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China’s Zhengzhou International Airport welcomed several cargo flights last week, marking the start of trial operations for a new terminal that will double the airport’s cargo capacity.
The project is part of a major passenger and cargo expansion that will leave the airport with five runways and three cargo zones by 2035. The Chinese government is investing $712 million in 1.7 billion square feet of cargo infrastructure, including 754 million square feet. North Cargo Terminal.
Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province on the central plain of China, northwest of Shanghai. The airport, managed by Henan Airport Group, has become increasingly important in supporting air logistics, as the area continues to open up to more manufacturing and commercial activity. The cargo operator is Cargolux Hub.
Officials say facilities are inadequate to handle current demand, which has increased rapidly from 15% to 20% over the past three years.
The new terminal has a capacity of 600,000 tons of cargo and mail per year, bringing the airport’s total capacity to 1.1 million square feet, plus parking for 16 additional trucks, hi-bay racking, a 32,300-square-foot cold storage warehouse, a special warehouse for dangerous goods, fresh A large customs inspection area for the importation of fruits and seafood, and 101 docks are convenient for the movement of dray trucks.
The North Cargo Terminal features the latest in logistics and information technology, including automation, robotic yard tractors, unmanned forklifts and electronic waybills to scan, weigh and move cargo within the terminal.
By the middle of the next decade, Zhengzhou will be able to produce 5 million tons of cargo per year. For comparison, Hong Kong currently has only one airport that handles more than 5 million tons. Shanghai, the third largest cargo airport by tons after FedEx power Memphis, Tennessee – 2015 It will handle 4.4 million tons by 2021, according to Airports Council International.
The first flights – operated by Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines and Volga-Dnep Airlines – arrived at the North Cargo Terminal last Tuesday.
Volga-Dnieper Antonov An-124 super transporter used for the first time to the new cargo area. Russian airlines are restricted from flying the Soviet-made An-124 and Ilyushin-76 jets, while Western sanctions imposed by the West over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have prevented many US-made Boeing cargo planes from flying.
A Cathay Pacific 747 freighter carrying a long haul of industrial equipment and 107 tons of electronic products, clothing, molds, vaccines, caviar and other goods headed to Hong Kong, according to a news report from Zhengzhou Airport.
More than 10 cargo flights will arrive to test the capacity of the North Cargo Terminal in its first open week. The facility is scheduled to be fully operational by September 7.
Henan Airport Group reports that Ethiopian Airlines will increase its weekly freight service to Zhengzhou from three to five and open new cargo routes once the cargo zone is fully operational.
The airport said it expects major carriers such as DHL Express, China Post, China Eastern Airlines and SF Express to eventually set up international hubs there and become home to distributors, e-commerce providers and other cross-border merchants. . SF Express established a regional package type center at Zhengzhou Airport last year.
To date, more than 400,000 tons of cargo and mail have passed through Zhengzhou Airport, with international cargo volume up 8.8% to 330,000 tons.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulish.
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