b'26American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(FRIENDLYcontinued fromment and personnel to get RFD up andthe airport and increase throughput. ItThey can fly in there and then truck page 20) running for the arrival of internationalwill make us a smart airport for theit out but LAX is certainly in the top senior vice president, cargo, Americascargo flights, says Ryan. Emery haswhole Midwest. five gateways for cut flowers, says fortheworldwidegroundhandlingleased190,000squarefeetincargoAspartofitssmartairportthe LAWA cargo representative.company. Chicago Rockford is alsobuildings one and two. strategy, RFD is also rolling out whatHowever,LAXreceiveshigh apilotsdream.ThereisnovectorSurprisingly,ChicagoRockford,it calls a Cargo Community System,marksforitsperformancemonthto approach. You can make a direct land- which bills itself on its website as thedesigned by Kale, which is an effortmonth and annually at a time when ing and be on the stand in as fast asfastest growing cargo airport on thethatessentiallydigitallytracksthetheaircargomarkethasbeenrela-five minutes. planet, currently does not handle per- movement of a shipment throughouttivelyflatfollowingtheCOVID-19 He further says it is Menzies Avia- ishable cargoes. It has no temperature- the logistics chain and connecting atpandemic.Accordingtostatistics tions goal to help attract more Midwestcontrolled warehouses on its premises.the moment with the warehouse sys- from the Los Angeles Air Cargo Asso-flightsandfreighttoitsnew60,000Mostofthattrafficmovesthroughtems of Emory Air and Menzies Avia- ciation,LAXcurrentlyrankseighth square warehousing facility at ChicagoChicago OHare. But RFD could gettion, says Ryan. The system includesamongUSairportsandseaportsin Rockford and that the airport is comingin the game quickly. Both Emery anda Truck Slot Management program toterms of border crossings. Total trade through with the enticements. TheirMaersk have the budgets and are readyallow a truck to arrive at a warehousewiththeworldinAuguststoodat import fees are $50 cheaper, they haveto pull the trigger on adding coolers asdoor at a pre-scheduled time and pick$9.45 billion. LAXs exports year to a good, strong, stable labor force andits customers demand, Oakley says. up or drop off freight without waitingdate are $8.07 billion while imports goodadministration.Indeed,ifyouHenotesthattheEnvirotainer,and burning fuel and wasting driverforthesameperiodare$11bil-have a secondary airport that is goodamobilechiller,requiresnoexten- time. Still, he adds, there is no con- lion. The airports trade increase this enough for Amazon and good enoughsive infrastructure to deploysimplygestionproblemhereatRockfordpast August was 15.83%. That same forUPS,itsgoodforanyall-cargoplug-in power which has already been(Airport) and our Cargo Communitymonth,ChinawasLAXstop-trade freighter airline. installedinRFDson-airportware- System is being used to sort of front- partner with $5.75 billion.UPSapparentlythinkshighlyofhouses.Ifandwhenthathappens,load the trucking pickup and delivery ChicagoRockford;itservesastheOakleystressedtheairportwouldprocess and prevent bottlenecks. b ostonl ogani nternationalintegratorssecondlargesthubinlikely be a go-to target for EuropeanAdds Oakley: By cutting downa irport(b os ) p erishablesa reNorth America (Louisville, Kentuckypharmaceuticalshippersratherthanthe long periods of idling time, yourea t raditionalt raffiCranksfirst),accordingtoKenRyan,fruits,vegetables,andfreshseafoodtalking about saving fuel and reduc- As the gateway to New England, the airports director of cargo. UPS canfrom Latin America that historicallying carbons in the air. SustainabilityBOS has enjoyed a steady stream of reach 100 operations daily during themove through Miamithroughout the airport is a very highimport and export perishable cargoes, Christmas holidays, he estimates andIt could be happening sooner thanpriority with us. led by seafood, pharmaceuticals, and has about 80 operations at the moment. later.Were in discussions with phar- flowers and to a lesser degree, fruits, maceuticalmanufacturingcompaniesandvegetables.Despiteitssmaller in India who are interested in working(LIFTcontinued from page 24) footprintandin-citylocation,BOS with us in Rockford, says Oakley. There is a huge choice of airlines hereranks among the nations top 20 busi-Meanwhile,ChicagoRockfordworking around the clock seven daysest airports and is known for its opera-officialssaytheyhavenoproblemsa week so we can always get lift, Cus- tional efficiency and global reach.recruiting and retaining labor. Weretoms clearance and deliveries. Wehavetwocargowarehouse in a much better position than manyCommodityForwardersinLosbuildings on the ramp and one, build-of the bigger guys because we dontAngeles has a massive warehouse anding 58, is mainly an American Airlines haveturnover,hecontinues. Whilecold storage facility several miles eastfreightfacilitywithBritishAirways he adds that new-to-the airport work- of LAX. Cleverly branded as Cool- and Level Airlines, says Steve Mor-ersoftenmustdealwithweekend,skies with TempEndure, the companytell,generalmanagerforWorldwide nighttime, holiday, and harsh weatherhas comparatively quick access to theFlight Services at BOS.Building 62 shiftsRFDisopen24/7andthereairport and does not suffer the normalserves 12 airlines including Lufthansa, Ken Ryan isnocurfew,anadvantagetoship- pickup and delivery delays that plagueKorean Air, Cathay Pacific, Hawaiian pers and carriersthe labor force inother large US airports. Despite allAir, TAP Air Portugal, Qatar, LATAM, r egionalg ateway fora Mazona ir the area have been primed for what tothetalkaboutLosAngelestraffic,UPS and Swift Air. Overall, both ware-ChicagoRockfordisaregionalexpect on the job. ourproximitytoLAXstreamlineshouses cover about 80,000 square feet gateway for Amazon Airs 767 freight- our pickups and deliveries, the CFIand have drive-in coolers. Building 62 ers,alsoknownasPrimeAir,saysups i MpaCt onrfd staffer says. also has a refrigerated trailer.ZackOakley,theairportsdeputyThank God for UPS which hasA large advantage LAX has overMortell says some 70% of BOS directorofoperationsandplanning.been on the airport since 1994 and hasother West Coast airports is the sub- perishables are imported and 30% are Amazonhasa200,000squarefoottrainedliterallythousandsofpeoplestantial number of Asian transpacificexported. Live fish is imported daily warehousingandsortcenterforitsin the Rockford area.Oakley sayswidebodies and freighter aircraft thatfromSouthAmericaandEurope. e-commerce traffic on the airport. carriers and ground handlers have autilize LAX including but not limitedMost perishables move on wide-bod-richpoolofworkersfull-timers,to Korean Air Lines, Nippon Cargo,ied passenger jets. We have no pure part-timers and seasonalsto hire asAsiana, JAL, ANA, Cathay Pacific,freighter service except for FedEx and demand peaks and valleys. China Airlines, EVA as well as Fed- UPS, he adds. At the moment, Ryan, cargo direc- eralExpressandDHLwhichbuysHowever, BOS has a brisk trade tor, says air cargo business at RFD, likespaceforperishablesonAtlasAirin moving live lobsters to Asia, par-most of the industry, has been flat,747 freighters. ticularlyduringtheholidayseason, following the pandemic when freight- LAXalsohasastrongflowofhenotes. Thecrustaceansandother ers worldwide were pressed into ser- perishable traffic from Latin America,seafood move from Boston on Qatar, vice because many belly freight combiaccording to the airports cargo repre- Cathay Pacific, and Korean Air Lines.carriers were grounded due to a sharpsentative. Theres been a large con- BOS has recently added two more slowdowninpassengertravel.How- solidation of airlines in Latin America,airlinesNorseAtlanticAirways ever, he sees one bright spot in cargoand weve seen a new freighter servicefromEuropeandCOPAAirfrom today that can directly benefit his air- fromAvianca,flyingoutofBogotaLatin America, two aggressive belly port and its freighter and integrator ten- whichisnowthebiggestcargoair- cargo operators.antse-commerce.Its the volume atport in Latin America, bigger than theOnelongtimeBOSlivelobster the moment. BrazilianairportsofRiodeJaneiroshipper, Frank Yuen, vice president of RFDs leadership is in the plan- andSaoPaolo,therepresentativeCargo Service Center, a general logis-Zack Oakley ningstagesforadditionalexpan- says. Tampa Cargo, a freighter airlinetics firm, says air shipping the delicate sion.Theone-timemilitaryairfieldplusbellyfreightpassengercarriersperishables is a 24-hour, seven day Inaddition,RFDalsohasthreethat later became a passenger airportAero Mxico, Copa Airlines, LATAM,aweekbusinesswherewealways new cargo buildings totaling 240,000for budget travelers is leveraging itsVolaris also serve LAX from as wellhave to standby because anything can square feet that sit inside the fence onstrength andsuccessasanall-cargoasAmerican,DeltaandUnitedandhappen.He ships mainly to Asia and the 2900-acre airport property. airport.Preliminarydesignsforaallcarryperishablefreight.Overall,uses airlines operating out of Boston Chicagos third airport also servesfourth on-tarmac warehouse buildingLAX is served by 75 passenger airlinesand JFK where he can get space on internationalairfreighteroperatorsenvisions a structure from 300,000 toandmorethan20all-cargocarriers,direct flights to his markets that are suchasMaerskAirthathaseight500,000 square feet. It would includealthough the exact number is blurredboth swift and secure.flights weekly from Europe and Asia.additionalparkingpositionsforsixby ACMI carriers operating schedulesYuens current carriers of choice Other air freight airlines that call on747-8 freighters.on behalf of clients as well as the sub- rangefromCathayPacifictoHong RFD include National Air, Atlas AirThebuildingwouldbehighlystantial market share by combinationKong,ChinaAirlinestoTaiwan, Freight and Magma.automated and designed to handle theairlines operating both passenger andAir China, China Eastern and China Emery Air, Inc. has played a bighigh-value cargoes be it perishables,freighter aircraft. Southern to mainland China and Emir-roleinChicagoRockfordssuccess.pharmaceuticals,e-commerce,any- Still,theLatinAmericancutates Air to Dubai. He says live Maine As the airports first and only groundthing temperature-controlled, explainsflower market is dominated by Miamilobsterscanlive40hoursduringa handleruntilearlythisyear,EmeryOakley. It will really be designed toInternationalAirportforreasonstemperature-controlled journey when invested millions of dollars in equip- reduce time on that freight spends onmainlyofgeographyandtradition.packed in a gel and not dry ice.'