Ahead of the coming peak season, UPS has announced it has opened its second largest ground package processing centre in the US. The Atlanta centre is the fourth largest one in the UPS estate.

Creating some 3,000 new jobs, the Atlanta sortation and delivery centre is part of an expanded network of regional hubs. It has a capacity to handle up to 100,000 parcels an hour for Atlanta area businesses and residents.

“UPS is installing high-tech systems that make our network more flexible, more resilient, and more anticipatory,” said George Willis, President of U.S. Operations for UPS. “Atlanta is home to the largest of a new class of sortation centres, or super hubs, which enable us to optimize how we move shipments through a precisely managed network of more than 1,000 small package operating facilities in the United States.”

According to UPS it is adding over 350,000 pieces per hour of sortation capacity in the US ahead of the coming peak season. This new site will serve the SE US mainly.

Similar facilities are opening in: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas; Phoenix, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Indianapolis, Ind.

“The new regional hubs incorporate advanced package processing technologies with proprietary network planning software that efficiently integrates UPS air and ground operations across the U.S. and around the globe,” said Willis. These super hubs create more options for how packages are transported along the way to their final destinations. If a surge in package volume could overload on one sorting facility, we can redirect volume to other transportation modes and sortation facilities to avoid delays.”