Page 18 - STAT November 2022 for Magzter

countryreport

International Airport break ground on a
state-of-the-art 77,000 sq foot cargo facility
which is slated to open in 2024. The ‘Cargo 4’
facility is expected to include a warehouse,
office space, and 14 loading docks that will
be capable of handling more equipment for
special cargo and temperature-controlled
goods. Buoyed by federal funding, the cargo
expansion project is slated to create an
estimated annual economic impact of $229
million for the region.
More recently, Los Angeles World Airports
(LAWA) has invited proposals for moderniza-
tion of its cargo facilities at LA International
(LAX), which is set for a huge overhaul. This
ambitious project is timely as much of the
cargo infrastructure at LAX is dated and
needs a rehaul and also because it handled
more than double the amount of cargo
than John F. Kennedy International Airport
in New York. Last year the airport handled
over 3 million tonnes of cargo and is cur-
rently served by 23 cargo airlines. Air cargo
in the region is forecast to rise at 2.6% CAGR
to reach 7.7 m tonnes in 2045.
Growing pains are also spelling expan-
sion for Miami International Airport (MIA)
which has opted for a vertical concept –
the first in North America. Miami is now a tions due to Europe’s economic situation,”
global freight hub for perishables, hi-tech Alvin Tam, VP, Commercial at TAM Group, a
commodities, telecom equipment, textiles, leading GSA/GSSA in Asia and the Americas,
pharma, and machinery. told the publication.
MIA recorded a record year for air freight
volume in 2020, surpassed that record by Growing gains from
18%, and established another record year E-commerce
in 2021 (2.49 million tonnes), and volumes In the face of E-commerce has become a key growth driv-
so far in 2022 are slightly higher in 2021. er for air cargo as more consumers turned
Halfway through the year, the airport has a very dynamic to the convenience of online shopping from
posted +3.25% year-over-year in air freight home during the pandemic.
tonnage, and it is well-placed to have a third macro environment, Sharing his thoughts on the outlook
straight record year in cargo. we are demonstrating for USA’s airfreight market going forward,
Dimitrios Jimmy Nares, Section Chief of Jimmy Nares added, “We do expect a
Aviation Marketing for the Miami-Dade Avia- more agility than ever strong holiday season in the US and
tion Department (MDAD), which operates that e-commerce will be a big driving
MIA, told the publication, “MIA is nearing its before. influence. The U.S. government does not
cargo capacity, yet it has forecasted growth Carol Tomé track e-commerce air cargo volumes,
for many years to come. Its solution to this United Parcel Service (UPS) but anecdotal evidence at MIA points to
challenge is to build an on-airport Vertical growing e-commerce air cargo. Most of
Integrated Cargo Community (VICC) project. Will a decline in air freight prices and load the e-commerce cargo flies on inte-
With a planned 1.7 million square foot, fully factors lead to a scale back of cargo space in grated airline carriers at MIA, and DHL has
integrated, highly automated, and efficient North American markets? “Based on current recorded growth in their cargo volumes
multilevel cargo facility, VICC will provide market information, the main American car- of +38.19% (from 2019 to 2020), +68.62%
the annual capacity to serve up to 4.5 mil- riers continue to add belly capacity to their (from 2020 to 2021), and +5.04% growth
lion tonnes of air cargo annually once fully fleet and they haven’t achieved pre-pandem- (CYTD August 2022 vs CYTD August 2021).
completed. VICC will more than double MIA’s ic available capacity yet. Thus, we probably Similarly, UPS has recorded growth in their
cargo capacity and it will help the airport won’t see a reduction in belly capacity. How- cargo volumes of +6.52% (from 2019 to
keep pace with forecasted cargo growth.” ever, we might see some freighter cancella- 2020), +6.44% (from 2020 to 2021), and
16 | NOVEMBER 2022 www.stattimes.com