b'APRIL 2021 SHIP PHILLY FIRST 3 Ship Philly First collaboratively touts Philadelphias sea and air advantagesBy Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTBy sea and air, Philadel- ability and close proximity to phiaoffersanoutstandingI-95neededforanylogistics congestion-freegatewaytoprovider to be successful, said U.S.NortheastmarketsandStephanie P. Wear, the airports beyondamessagecollab- director of air service develop-oratively delivered by a localment and cargo services.businessinitiativeappropri- To increase market share, ately named Ship Philly First. PHL has purchased 135 acres Asacommitteeoftheof undeveloped property adja-WorldTradeAssociationofcent to existing cargo opera-Philadelphia, Ship Philly Firsttions,withplanstobuilda coordinateswithPhilaPortstate-of-the-industryfacility and Philadelphia Internationaltorespondtocargocommu-Airportinmarketingthenity demands for the next two unique logistics capabilities ofdecades.the City of Brotherly Love. Theseadditionalcargo Insomecircles,Phila- facilitieswillcontributeto delphiaisconsideredadia- theeconomicdevelopment mondintherough,saidinthePhiladelphiaregion, LawrenceR.LarryAnto- (ADVANTAGEScontin- Fast-growing Philadelphia International Airport offers superior infrastructure, speed, security and reliability in the nucciJr.,presidentoftheued on page 9) heart of populous Northeast markets. WTAandchairmanofits Ship Philly First committee. But Philly is a true diamond, capable of handling any com-modity as a robustly competi-tive alternative for movement of cargo in the Northeast.In his role as president of Philadelphia-headquartered customs brokerage and freight forwarding firm 721 Logistics LLC, Antonucci is intimately familiarwiththeadvantages oftheseaportandairport, which both boast qualities that align with the logistics com-panysownmantra:Large enoughtoserveyou,small enough to care.PhilaPorts longtime director of marketing, Sean Mahoney, pointedtothesynergistic relationshipbetweenShip PhillyFirst,theseaportand airport,commenting,We complementeachotheras we offer an intimate, custom-izedapproachbackedbya deep roster of service provid-ers, from truckers to terminal operators,warehousersto freightforwarders,fumiga-tors to cargo inspectors.Withmorethan$1bil-lionincapitalinvestments overthepastdecadeand additionaladvancesunder way,PhilaPortprovidesthe infrastructure and labor pro-ductivity necessary to swiftly serve as a favored gateway to two-thirds of the U.S. popu-lation, as well as portions of Canada,withintwodaysof transit time by truck and mul-tiple Class I railroads.Meanwhile, Philadelphia International Airport, after sev-eral consecutive years of cargo activity growth, is preparing to significantlyexpanditspres-entcapabilities,inresponse todynamicglobalgrowthof pharmaceuticalbusinessand e-commerce.Currently PHL has robust facilities,includingcoldstor-agefacilitiesandthesecond-largest UPS hub, in one of the mostcompetitiveregionsof the country, offering the infra-structure, speed, security, reli-'