SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—US delivery giant Federal Express closed its Asian hub here Friday with the last flight leaving for Taiwan just before dawn.

FedEx announced two years ago that it would relocate its Asian hub from this former US naval base to Guangzhou in southern China.

“Last night was the last night of full operations,” said Subic Bay administrator Armand Arreza.

“The market in China is bigger than the entire market of Southeast Asia. China also gave FedEx rights to handle its domestic cargo, which is huge,” Arreza said.

The FedEx hub, which began operations in 1996, earned the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority about P150 million from landing fees and warehousing in 2008.

Company employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 500 workers would lose their jobs. At the peak of its operations in 2004, the FedEx unit in Subic employed about 800 people.

At the time it was hoped that the FedEx move would lure foreign businesses to Subic and breathe new life into the area after the US closed its military bases in the Philippines in 1992.

Arreza and Senator Richard Gordon, former Subic Authority chairman, marked the start of the two-month transition for the transfer of FedEx’s operations to China.

Arreza said some FedEx officials would remain in Subic to oversee the completion of the company’s reintegration program for its workers.

“They can get jobs anywhere else in the world,” Gordon said.

“They are all highly trained and skilled. They are the pride of the Subic Freeport.”

Arreza said about 800 direct and indirect workers in Subic would lose their jobs after FedEx completed its transfer to China in April.

He said the Subic Authority was now trying to invite a Dubai-based company to take over FedEx’s facilities. AFP with Cecille Garcia