[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 27, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2185-S2186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO BRENDAN CANAVAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Louisville, KY, makes its mark on 
American life as the host of the Kentucky Derby, the producer of the 
iconic Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and a place to sample America's 
signature spirit, bourbon. Many Americans may not know that my hometown 
leaves its fingerprints on their lives in another way: as the home of 
the world's largest automated package handling facility, the UPS 
Worldport.
  This massive warehouse--at 5.2 million square feet, it is larger than 
the Mall of America--sorts millions of packages every day, speedily 
shipping them to consumers across the globe. It serves as the keystone 
of the vast UPS supply chain, linking consumers to businesses all over 
the country. Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 
retirement of one of the key figures in the Worldport's development, 
UPS Airlines president Brendan Canavan.
  To many, the UPS Worldport might seem like something out of a science 
fiction movie. Standing in the facility, you would be struck by the 
sheer scale of thousands of packages whirring about on a complicated 
system of conveyor belts, scanners, and lifts. This enormous warehouse 
sorts the average package in just 13 minutes. Human hands only touch 
packages twice. It is an amazing feat of modern technology and supply 
chain efficiency.
  It would take an extraordinarily visionary business leader to have 
planned and executed such a facility. Its scale and complexity are 
almost too vast to fathom. But Brendan Canavan moved to Louisville in 
2004 and did just that. In only a few years, he helped turn Louisville 
into a global supply chain hub and brought new levels of speed to the 
process.
  Brendan knows so much about UPS's operations because he has performed 
many of them himself. While in college in his hometown of Philadelphia, 
he worked as a UPS loader and driver. He later stepped into management 
roles around the country, coming into leadership positions just as 
computer technology began to take a greater role in the supply chain 
logistics industry.

[[Page S2186]]

  As a rising star in the company, Brendan was tasked with the 
development of Louisville's Worldport facility in 2004. He came to our 
city and quickly got to work developing the warehouse, which now 
processes roughly 300 flights of UPS shipments every single day. For 
his outstanding work developing the Worldport, he was rewarded with 
greater and greater roles in UPS's leadership structure.
  By 2014, Brendan had ascended to the presidency of UPS Airlines. In 
that role, he oversaw nearly 300 individual airplanes and thousands of 
pilots, operating all over the world at all hours of the day. As the 
coordinator of such a vast organization, he ensured his company 
maintained its technological prowess, allowing UPS to keep up with the 
ever-changing demands of its global consumers.
  Two years ago, Brendan faced a challenge unlike any UPS had ever 
seen: the coronavirus pandemic. Across the world, airports shut down 
and supply chains became hopelessly gnarled. Still, Brendan wielded his 
decades of on-the-ground experience to hold UPS's systems together, 
continuing to perform vital services even in the face of seemingly 
insurmountable challenges.
  Now, after what must have been some of the most difficult years of 
his career, Brendan is taking a step back to spend more time with his 
family and devote extra energy to volunteering. His desire to aid 
others has not diminished one bit, and he continues to make a mark on 
Louisville.
  I want to thank Brendan for his decades of service to our country, 
his outstanding leadership at UPS, and his hard work to make Louisville 
a capital of global supply chain logistics. On behalf of the Senate, I 
share my congratulations with Brendan on his extraordinary career and 
wish him the best in his retirement.

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