Parcel delivery and logistics provider UPS has unveiled plans to nearly double the sorting capacity of its ‘Centennial’ parcel hub in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
The UPS Centennial Ground Hub provides pick-up and delivery operations for customers in Louisville and the surrounding counties, and serves as a transfer point for trailers moving to destinations beyond Kentucky. It also supports end-of-runway express service due to its proximity to the UPS Worldport facility at Louisville International Airport.
Alongside the increased sorting rate, the project will triple the building’s footprint from 257,000ft² to 838,000ft², and will create an additional 300 jobs including both full-time and part-time positions. The project will cost an estimated US$300m with construction work scheduled to begin in 2016. The project has an initial completion date of 2018 with recruitment for the new positions starting in 2017.
The Centennial Hub will be retrofitted with automated conveyors and six-sided decode tunnels, which will replace traditional scanning to capture package information from address labels. Label applicators will place ‘smart labels’ on packages for local delivery, providing UPS loaders and sorters with faster instructions when loading.
Lou Rivieccio, president of UPS’s Ohio Valley District, said, “This hub upgrade enhances UPS’s transportation and logistics capabilities and represents a continued commitment to our customers. UPS has worked with Kentucky economic development officials to be a catalyst for business growth in the area and to link with our air operations as a gateway for global trade, and we are grateful to the commonwealth for their support of this expansion.”
Steve Beshear, governor of the state of Kentucky, said, “UPS, a great corporate partner of the commonwealth, understands strategic location as well as any company. Its investment to expand in Kentucky represents a great amount of data, research and confidence in our state as a premier location for business.
“While the company’s air presence in Louisville gets considerable attention, this major project for the UPS Centennial Ground Hub underscores the important and pivotal role ground operations play in the package delivery continuum.”
November 3, 2015