PHILADELPHIA -- United Parcel Service unveiled its new $128 million East Coast hub Tuesday at the Philadelphia International Airport to complement the company's national air hub located in Louisville, Ky.
The East Coast hub will sort 'Next Day Air' and 'Second Day Air' packages and letters. By year's end, the hub will employ 1,400 people, creating an annual payroll of $22.6 million, UPS said. Employment is expected to triple within a 10-year period, the company said.
The Philadelphia facility became necessary due to increased growth by the company since establishing air operations and expanded international service, said Doug Kuelpman, a UPS spokesman.
UPS currently has a West Coast hub under development in Ontario, Calif.
'We have experienced a tremendous growth in service since coming to Louisville,' Kuelpman said. 'The Philadelphia hub is an essential means by which we can maintain our leadership position in air and ground delivery.'
UPS processes more than 11 million packages per day by both ground and air. The 1 million square foot facility compares with some 1.72 million square feet of hub, flight operations and storage facilities in Louisville, including current construction on a maintenance hanger and the planned expansion to house flight simulators.
Pennsylvania committed $100 million in tax-exempt financing to the project. The bonds were issued by the Delaware County Industrial Development Authority and will be repaid by UPS. A substantial amount of this money was allocated for improving and stabilizing the site through extensive draining of the land.
Initially, the Philadelphia facility's sort capacity will be 50,000 packages an hour, with the current air operation expanding to 19 flights by December, Kuelpman said.
The Louisville facility currently processes in excess of 190,000 packages and documents an hour, while operating more than 75 flights daily.
The Philadelphia hub will process East Coast regional volume. But Kuelpman said plans call for the facility to expand its volume gradually and begin sorting packages from parts of the midwestern United States and international destinations as well.
