PHL upgrades with warehouse expansion, CCS

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is partnering with Aviation Facilities Company (AFCO), Kale Logistics and Menzies Aviation to grow warehouse capacity and implement a cargo community system (CCS) as the latest step in the airport’s expansion strategy to meet the region’s growing logistics and airfreight demand. In the short term, AFCO leased and plans to repurpose an 80,000-square-foot cargo building —the oldest cargo building at the airport — with four widebody aircraft positions stationed in front of it, Jim Tyrrell, chief revenue officer at PHL, told Air Cargo World. Currently the building supports passenger airline activities. “They’re going to build additional facilities elsewhere that have direct airside access and they’re going to relocate the non-cargo tenants from that building to other premises, and fill that building, repurpose it, get the air cargo community system implemented and turn it over to people who are going to use it for cargo handling,” Tyrrell said. “That’s going to happen within the next nine months — the facilities are already in design.” 2-year transformation In the interim, PHL is working with AFCO, Menzies — a new ground handler at the airport — and Kale to develop a 150,000-square-foot building that is expected to be operational in two and a half years, Tyrrell told Air Cargo World . Menzies will occupy 100,000 square feet of the building, while a separate tenant will operate in the remaining space. PHL did not disclose whether it had secured a second tenant. [caption id="attachment_57132233" align="alignright" width="532"] Menzies, AFCO partner on new cargo warehouse at PHL (Photo/PHL)[/caption] Tyrrell further noted that the aircraft ramp construction will be done by October, enabling six, widebody aircraft parking positions. Meanwhile the airport’s long-term development plan is for the 135-acre parcel acquired in 2018 . “We’ve already designed and bid the reconstruction and relocation of the roadway around the perimeter of this 135-acre parcel, that will then enable us to expand our airfield onto it,” Tyrrell said. “And the site is big enough to accommodate about a million square feet of additional warehouse [space] and up to 24 aircraft parking positions.” PHL currently has more than 500,000 square feet of cargo warehouse space. CCS to streamline operations, improve throughput PHL is also in the process of finalizing a contract with India-based Kale Logistics Solutions to implement a CCS at the airport, Tyrell said. PHL initially announced plans to develop a CCS in 2021 . “We talked to a lot of airports who specialize in cargo … and one of the most important things we found is that we needed to implement an air cargo community system,” Tyrrell told Air Cargo World . “That’s what creates the efficiency and really helps elevate your program beyond the norm.” The CCS will synchronize and optimize operations, Amar More, co-founder and chief executive of Kale Logistics Solutions, said in PHL’s Sept. 6 release. The CCS “will not only bring vast business efficiencies at the airport, but will also drive sustainability benefits by reducing paperwork, truck waiting times and pollution.” Tyrrell expects the CCS to be operational when the “older cargo building comes online … so that will be in nine to 12 months.” See also : Cargo Community Systems and the power of connection PHL’s catchment area In 2017 roughly $53 billion worth of air cargo commodities were either shipped or received in PHL’s catchment area, which is about a 400-mile radius from the airport, Tyrrell said. However, the airport was initially only capturing 9% of that market. He pointed to local development as creating additional potential for the airport. “Life sciences is blowing up our universities — all of our businesses are just so incredibly focused on developing those life science services,” he told Air Cargo World . “We have other opportunities; within a stone’s throw of the airport we have the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, [which is] going to be a life sciences center, and is a mile and a half from the airport. There’s another development about two and a half miles from the airport that used to be an old refinery, [where] 1,300 acres are being redeveloped … that’s going to be life sciences and logistics, so you have all of this non-airport support space that could be leveraged,” Tyrrell added. PHL overview Express integrators FedEx, DHL and UPS also have significant operations at PHL, with FedEx operating four widebody services daily, Tyrrell said. PHL is also a trans-Atlantic gateway for American Airlines . PHL expects to handle more than 540,000 tonnes of cargo in 2022. Year-to-date, the airport has handled 324,615 tonnes of cargo, up 2.2% year over year, according to airport traffic reports. In July, PHL saw around 44,589 tonnes of throughput, up 6.5% YoY.

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