Alaska's Cargo Hub: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport serves the world.

• Author: Wolf, Greg
• Position: INTERNATIONAL TRADE SPECIAL SECTION / AIRPORT

Greg Wolf has been the executive director of the World Trade Center in Anchorage since 2002; he previously served as the State of Alaska's director of international trade and market development and was the vice president of oversees projects for AEDC.

While some living in the Lower 48 may think Anchorage is at the end of the world, in reality the city is located right in the middle of the world. At least, so far as the aviation business is concerned. The commercial aviation industry has extensive air cargo operations that they perform at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on a daily basis. Situated at the top of the world and near equidistance between Europe, Asia, and North America, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is less than ten hours by air to 95 percent of major global markets. It serves as the primary link between cities in Asia and North America, as approximately 80 percent of all cargo flights operating across the Pacific make a "technical stop" at Anchorage to refuel, change crews, and (in some cases) to transfer cargo. It is why major integrator airlines like FedEx, UPS, and DHL all have a significant presence at the airport in support of their growing international cargo operations.

The airport continues to be one of the busiest in the world for cargo carriers. It currently ranks as the fifth largest cargo airport in the world and the second largest in the United States. Internationally, it ranks only behind Hong Kong, Memphis, Shanghai, and Incheon (Korea). Domestically, only Memphis, home to FedEx's major hub, sees more cargo traffic. Each week the airport handles more than 500 landings of wide-bodied cargo freighters.

Anchorage Advantage

The primary advantage for cargo carriers to make stops at Anchorage is that they can maximize their payload to fuel ratio. In other words, by being able to carry more cargo and less fuel, they can operate with more efficiency and greater profitably. A carrier can carry an additional 100,000 pounds of revenue cargo by making a fuel stop in Anchorage, It's a simple--but powerful--incentive to make use of the Anchorage stopover. Another advantage is Anchorage's unique cargo transfer authorities granted to it by the US Department of Transportation in 2003. These expanded cargo transfer rights make Anchorage extremely flexible for the cargo airlines, which can make use of time on the ground refueling to also carry out transfers between their own planes and those of other...