Its central location in Columbus, Ohio and close proximity to an inordinate amount of distribution warehouse space means LCK has attracted an impressive network of freight forwarders and cargo airlines such as FedEx, UPS, Evergreen International, Kalitta and Atlas, as well as a US Foreign- Trade Zone. Located on 6,070 hectares, LCK’s particular advantage is its access to more than half of the US and Canadian population within 800 kilometres and its easy access to majorInterstate highways.

Multimodal gateway vision
Now Rickenbacker’s vision is to develop its facilities into a multimodal reg ional gateway designed to accommodate multiple 21st Century international hubs with adjacent manufacturing facilities and direct air, rail, and motor carrier intermodalcapabilities.

This vision should be realised with the opening of Norfolk Southern’s Heartland Corridor in mid-2010. The US$150 million intermodal rail line will link the Port of Virginia on the US East Coast to Chicago via Columbus and allow trains to stack intermodal cargo containers for increased capacity.

Already, Norfolk Southern’s intermodal yard – located adjacent to LCK – has been in operation for a year. Although the yard is currently operating undercapacity, LCK has ample land should it ever needed to be expanded.

“But the intermodal yard should serve the region for long time,” says DavidWhitaker, VP of Business Development and Communications. Given thesedeveloping advantages, officials there areincreasingly pitching LCK’s multimodalplatforms.

“As we see it, airport-only is not the only solution for a transportation platform,” Whitaker says. “Today many shippers want multimodal platform locations for the distribution of their goods.” Given the large number of retailers operating distribution warehouses in the area, LCK’s air cargo activity, however, remains very important to the region. “We continue to make investments in air cargo facilities,” Whitaker states.

Currently, a speculative air cargo facility, called Air Cargo 4, is being built that includes 4,459 square metres of clear span, cross-dock space. “We’ve also recently renovated a former military facility suitable for maintenance operations for single 727 or smaller aircraft,” he adds. “There are also adjacent administrative facilities ready for renovation and occupancy. We are Log on to PayloadAsia.com for the latest issue. Past issues can also be easily found in our search-friendly archives. Think Online = www.payloadasia.com For more information on marketing opportunities, please contact Alvin Lim at [email protected] or +65 6780 4521. doing work on them now to market.”

Right now about 80 per cent of LCK’s total air cargo volume comes from FedEx. Cargo volumes are down, and flights coming from Asia are “down to a trickle,” reveals Whitaker. “The charter activity there supplements integrated cargo.” As of late, however, LCK has seen an uptick in charter activity. “On average, we’ve seen about a 747 charter per day,” he says. “This could be pre-peak activity, but we are encouraged.”

Aiming for regular freighter
To increase business, LCK officials are marketing its advantages to existing LCK users.

“We have premier multi-national freight forwarders with offices around Rickenbacker,” Whitaker states. “Our objective is to work with customers to increase their utilisation of the airport and push greater volumes of their cargo through our facilities.”

Airport officials believe they are seeing some results. While the airport has seen an increase in imports, LCK is starting to see an increase in trucking, even back to Chicago, with planes that land at LCK.

Again, being a multimodal facility offers advantages. “We continue to make investments in platforms,” he says. “And government stimulus money is helping to improve roads for truckers.”

What would make Whitaker most happy would be landing an air cargo company that flies dedicated freight aircraft and uses LCK as a gateway for scheduled service.

“This would be very helpful in getting others to consider LCK,” he says. “There’s no airport better suited to move cargo via ground given the great presence of trucking companies here with daily scheduled service to every major market.”