UPS expands international air hub in California

UPS has completed the expansion of its international air hub in California. The expansion supports the rapidly growing export operations between the United States and the Asia Pacific region.

The expansion increases the hub's sorting capacity by 53 percent to more than 107,000 packages per hour, or about 30 per second. It expands the size of the facility by more than 35 percent, adding 176,000 square feet. With 676,000 square feet now under one roof, the UPS facility is more than six times the size of the playing surface of Dodger Stadium.

The expanded hub helps UPS provide faster and more reliable service to meet customers' demands along this key international lane of commerce. For example, distributor Otto International chose Ontario as the site for its headquarters partly because of the air hub.

With the Peak holiday shipping season soon to kick off, the extra capacity will pay immediate dividends. Package volumes ramp up across UPS's global air system during the holiday season to over 4.5 million air express packages, more than double the volume of an average day.

Package volume isn't the only thing that ramps up during the holidays. The expansion created 200 permanent new jobs needed to handle the additional packages flowing through the hub. The hub employs more than 4,000 area residents, a number that grows more than 22 percent to about 4,900 during the peak holiday season.

The expansion reinforces the Inland Empire's status as a key gateway for international trade in general and for UPS's international shipping in particular.

"UPS's Ontario hub is a key part of the Inland Empire's economic infrastructure and this expansion is significant for the region," said John Husing, an Inland Empire economist and a former president of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership. "UPS's commitment to the region reinforces my belief that it will continue to grow into a key center for global trade, particularly air cargo."

One of seven main UPS air hubs in the United States, the sophisticated, Ontario facility sorts and distributes a majority of UPS international packages bound for delivery to the Pacific Rim. Four of the six direct weekly flights flown by UPS to China originate at the Ontario hub, and non-stop service between the U.S. and China has continued to exceed the company's export volume projections.

"Trade with Asia is a key growth area for UPS, particularly since we won approval for direct cargo flights to China," said Tom Weidemeyer, UPS chief operating officer and president of UPS Airlines. "The Ontario hub is key to our ability to serve this important market, and this major expansion helps us prepare to handle future growth."

UPS also recently unveiled the largest capital project in its 95-year history, a billion dollar expansion at its Worldportsm Global air hub in Louisville, Ky., that combines state-of-the-art technology with massive scale to process more than 300,000 packages per hour. In April, UPS opened a new intra-Asia hub in the Philippines, helping speed delivery times for goods moved within Asia.

"Even in tough economic times, UPS believes it is imperative to continue to invest in the global network and technology that allow us to speed goods through the supply chain more quickly and more efficiently," Weidemeyer said. "As trade with the Pacific Rim continues to expand, it becomes even more important to businesses in the Inland Empire to hone their supply chains as a competitive edge. We're committed to keeping facilities like the Ontario hub on the cutting edge to continue to help them do that."

Located on 76 acres, the Ontario hub can stage 20 jet aircraft and 16 smaller feeder aircraft. An average of 31 flights per day – including 21 cargo jets and 10 feeder aircraft – take off from the facility.

In December, UPS will be one of the first in the industry to operate Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tractors in its road fleet. Ten LNG tractors, which haul package trailers up and down the coast of California, will be based at the Ontario facility. Because of its density, LNG is a viable alternative source of fuel for large trucks that need to go long distances before stopping for fuel.