[eweezerinc]

UPS hiring 4,900 in $1 billion expansion
By Wayne Tompkins
The Courier-Journal



UPS is planning a $1 billion expansion of its Worldport air cargo hub at Louisville International Airport that will add 1,200 full-time and 3,700 part-time jobs to the facility, sources at the company said Tuesday.

The company is also planning a significant physical expansion of its Worldport facilities, and will do so without acquiring additional land, the sources said.

The expansion is the result of UPS’s increase in international, domestic and express air cargo traffic as it takes advantage of an expanding global economy.

An official announcement is scheduled for 11 a.m. this morning at UPS’s Worldport facility. Several top officials are planning to attend, reportedly including Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Abramson was coy yesterday when asked to comment on UPS’s plans.

“It’s going to be a great day for Louisville,” he said.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority is scheduled to meet half an hour earlier in Frankfort to consider incentives for the project.

UPS is the region’s largest private employer in the metro region, providing 18,000 jobs.

The company already is in the middle an $82.5 million expansion that involves a 700,000-square-foot heavy-freight hub due to open next month. The company, as of last week, said it still needed to hire for 700 part-time positions.

The latest expansion is expected to begin late this year, a source at UPS said.

Paul Coomes, an economist at the University of Louisville, said the expansion to be announced Wednesday would be welcome.
“There has not been much voltage in the local economy on the job front in Louisville in five years,” Coomes said. “This would probably qualify as the biggest job announcement in Louisville since the late ‘90s.”

Coomes said Louisville’s job numbers peaked in 2000.
Fred Zuckerman, president of the Teamsters Local 89, said he wasn’t aware of the company’s plans, but said “that’s absolutely fantastic for us,” upon hearing about them.

About two thirds of the Local 89’s 15,000-person members are UPS employees and Zuckerman said that because of the type of jobs being added, the additional employees could be Local 89 members.
UPS shares closed at $80.76, down 56 cents.

News of the pending announcement broke after the close of trading.

 

[Sean in New Orleans]

That is good news for Louisville. Louisville has a great location for expansion for this company.

 

[Ian604]

Woohoo!!!

 

[krazeeboi]

Great job, LOO-vuhl!

 

[Cannonized]

Yall in Louisville are blessed to be the home to this company. I'd kill for something like that in New Orleans.

 

[Audiomuse]

I am happy! I am all for more jobs in the U.S.

 

[Audiomuse]

Wow it has 18,000 employees in the Louisville region!!!!!!!!!

 

[eweezerinc]

^^
And thats BEFORE the 5,000 thats just been announced.

But what Im excited about are the other companies that this will attract to Louisville. UPS has already done wonders as far as bringing small business opperations into Louisville simply so they can be close to the packaging facility and air-hub.
With the hub getting this major expansion, its going to look very appealing to those small businesses who need to get their product somewhere fast. Not to mention it saves on shipping costs the closer you are to a mailing hub like this.

 

[bananaboi22]

They have larger hubs in Indianapolis.

 

[eweezerinc]

^^
UPS doesn't. That would be Fedex. Crazy.
Whats your beef anyway? You've been snyde about Louisville before. >.>

EDIT: BTW, I just looked up info on Fedex's Indianapolis hub and it only employs 5,000 employees. Thats a little over a 1/4 of the jobs UPS has in Louisville, and thats just based off the number right now.
Now you tell me which hub is bigger.

 

[LouisvilleJake]

They have larger hubs in Indianapolis.

Um. Are you just that dense? The Federal Express secondary hub in Indianapolis currently employs around 4,000 people, and it was recently announced there will be a 214 million dollar expansion with the addition of 800 mostly part time workers. Oh, and the airport gave FedEx 50 million dollars to help with the expansion. WOOT WOOT!

http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?id=6369&siteSection=4

Now, just to help you compare the difference here, since you apparently are too illiterate to actually find these facts on your own...the UPS WorldHub in Louisville currently employs 18,000 people. That is actually 4.5 times larger than the FedEx hub in Indianapolis. Now, currently UPS is moving the old hub for heavy freight from Dayton to Louisville and they are finishing up a 200 million expansion in Louisville before they even announced their 1 billion dollar expansion, with 3,700 part time jobs and 1,300 full time pilots and executives. So, to put that in perspective...they are adding more jobs in Louisville with this expansion that Indianapolis' hub has all together, even after they expand!

In 2010 Louisville will be home to 23,000 employees of UPS and will leap closer to becoming a top 5 airport globally in shipment. We also are expanding the airport to allow UPS to use their new airbus fleet in 2010.

So next time, before you open your mouth, maybe you should actually do a little bit of digging. It may actually make you look not stupid!

(Now, this is not a dig against Indianapolis, the city where I now spend most of my life...5,000 employees at any one company means good things and a 215 million dollar expansion is awesome, but this kid is just a twit)

 

[eweezerinc]

This ripple effect in the economy is exactly what I'm really happy about

UPS fuels economic gains
Hub called lure for companies

By Wayne Tompkins
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal



UPS' latest expansion in Louisville stands to add $750million to the area's economy in the form of new paychecks, car sales and dinners out.

Already the Louisville area's biggest private employer with 18,000 on its payroll, UPS has been credited with luring more than 90 companies to the region. Just last month, for instance, Best Buy announced that it would bring a 550-job computer-repair center to town.

The latest UPS plan, announced yesterday, will increase employment by more than 5,000 with an investment of more than $1 billion and will bring jobs ranging from part-time work for college students to high-paid positions for pilots and executives.

UPS will be able to handle 60percent more packages in Louisville when the expansion is complete about four years from now.

The company expects an undetermined number of additional flights, but much of the growth will come from a new generation of super-jumbo jets that it will start flying in 2009. They are touted as being quieter than older jets.

The direct economic impact of the new UPS jobs will be $344.8million, with about $400million in indirect benefits because other companies are projected to arrive or grow as a result of Worldport's expansion, said Gene Strong, secretary of the state Cabinet for Economic Development.

"This will be a day to remember in Kentucky's economic history," Strong said.

The ripple effects of the expansion will translate into $97million more in annual retail sales for car dealers, banks, homebuilders and restaurants, said Joe Reagan, chief executive of Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.

Of the new UPS jobs, 1,284 will be full-time positions paying an average of about $87,000 annually before benefits. The new jobs will add $91million to the company's payroll.

Part-time employees will receive full benefits and will be eligible for free college tuition through the Metropolitan College program, a public-private partnership of UPS and area universities.

UPS part-timers start at $8.50 per hour. The part-time jobs don't qualify for state tax breaks.

Attracting other business

Although the UPS hub is busy at Christmas shipping items bought online or in catalogs, a big part of its business is handling the shipping needs of large companies.

The Best Buy repair center will take broken computers off a UPS jet in the morning and have them back to the hub by the evening to be whisked back to customers.

Those computer-repair jobs will pay an average of $44,000 per year and were largely brought to Louisville because of the UPS hub.

"The rippling effect that UPS' location and continued expansion have on Kentucky is profound ... as we see more companies that are using this tremendous logistics facility for their businesses," Gov. Ernie Fletcher said during yesterday's announcement. "The expansion will lay the groundwork for even more jobs to Kentucky."

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson recalled attending a 1980 meeting about an incentive package for a company "that had a lot of brown trucks and not many airplanes, and the thought was that they were going to start a little airline."

Two years later, UPS opened its first air operation in Louisville with 115 employees and 200,000 square feet of space.

The 1988 expansion of Louisville International Airport played a crucial role in UPS' growth, Abramson recalled.

Further growth?

Company officials hinted yesterday that the expansion might not be the last in Worldport's future.

"Given the speed of the modern world, best doesn't remain best for very long," said Bob Lekites, UPS' top Louisville executive and vice president of airline and international operations. "Customers always want more speed, more reach and more capacity."

Once the expansion is complete in November 2010, the hub will be able to handle 478,000 packages per hour, a 60 percent increase. Work will begin later this year and the first phase is scheduled to open in 2009.

The expansion will add to the hub three wings that will be capable of loading and unloading 40 aircraft. About 130 UPS jets land in Louisville daily, mostly overnight.

The company is buying 747-400 cargo planes and new Airbus A380 jets capable of carrying 330,000 pounds of cargo. That's 75 percent more payload than the MD-11, another long-range freighter favored by UPS.

A new loading facility for the ground-delivery network also is planned.

UPS said yesterday that its supplier diversity program will maintain its commitment to award 20percent of the expansion's construction contracts to minority- and female-owned businesses.