UPS has announced the expansion of its operations hub at Singapore's Changi Airport to support the growing demand for the transport of e-commerce and healthcare-related goods.
In a statement, the American multinational logistics company said the expansion would also address customer expectations for faster delivery of parcels.
UPS said earlier in March that the expansion would raise the overall size of its Changi Airport hub by 25% — enabling the company to facilitate 40% more import packages and would also speed up delivery times to almost 5,000 additional postal codes across Singapore.
With this, UPS noted that more of its customers in the country could expect to receive their packages several hours earlier, by noon or 2 pm.
Meanwhile, export processing capacity would also be increased by 45%, allowing pick-up and cut-off times for all export services to be extended by an hour.
UPS noted that as part of enhancements to its global healthcare cold chain, advanced frozen and cold storage solutions have also been installed at the expanded hub in Changi Airport to allow temperature-sensitive healthcare goods — such as vaccines — to be safely stored onsite.
These temperature-sensitive shipment offerings include coolers that could maintain temperatures between -20 to 25 degrees Celsius to facilitate the temporary storage of shipments being transported.
Increased e-commerce, healthcare demand
"Due in part to the impact and ongoing legacy of the pandemic, we've seen a significant increase in demand for e-commerce and complex healthcare shipments in recent years, a trend we expect to continue for some time," said Chika Imakita, managing director of UPS Singapore.
Imakita noted that the expansion of UPS' hub at Changi Airport gives businesses "faster and more flexible access" to customers and suppliers across the globe while at the same time affording them the luxury of being able to plan their growth for the long term.
A 2022 survey by Meta and Bain & Company revealed that total e-commerce sales in Singapore are expected to reach S$19.6 billion (US$14.76 billion) by 2027.
Last year, total e-commerce sales volume amounted to about S$12.6 billion (US$9.49 billion).
UPS noted that its expansion plans in its Singapore hub would also complement its latest healthcare offering, UPS Premier — launched in Singapore at the end of 2022 — the highly specialised shipping service for time-sensitive, temperature-sensitive, and patient-critical products.
"As we saw from our delivery of Covid-19 vaccines, critical healthcare deliveries often need to be kept in very precise conditions, not just while they're being transported, but also while they're waiting to be transported — for the patient at the end of the delivery, this can literally be the difference between life and death," Imakita said of the expected faster delivery times.
"Moving forward, Singapore will continue its role as a key part of our Asia Pacific operations. It connects our customers across Southeast Asia and Australasia with our global network, allowing for as soon as next-day delivery to destinations worldwide, including across Asia, Europe and the US."