Truckers face a serious threat as large shippers develop networks
Amazon and Walmart are poised to disrupt the trucking industry, and more large shippers may ...
By Alex Lennane
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport is trying to attract more forwarders and manufacturers in a bid to boost its cargo credentials and the local economy.
The US airport retained the top spot as the world’s busiest for passengers in 2016, but sits 38th for international air freight – below far smaller airports such as Louisville.
“Our main push now is to grow cargo. We may be the world’s busiest passenger airport, but we have a lot of capacity on the cargo side,” said Linda Eshiwani-Nate, officer for ...
Comment on this article
Michael Canon
May 16, 2017 at 1:58 pmTo attract airfreight shipments, the airport must have air connectivity that serves the needs of the shippers. If the airport is trying to attract the import-export business, then it must have long haul, wide body aircraft to carry the freight. The bellies of these aircraft is where the cargo goes. If shippers are trucking to Chicago and Miami, it is because these airports offer greater international long haul connectivity. For domestic airfreight ATL is competing with truckers for a large percentage of the local freight and the integrators and their hubs in Louisville, Memphis, Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
Rob Boberts
May 16, 2017 at 5:56 pmRates!
Michael Canon
July 11, 2017 at 2:59 pmPredictable and seamless multimodal connectivity is the key to attract international airfreight. Customs operations are critical
Wide-body passenger aircraft with belly capacity for cargo is also critical. ATL may be the busiest for passenger traffic, but how much of that traffic is in domestic flights using narrow body aircraft?
If ATL shippers are deferring the airport choice to freight forwarders, the freight forwarders are going to move the airfreight through the airports at which they make the most money.
A passenger can basically arrive at any place in the world within 24-hours. IATA says airfreight takes on average 6-days. Why the difference? It happens on the ground. Trucking freight to other airports, Customs delays, missed connections, offloads, etc. are the bane of airfreight operations.