UPS to triple size of Louisville “Centennial” package sorting hub
UPS is set to triple the size of its “Centennial” ground package sorting facility in Louisville and nearly double the package processing rates. The current building footprint will increase from 257,000 square feet to 838,000 square feet with construction scheduled to begin in 2016. Pickup and delivery operations will continue throughout the project.
This project (which is separate from the UPS Worldport international air hub) will cost an estimated $300 million and – according to UPS – should be “substantially completed” by 2018.
UPS plans to add more than 300 jobs – some full and some part-time – over the course of the project with recruitment starting in 2017.
The facility provides pickup and delivery operations for customers in Louisville and 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.
The Centennial Hub will be retrofitted with automated conveyors to move packages through the sort process capturing package data and routing volume to proper load positions. Six-sided decode tunnels 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 faster instruction of proper loading. This automation is part of UPS’s suite of package flow technologies.
In a statement issued yesterday (29 October), 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.”
Meanwhile, UPS also announced yesterday that has opened a new Integrad driver training facility in Menlo Park, CA.
