Some in city hall expressed concern that Hamilton International Airport’s cargo billable weight was down.
The airport in Hamilton, the third most populous city in Ontario, Canada, saw a slump of 2.5 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Hamilton International is building a cargo warehouse slated to open in June 2015. It will cost CA$12 million (US$11 million).
After blaming the freight dip in 2013 on the economy – the perennial explanation – Frank Scremin, president and CEO of Hamilton International Airport, tells Air Cargo World that the drop in cargo billable weight is a sign.
“I think that really highlights the fact to look for other opportunities to continue to grow our business, so that makes this warehouse even more critical for us,” Scremin says.
Hamilton Airport has a strong presence in the overnight, integrated courier segment. It is a gateway for DHL, UPS, Cargojet and Purolator. In 2013, the airport moved 76,000 tonnes of cargo.
Manufacturing is the most important industry in Hamilton, and it is the largest steel-manufacturing city in Canada, producing about 60 percent of all steel used in the country, according to an economic impact study released by the airport in April. Health care is also an important industry in Hamilton.
Scremin says right now, all of the cargo warehouses at the airport are proprietary, meaning each company has its own warehouse.
“In our discussions with forwarders and shippers, one of the big gaps that always comes up is there’s no common-use cargo handling facility in Hamilton that I can utilize if I want to move a load of livestock, of cattle, or if I want to consolidate a shipment and put it on a carrier, or if I have a shipment of perishable products and I want to get them off the aircraft,” he says. “Not having any type of common-use infrastructure for us has been, we believe, a bit of a barrier in terms of being able to attract other business opportunities, and that’s the gap this warehouse is going to fill for us.”
One-third of the funding for the facility came from the Canadian federal government. Another third was on the Ontario government’s tab, and the last third came from TradePort, a company that operates the airport in a contract with the city of Hamilton.
Half of the 70,000-square-foot (6,503-square-meter) cargo warehouse will be leased to Cargojet as an anchor tenant. Addressing the lack of a perishable handling facility at the airport, part of the new warehouse will also have refrigeration.
Airfreight is a big employment driver at the airport. Air cargo couriers, carriers and integrators provided 70 percent of direct full-time employment at the airport in 2013, according to the economic impact study.
Hamilton Airport is focused on cargo growth. Scremin says courier freight drives cargo volumes, so the airport hasn’t really tapped into the international freight market, meaning opportunities abound there, especially in niche markets such as perishables, flowers and pharmaceuticals.
“It presents an excellent opportunity for us to continue to generate jobs and economic activity for the surrounding area,” he says.
In 2013, more than 2,700 jobs were created through airport activity, according to Hamilton International. There was also CA$218 million (US$200 million) in direct financial benefit to the city of Hamilton.
“If we can continue to build the business, it only opens up the opportunity to add to that,” Scremin says.
The city of Hamilton has also undertaken a rezoning study to rezone about 555 hectares of land surrounding the airport from agriculture to commercial industrial. It’s called the Airport Employment Growth District.
“For us, that again creates the opportunity to attract logistics organizations, advance manufacturing, all those types of companies that benefit from being close to good transportation infrastructure,” Scremin says.