As cargo operations at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) continue to climb, it has now added livestock as a new source of air cargo.

Yesterday, approximately 200 breeding pigs departed STL for Viracopos International Airport located near Sao Paulo, Brazil. The pigs left the airport aboard a Boeing 747-400F.

“We continue to work on establishing STL as an effective and preferred animal embarkation point,” said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, STL Director. “This was an effort initiated by STL, along with our air cargo consultant and the Midwest Cargo Hub Commission nearly seven years ago and we are now seeing it pay off. We are encouraged by the positive feedback from the operators of this shipment and we hope it will be just the beginning.”

STL is working with multiple operators throughout the Midwest to use its Export Inspection Facility, approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as an efficient and affordable option to ship their livestock. More shipments are being discussed for future operations starting in early 2021.

This comes at a time when air cargo operations at STL continue to perform well. Overall, since September 2017, cargo is up more than 20.5 percent. To date, STL has had 128,702,074 pounds of cargo come through the airport for the year.