Air cargo center expands to meet future demands

New building expected to be completed in '09

A project to expand air cargo facilities at the intermodal center next to Huntsville International Airport will get under way next year.

Construction is expected to start in March on a new 78,000-square-foot air cargo building at the J.E. Mitchell Jr. International Intermodal Center, with the building ready for occupants by January 2009. Airport officials received proposals in late October from several contractors for the air cargo building that will feature office and warehouse space, and have been negotiating with the low bidder, Fite Building Co. Inc. of Decatur.

"We're getting to be at capacity at the current location," said Mitch Bradley, the intermodal center's director. And airport officials want to stay a step ahead of potential customers.

"As we grow and bring in more carriers, the facilities to house these carriers need to be in place," Mitch Bradley. The center, located on Wall Triana Highway, provides a single location to receive, transfer, store and distribute international and domestic cargo, by air, rail and highway.

Panalpina occupies a 100,000-square-foot building with an air cargo terminal and offices, called Air Cargo South. The global Swiss freight forwarder opened its central airfreight and distribution hub in Huntsville in 1990 to be a key international gateway between the United States and Asia and Europe.

Another 100,000-square-foot air cargo building has several carriers and freight forwarders - UPS Supply Chain Solutions, UPS, Westwind Inc., Eagle Global Logistics, BAX Global, FedEx and DHL.

Airport officials are trying to persuade Asian cargo carriers to use Huntsville as a gateway for air cargo into the southeastern United States. Bradley, along with Jeff Sikes, chairman of the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority, and Rick Tucker, the executive director of the Port of Huntsville - which includes the airport, intermodal center and Jetplex Industrial Park - traveled to China in May and again in October to visit the home offices of seven carriers to make their case.

"It's a matter of educating them and letting them know what we can provide," said Bradley.

Among selling points of Huntsville's inland port are less airspace congestion and less congestion on surrounding roads compared to major gateways and competitive real estate costs and landing fees.

The west runway was extended from 8,000 feet to 12,600 feet - at a cost of $31 million - to accommodate fully loaded 747 freighters.

"We were well received by all" of the carriers, "and I think we're on their radar now," Bradley said. "We're working with a couple of them to come here for a site visit."

Huntsville International handled a record 152.4 million pounds of air cargo freight in 2006, up from just over 115 million pounds in '05.

That growth earned the airport the distinction of being the fastest-growing cargo airport outside Asia in 2006, according to a ranking in Air Cargo World magazine.

Another record is expected to be set this year. "It looks like we're going to be 10 percent over" last year's freight weight, Bradley said.