UPS plans USD1 billion expansion
Kentucky’s largest corporate employer, United Parcel Service, will announce today a $1 billion expansion of its Louisville airport operations that will create thousands of new jobs, Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s office said yesterday.
Brett Hall, a Fletcher spokesman, confirmed the shipping company — known as UPS or “brown” because of the color of its employee uniforms and trucks — plans to add more than 4,000 full- and part-time jobs as part of a wide-ranging expansion.
“They’re good-paying jobs,” Hall said. “It’s a coup.”
Construction of the expanded facility is expected to begin later this year and be completed by 2010.
UPS spokesman Mark Giuffre would not confirm the report from Fletcher’s office, but he said UPS will hold a news conference at a company hangar at 11 a.m. today.
“We have an announcement tomorrow, but I can’t confirm anything today,” Giuffre said.
Fletcher, Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson and UPS executives are expected to be at the news conference.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, or KEDFA, has scheduled a special teleconference meeting for 10:30 a.m. today.
Tax incentives for the UPS expansion are expected to be the main topic.
Matt Kamer, a spokesman for Abramson, would not discuss details but called it “a big day for Louisville.”
UPS has about 18,000 full- and part-time employees in Louisville, including about 8,300 at the airport parcel sorting Worldport hub that handles shipments to much of the country.
UPS is already undergoing an $82.5 million expansion at the Louisville site, aided by a $20 million incentive package
That project, a 785,257-square-foot heavy air service hub, was announced early last year and is expected to open next month.
It will handle shipments weighing more than 150 pounds and is projected to create 720 jobs initially and reach 400 full-time and 600 part-time jobs within 10 years after the hub opens.
About 1 million packages are processed daily at UPS’ Louisville operations — the main hub for domestic and international deliveries.
Many students at the University of Louisville and Jefferson Community College work part time at UPS while attending college classes.
UPS is based in Atlanta and employs about 407,000 people worldwide, according to data from the company.
UPS transports some 15 million documents and packages on a typical business day using a fleet of 92,000 motor vehicles and nearly 600 aircraft.
