Thursday, May 22, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
UNITED Parcel Service (UPS) said Wednesday it is moving its Asian hub in the Philippines to China by 2010 and would scale back its current operations at Clark airport, a former US military base.
UPS’ decision to move to Shenzhen, China comes more than two years after Federal Express (FedEx) pulled the plug on its operations in another former US military base in the Philippines. FedEx announced the transfer of its Asian hub at the Subic Bay Freeport to Guangzhou, also in China, citing the shift in the volume of transactions to north Asia.
The pullout by the two companies is a blow to the Philippines’ bid to become Asia’s logistics hub.
“In the past few years the increase in trend was moving towards the north of Asia. About 75 percent of the intra-Asia package volume shifted to North Asia, and the decision was made to handle the packages close to our clients,” said Andy Connelly, UPS senior vice president for the region.
From 2010 the Shenzhen airport will take most of the volume away from the UPS facility at Clark airport north of Manila, he told a news conference.
The 89,000-square meter UPS Shenzhen hub will launch 100 flights per week and its 400 staff will be capable of sorting 18,000 packages an hour, Connelly added.
He said the China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan markets now account for more than half of UPS’ total intra-Asia volume, with a sizeable volume in southeast China and Hong Kong.
“Given the growth in shipping alone in southern China, it makes sense to sort and dispatch this volume from a hub closer to our customers,” he added.
From the current nine aircraft daily, Connelly said UPS flights out of the $300 million, 7,000 packages per hour Clark facility would be reduced to two flights.
“We will maintain our presence in Clark on a reduced basis. Clark will continue its function as gateway to the Philippines’ import and export,” the official said.
The Clark staff will be reduced to 70 from 200, he added.
President Arroyo earlier unveiled a master plan to transform the Subic-Clark corridor into a world-class logistics hub.
The President recently graced the opening of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), a 94-kilometer highway that shortened travel time between Subic and Clark to 40 minutes. Considered the country’s longest expressway, the P27.40-billion highway is envisioned to transform the surrounding area into a super region that would attract foreign investors. --With AFP
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