Parcel shipping: UPS completes Phase I of Worldport expansion
Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 7/10/2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—UPS this week completed the Phase I expansion of its advanced air packaging sorting hub, entitled Worldport, which company officials said will increase its capacity 15 percent from 304,000 to 350,000 packages per hour. Full Worldport operations kicked off on July 7.
UPS said in May 2006 that Phase I of the Worldport expansion would be completed by November 2010 and cost approximately $1 billion. But the company said this week that Phase I came in both under budget and ahead of schedule, with the company spending less than the anticipated $1 billion for the expansion and adding that it will open a month earlier than allowed for in the three-year construction schedule.
The UPS Worldport expansion is comprised of:
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26 new docks, 13 on each of the two new wings, which increases the number of planes that can park on the building from 44 to 70;
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an additional 1.2 million square feet to the building, increasing its footprint to 5.2 million square feet, the equivalent of 90 football fields;
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51 miles of conveyors, increasing the total to 150 miles and 12,874 conveyors, increasing the total to 31,578;
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more than 1,000 caissons, or 3.3 miles of them, bringing the total to 3,370, or 8.6 miles;
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23 tons of steel, increasing Worldport’s total to 60 tons; and
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8,350 linear feet, or 1.6 miles, of building wall, increasing the total to 23,925 linear feet, or 4.5 miles, among others.
UPS Airlines Spokesman Mike Mangeot told LM the biggest benefit of this expansion for shippers is added capacity.
“We will be able to process more of our customers' shipments as we seek to help them grow their businesses in over 200 countries and territories around the world,” said Mangeot. “And we will be able to offer our services at high levels of speed and reliability. UPS already delivers more packages overnight than any other carrier in the U.S., and we guarantee worldwide delivery of more packages than anyone. Fueled by Worldport's highly efficient sort technology, the added capacity will further extend UPS advantages in speed, service and reliability.”
And in May 2010, Mangeot said the second phase of the Worldport expansion will be completed, increasing Worldport’s capacity to 416,000 packages per hour. These two phases, all told, will increase Worldport’s capacity by 37 percent, and based on future customer demand, Mangeot said UPS has the ability to expand Worldport’s capacity to 487,000 packages per hour.
Other features of the UPS Worldport include: high-speed conveyors and “smart labels” read by overhead cameras that facilitate the processing of documents and small packages; automated equipment and overall process improvements that reduce the amount of time employees spend lifting and lowering packages while reducing the average package cycle-sorting span; IT systems that rapidly transmit Customs information to expedite the movement of international shipments; and specially designed docks and hub floors that let staffers easily move package containers from one area of the building to another.
Taking a look back: UPS’ Worldport hub, which was previously known as Hub 2000, was launched in April 1999. Hub 2000 was the first of three original expansion plans that increased sort capacity by 30,000 packages per hour. The second phase opened in July 2001 and added another 30,000 packages to the facility’s sort capacity, and the third and final phase of Hub 2000 opened in September 2002, adding sort capacity by another 29,000 packages per hour.
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Hi Gary--Thanks for reading LM.
That steel stat checks out, according to my correspondence with UPS.
" -23 tons of steel, increasing Worldport’s total to 60 tons."
If it turns out to be incorrect, I will definitely update it.
Best,
Jeff Berman
Logistics Management
Jeff Berman - 2009-21-7 15:50:00 EDT -
23 tons of steel does not sound like much compared to the other specs. I wonder if there is an error.
Gary Silver - 2009-10-7 16:16:00 EDT
