New cargo facility to boost airport

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This article was published 06/09/2019 (2237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s airport is hoping to break into new international markets for pharmaceuticals and high-value pork — and expand shipments to the central Arctic — with the construction of a $30-million cargo facility.

The federal government is putting up the money.

It’s the first time the Winnipeg Airports Authority has “received a nickel” of any government funding since it was formed in 1997, said CEO Barry Rempel.

“Obviously we’re pretty pleased,” Rempel said.

The 13,000-square-metre facility will have space for cold storage of perishables, facilitate live animal handling and offer more space for cargo and aircraft. The airport’s east-side cargo campus will be redeveloped, Rempel said. He expects it to create almost 600 permanent jobs.

It’s part of a larger plan to integrate the airport with the local economy, Rempel said.

Rempel said there’s nowhere between Toronto and Vancouver that can offer certified cold-chain shipping, which ensures goods are kept at the correct temperature for the duration of their trip. Until now, loads that require cold-chain shipping have been trucked through Chicago, he said.

“That really reduces the shelf life and the quality of the product,” Rempel said. “This really is a good news story for the entire region, this isn’t just about Winnipeg. It will help our exporters, it will develop new (international) markets.”

Rempel expects a big benefit to western Manitoba pork producers shipping live animals.

“Manitoba, we’ve learned, has some of the best breeding stock,” Rempel said.

But it’s only ideal to ship live hogs around 18 C, which doesn’t work in winter or summer in Manitoba, he said.

The new facility will ensure the animals are treated well for the entire process and also means fewer animals trucked across the continent, he said.

The large coolers and freezers in the facility could once again make Winnipeg a resupply hub for the central Arctic and Nunavut, as well as Manitoba’s north, Rempel said.

“It’s very interesting that this is coming at the same time that there’s a challenge to the operation of the airport as a 24-hour airport.”– Barry Prentice

Barry Prentice, a professor of supply-chain management at the University of Manitoba, questioned the federal government’s claim that the facility will actually reduce the cost of shipping to those locations, but agreed that it will encourage more shipping to the north and internationally from Winnipeg.

“Every arrow in our quiver is better than having an empty quiver,” Prentice said.

It’s also a boon for passengers, Prentice said, since it will bring revenue to the airport.

His one caveat is that the cargo facility is being built while Winnipeg considers cutting overnight flights, because of a proposal to build apartments at Polo Park, within the airport exclusion zone.

“It’s very interesting that this is coming at the same time that there’s a challenge to the operation of the airport as a 24-hour airport,” Prentice said.

“We have one level of government investing in making this a more viable cargo airport. And on the other side, we have a local government doing something that could reduce the opportunity,” he said. “As soon you have curfews, you curtail a lot of opportunity.”

Prentice, who has studied the potential of using cargo airships for northern transportation, still thinks that would be a cheaper option — as little as half the cost of shipping by plane.

“What we really need is new technology that’s going to deal with the impact of climate change,” Prentice said.

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart