Four years after opening the most technologically advanced air package sorting hub in Louisville, USA, UPS has announced plans for a spectacular expansion of the facility, which will increase sorting capacity by 60 percent to 487,000 packages per hour over the next five years.
The development plan for UPS Worldport, a highly advanced, massive hub located at the heart of the company’s global transportation network, involves expanding the facility with three air loading/unloading “wings,” followed by the installation of a high-speed conveyor belt and computerized control systems.
– We anticipate that strong growth in global trade will continue for years to come – said Mike Eskew, chairman and CEO of UPS. – Expanding the most important facility in our global infrastructure is absolutely necessary if we want to meet the long-term needs of our customers.
The expansion plan reflects the steady, strong growth in UPS air package volumes worldwide. This is significantly influenced by the efficiency of global trade. UPS’s international import volume in the United States has achieved double-digit growth over the last four years. Within the United States, the market for next-day air packages remains stable, following the United States Gross Domestic Product.
Although the final scope of work is yet to be determined, it is already known that the expansion will cost at least $1 billion USD. Work will begin later this year and be completed by 2010. Despite the gigantic size of the world port, the innovative “smart label” technology, which manages the sorting process, can ensure that handling packages across the facility’s approximately 317 km (197 miles) of conveyor belts takes no longer than eight minutes.
Package movement in this massive facility is synchronized by a complex system of cameras that read detailed information encoded on stickers placed on the shipments. This activates computerized sorting and tracking tools that process 59 million database transactions per hour with near-perfect reliability.
This expansion will increase the world port’s area by 102,200 square meters to 473,800 square meters – the equivalent of more than 113 football fields. The project will also include the construction of a new ramp to accommodate the giant A380 and the 747-400 cargo aircraft currently on order, as well as a new loading vehicle for the ground network that serves Louisville.