammoth size of Worldport, the innovative "smart label" technology that drives its sort process can propel packages through the building's 197 miles of conveyors in as little as eight minutes.
The expansion is expected to create more than 5,000 additional jobs. Many of those workers will be eligible to participate in the Metropolitan College program in which UPS and Kentucky jointly pay for the higher education of employees.
The expansion will increase Worldport's footprint by 1.1 million square feet to 5.1 million square feet, the equivalent of more than 113 football fields. The project also will embrace construction of new ramp space to accommodate the giant A380 and 747-400 cargo planes now on order, plus a new vehicle loading facility for the ground network that serves Louisville.
The Worldport project is the latest of several expansion moves to accommodate international and domestic air growth. Since the start of 2005, the company has announced plans to begin operating an air hub in China by 2007; significantly expanded the capacity of its intra-Asia air hub in the Philippines, and completed the expansion of its European air hub in Cologne/Bonn, Germany, doubling that facility's sort capacity.
Worldport is the home base of UPS Airlines, the ninth largest airline in the world with 275 aircraft. UPS air operations encompass over 1,800 flight segments each day and reach into nearly 800 gateways around the world.
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