Asia – Around 120 UPS employees in Philippines are likely be affected when the company moves its intra-Asia hub to Shenzhen in 2010.

With the company expecting to reduce the transit time of their shipments after the relocation to Shenzhen, fewer people will be needed to maintain the existing facility. There are currently 220 workers at the former Clark Air Force base in Pampanga, Philippines.

Andy Connelly, senior vice president, UPS South Asia Pacific says: “We are cutting down [from] nine aeroplanes to two aeroplanes a day so we don’t need 220 people.”

“So we think about 120 positions will be affected by the move,” he adds.

However Connelly emphasises that UPS is not looking to retrench because the company hopes to redirect all the resources elsewhere in Philippines.

He says, “Clark will still be the gateway to the Philippines. There will be two aeroplanes a day. We also run other services from Clark which we are looking to expand on.”

Connelly also cites employment opportunities will be available for affected employees in Manila, Shenzhen and possibly Singapore.

“Through the reduction of flights, we will be able to maintain Clark, some in Manila, some may be in Shenzhen. We have twenty months now to sort that out,” he adds.

Connelly says there are opportunities to relocate its employees to the second operation base in Singapore. However, Clark employees who do not wish to be relocated will be retrenched, Connelly says.

“Hopefully our intent is to maintain full employment within UPS. We can’t create jobs if the job doesn’t exist.”

The new China air hub is expected to employ about 400 people with the bulk of the recruitment coming from China.

“Our needs will be satisfied with the people we already employed in China,” says Connelly.