EWA to build air cargo complex at Portsmouth International Airport

New Hampshire-based airfreight solutions and service provider East West Aeronautical (EWA) and New York-based capital investment company Valorev Capital announced last week that they are developing an air cargo and aviation complex (ACX) at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (PSM) to ease supply chain congestion and bolster regional cargo growth. EWA provides various air cargo services, including freight forwarding, safety consulting and drone development. The project is expected to break ground by the end of summer 2022, with an intended completion date within two years. The ACX project includes multiple facilities, including an airfreight processing warehouse, multipurpose hangar, office space and Air Force/Navy Museum, EWA CEO Eric Robinson told Air Cargo World . [caption id="attachment_99203" align="alignright" width="570"] Photo/EWA[/caption] “We've seen the prices go up [and] we've seen the capacity go down,” Robinson said. “Our attempt here with the ACX project is to make a dent in our problems that we have with our supply chain, [which] is not enough space, so we hope to build a warehouse distribution center.” The warehouse will have a roughly 250,000-square-foot footprint scalable to around 450,000 square feet, Robinson said. Although tenants of the processing warehouse have not been confirmed, Robinson said that EWA will likely be one of the tenants utilizing the spaceThe airport expects to process primarily general cargo and e-commerce shipments, he noted. Robot ready Considering the growth in e-commerce demand, the facility will be “robot ready” to increase operational efficiency, Robinson said. This includes installing magnetic strips under the concrete and “pick and pack” operations, in which a robot picks up a shipment and transports it to a packing area. The proposed project would also be equipped with sustainable features, including rainwater recycling, solar energy capture, technology and green building materials, according to a release. Around 65,000 square feet will be dedicated to office space and a 150,000-square-foot multiuse hangar large enough to fit a 747 aircraft, Robinson said. He further noted that the hangar can also be utilized as a community sharing space for aircraft maintenance. EWA is also considering launching a combination cargo airline at PSM using two A320 aircraft, Robinson said. The airline would be fully equipped to primarily transport cargo and include some room on the main deck for a limited number of passenger seats. ‘Good distribution point for cargo’ Portsmouth “is a good distribution point for cargo because you can reach New York, Hartford [and] Providence,” Robinson said. “When you start adding up the millions of people within those areas, those are all within a few hours’ truck drive from our location. It’s a five-hour drive to New York City, two-hour drive to Hartford, [roughly] an hour and a half to Providence and less than an hour to Boston, so if you add up those markets, we are really in a unique position.” Originally an Air Force base, PSM is currently used primarily for passenger travel. However, unlike other smaller, regional airports, its 2-mile-long runway allows the airport to handle larger aircraft. Onsite U.S. Customs facilities are also available at the airport for international routes and technical stops to and from Europe. While the airport does offer some cargo services, ACX will be the first, large, onsite cargo warehouse, according to Robinson. Congestion issues surrounding larger airports like New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) have encouraged smaller airports like PSM to capture overflow and seize new cargo opportunities . Louisiana’s Chennault International Airport (CWF) , which broke ground on its air cargo facility July 2021, and Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport (BHM) in Alabama are just two of the many U.S. airports that have recently tapped into cargo potential. The Air Cargo Tech Summit, the new airfreight logistics event presented by Air Cargo World , will take place LIVE in Miami from June 6-7. Learn more and register here.

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