John Davies | Mar 11, 1992, 7:00 PM EST
A $75,000 study of the needs of the air cargo industry at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was ordered Tuesday.
Port of Seattle commissioners authorized a review of existing facilities, growth forecasts and a projection of what the airport should do to be prepared for emerging demands.The action follows the port exploring the use of all-cargo airport sites away from Sea-Tac. The plan was subsequently discounted as being too expensive.
Joe Sims, director of aviation planning, said the work is needed to update demand projections drawn up in 1982, 1985 and 1988.
“The recently released report by the Puget Sound Air Transportation Committee forecasts a steady air cargo growth of 5 percent to 7 percent at Sea-Tac through the year 2000,” he said.
But he said additional study is needed to factor in the effects of the port’s sea-air cargo program, which Seattle contends has boosted its sea-air volume to the highest of any airport in the world.
Sea-air cargo arrives by ship, is repacked into air containers, then flown from Seattle to Europe. Such shipments take about half as long as those routed all-water, but they typically cost about half those routed by all-air.
Rapid growth of the express-package industry, merger of key air-cargo operators and the growing role of forwarders and brokers also are affecting demand for cargo space.
The first step in the study will be to inventory existing air cargo warehouses, sorting centers, loading and unloading equipment and aircraft parking areas.
With that inventory, forecasts will be asked to project growth in both domestic and international air cargo over the next 30 years, including how much will be carried in belly space on passenger planes and how much might move aboard air freighters.
The third step in the study, Mr. Sims said, will be to project what Seattle will need to handle the air-cargo growth. An effort will be made to establish total air-cargo capacity for the airport, broken down into air- freight, air-mail, small-package, express-package and sea-air categories.
The final part of the study will suggest alternatives for expanding Seattle-Tacoma’s air cargo centers to match demand. The costs and benefits of each alternative will be included, Mr. Sims said.
Commissioner Gary Grant asked whether the study ought to be expanded to look at the possibility of extending Seattle-Tacoma’s cargo capacity by studying possible development of more off-airport sites as far away as Moses Lake, east of the Cascade Mountains.
Commissioner Paul Schell added it might be wise to consider how cargo would be affected if reliever airports in locations such as Tacoma or Everett could handle cargo.