What Makes UPS Worldport Unique (and Why That Matters in an Injury Case)

If a serious air-cargo or ramp incident happens in Louisville, it likely touches UPS Worldport at SDF (Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport)—one of the busiest cargo hubs on Earth. Understanding how Worldport operates helps families (and their lawyers) move fast on evidence and identify all the players who may be responsible.

The scale (and why it changes everything)

• Top-5 cargo airport globally; #3 in North America. SDF’s freight volume places it among the world’s leaders, year after year.

• Worldport = 5.2 million sq ft; ~2 million packages/day; 300+ flights/day. UPS’s own materials and recent reporting peg Worldport’s footprint and throughput at truly industrial scale.

• “Wave” operations all night. Aviation outlets describe ~400 flights/day moving through orchestrated sort “waves” with 155 miles of conveyors and extremely tight turn times—meaning data systems are constantly capturing (and overwriting) operational signals.

Why it matters: At this pace, short retention windows and multiple contractors touching the same operation are the norm. If you don’t preserve quickly—and ask the right entities—key video and telemetry can vanish.

Short evidence windows: what disappears first

• Ramp CCTV / facility video. Airports and tenants often cycle video on rolling retention. Policies vary by owner (airport vs. tenant), and cameras can overwrite within days unless a hold is placed. (Retention specifics differ by system; the point is to send immediate preservation to both the Airport Authority and UPS/vendor custodians.)

• ATC audio & radar tracks. Air-traffic data is recorded and retained under FAA directives; facilities follow FAA orders for recording/retention and release. Request preservation early and follow the FAA process to obtain NAS data.

• GSE telematics & camera clips (tugs, belt loaders, fuel/de-ice trucks). Many ramp vehicles run commercial video-telematics (e.g., Lytx/Samsara-style systems). These systems default to event clips & short backfills unless an admin exports full windows with metadata. Ask for native files plus data dictionaries.

Contractor handoffs: who might have the data (and the duty)

Worldport’s scale means many non-UPS vendors may be involved on any given shift—ground handling, fueling, de-ice, maintenance, security, and third-party logistics inside the Worldport campus. The Louisville Regional Airport Authority (LRAA) owns/operates the airfield (SDF/LOU), while tenants and vendors control their own systems and SOPs. Mapping these relationships early is critical.

Practical upshot: Send parallel preservation to (1) UPS (carrier/tenant), (2) each identified vendor (ground services, fueling, de-ice, maintenance), and (3) the Airport Authority for any airfield/ops video or logs.

Fast-action checklist (family-friendly summary)

1. Identify the forum & clock. Federal investigation (NTSB/FAA) runs alongside your civil claim—you can and should preserve civil evidence immediately.

2. Lock video now. Ask for ramp CCTV at specific camera IDs, time ranges, and angles—and for GSE telematics/camera exports (native video + CSV/JSON metadata).

3. Request ATC data. Preserve tower/approach audio and radar track per FAA procedures; note UTC timestamps.

4. Name all custodians. UPS Worldport ops, the Airport Authority, and every vendor you can identify from badges, vehicle markings, or incident reports.

5. Follow with the NTSB docket. When released, the docket (reports, exhibits) can be integrated into your civil case evidence.

Why these “hard facts” win cases

• Jurisdiction & venue: SDF’s status and UPS’s footprint help anchor Louisville-based claims and witnesses.

• Causation proof: Telematics/camera metadata from tugs/loader trucks + ATC timing + facility video can reconstruct minute-by-minute movements on the ramp.

• Accountability across vendors: The same incident may involve carrier SOPs, vendor training, and airport operations—you need each record set to see the whole picture.

Quick facts

• Footprint: Worldport ≈ 5.2M sq ft.

• Throughput: ≈ 2M packages/day (up to ~400k/hour).

• Flights/day: 300–400 UPS flights.

• Rank: Top-5 globally for cargo; #3 North America (ACI).

How Morrin Law Office leverages the Worldport context

• Local mapping: We already know the SDF/Worldport layout, vendors, and who likely controls which data.

• Preservation playbook: We send multi-custodian holds on day one (UPS, vendors, LRAA, FAA lines) so short-cycle data doesn’t vanish.

• Parallel tracks: We run the civil claim while tracking NTSB releases, then fold the docket into your case.

Sources & further reading

• SDF cargo ranking (ACI): airport press release and local coverage. flylouisville.com

• Worldport footprint, flights/day, throughput: UPS site & global presence fact sheet; AP overview. jobs-ups.com

• AirlineGeeks deep dive on Worldport operations (flights/day; conveyors; sort scale). AirlineGeeks.com

• Airport governance: Louisville Regional Airport Authority (SDF/LOU). flylouisville.com

• FAA data recording/retention (ATC): FAA orders on data recording & retention. Federal Aviation Administration