Air Cargo Handlers Get Loads of Work
By Robert Cole, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Apr. 17–Moving more than 7 million pounds of goods is all in a month’s work for FedEx cargo handlers at Kansas City International Airport.
The Memphis-based company offers guaranteed time and day definite delivery on every shipment, whether it’s a small parcel of tax returns or a pallet full of electronics.
Ramiro Gonzalez, senior manager for FedEx Express in Kansas City, said the company handles nearly every shape and kind of industrial and retail goods and also operates a large truck fleet.
“Historically, we’ve just moved everything possible,” Gonzalez said.
FedEx moved more than 93 million pounds of freight, including mail, at KCI last year, according to the Kansas City Aviation Department.
Although the total is virtually flat compared with 2005, it represents nearly 40 percent of the local air cargo market.
The amount of air cargo last year totaled 297.5 million pounds, nearly identical to 2005. In addition to FedEx, major carriers include Airborne Express, BAX Global and Southwest.
Carriers that contract with the United States Postal Service moved 48 million pounds of mail last year, 75 percent of KCI’s total. Midwest Airlines posted a total of 7.4 million pounds, compared with about 3 million pounds for Southwest.
Nationwide, air freight has been the hottest segment of the U.S. cargo industry for more than a decade. From 1993 to 2002, the total value of air freight doubled to $10.5 trillion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Justin Meyer, the aviation department’s manager of air service development, said that mail freight nationwide is diminishing as e-mail use increases. But the steady growth in total freight more than makes up for the difference, he said.
“We’re planning to enhance that even more with some of the companies that are here and the global connections that could be made,” Meyer said.
He said the department promotes Kansas City as a multimodal transportation hub when it talks to overseas carriers about establishing dedicated flights into KCI.
New freight carriers would ease the airport’s dependence on passenger airlines and would boost department revenues, which are primarily dependent on airport user charges.
“There’s a lot of opportunity on the upside,” Meyer said.
To reach Robert Cole, call (816) 234-4296 or send e-mail to rcole@kcstar.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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