To understand the reason Anchorage International Airport gets so lots of cargo airport director Craig Campbell picked up a ornamental globe that he keeps at his desk.
He pointed out the top exporters in Asia He then extended his fingers over his Pacific Ocean to the big U.S. cities that are hubs where imported goods are distributed. The point where you can see the halfway mark of every one of these trips the man said is Anchorage.
Every aircraft has a weight limit which is why, to maximize the percentage of that weight allocated to the most valuable items, carriers fill only half the amount of fuel they’ll require. Then, they stop at Anchorage to fill up their tanks to fuel the next leg of their journey.
“If you pour lots of fuel into the air to travel from Asia to Chicago this is heavier weight in gas, which means less freight,” Campbell said. “So when you stop here, less gas and larger cargo.”
The gas (and frequently shifts of the crew) stop-offs are the primary reason for why Ted Stevens International Airport is currently the third-busiest cargo airport worldwide..
The demand for cargo in the world has slowed since the pandemic craze, but Campbell noted that because of its geographical advantage, Anchorage traffic is down significantly smaller as other airports. It has also allowed operationsas well as employment opportunitiesto grow.
The airport currently accounts for one-seventh of job opportunities in Anchorage according to a study conducted by Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. In addition, Campbell has said that new initiatives could increase the number higher.
For instance, Campbell said an agreement hasn’t been signed yet, however FedEx plans to establish regional hubs at the airport that will focus only on the shipping of packages to Alaska.
“That’s likely to be new and growing in the coming years, which means that we’re growing,” Campbell said. “The airport is expanding the amount of activity as well as the importance of air freight particularly for Alaska rural Alaska is very, crucial. This is recognized by industry.”
However, how much air cargo is there in a city of a tiny size in the north? Darren Prokop is a logistics professor at the University of Alaska, Anchorage and believes the potential for growth in Alaska transport is constrained by the type of products that the state exports.
“We have lots of cargo traveling through, and some of it’s going to be removed and there’s not any cargo that originated in Alaska,” Prokop said.
This is because air cargo can be fragile and valuable goods such as computers and pharmaceuticals, he explained. Alaska typically exports massive natural resources such as mineral oil and petroleum that are delivered via barges.
“When you think about Alaska shipping items we often imagine bulk: we think of mining or large quantities of seafood, and we imagine lumber. We don’t think of items that are typically transported on cargo planes that carry air cargo,” Prokop said.
One airport idea could help to change the dynamic but. Alaska Cargo & Cold Storage plans to construct an office next to the runway that will have refrigeration facilities for storage – the first of their type in Ted Stevens’ International. This means that more fresh fish could be delivered to restaurants across areas in the Lower 48. This could also increase the demand for Alaska peonies as the Alaskan state is the one location around the globe where this well-known flower is accessible in summer.
However, Prokop added that in addition, Alaska would need to begin manufacturing some of these valuable products to maximize its potential for air cargo.
“Should we participate in the value-added manufacture of semiconductors, computers for example?” Prokop wondered. “So this is a real problem. What’s that one thing that is logical that we could use in Alaska and that’s suitable for the air freight?”
The expansion of cargo facilities may attract new companies to set up in Anchorage however, only if they are aware of Anchorage’s global position. Prokop said that the most direct distance that exists between Asia to America U.S. is actually up and down Alaska because the Earth is a round planet. Prokop explained that it’s difficult to imagine the distance by looking only at a circular globe, a 3-D model.
“People are accustomed to studying maps on walls and not globes” Prokop said. “Ted Stevens Airport must explain to manufacturers that the Earth is circular, many of your goods are passing through Alaska and you might want to join us.”
As Anchorage is just ten minutes away from the industrialized the world Prokop said that Alaska is closer to a major area than an isolated one.
