Awards ceremony salutes achievements in air cargo

More than 100 attended the ATL Cargo Awards, which honored business and individuals (top) who are helping move ATL into the top tier among U.S. airports for cargo volume. Below right, Director of Air Service Development Elliott Paige said the event “is a way of giving back to the community and recognizing their contributions to the growth and development of cargo in and around the Airport.” © 2017 Decisive Moment Events

By Anika Robertson
Senior Editor/Assistant Public Relations Manager
The ATL Cargo Awards celebrated and honored the Airport’s “robust and vibrant” air cargo community with a ceremony and luncheon June 21.

More than 100 attended the annual event, which was held in the North Cargo building and featured stakeholders from the air cargo community, including ground handlers, ramp agents, freight forwarders, trucking companies and members of the Atlanta Air Cargo Association (AACA). AACA and the Metro Atlanta Chamber co-hosted the program.

Airport Director of Air Service Development Elliott Paige said the event pays tribute to businesses and individuals who are helping make ATL a “formidable force” in the industry.

“Hartsfield-Jackson’s air cargo community is robust and vibrant, and it continues to make a significant impact on the Airport and the region,” Paige said. “Our goal, of course, remains the same: To grow air cargo, propelling ATL into the top tier among U.S. airports for cargo volume. And I’m pleased to report that we continue to make great strides toward that objective.”

In 2016, ATL moved 648,595 metric tons of cargo, a 3.58 percent increase over 2015’s total, said Paige, adding that ATL is setting the stage to boost that number dramatically over the coming years.

He cited additional cargo carriers as well as new flights in the coming months. And before the year ends, he said, ATL expects to add at least four additional cities to Atlanta for cargo transport. In addition, Building C will soon be online, giving ATL the much-needed capacity to help meet future cargo demand.

One milestone over the past year has been the launch of TruckPass, a dock traffic control system in the South Cargo area. From February to March alone, ATL saw a 14 percent bump in overall cargo volume and another 6 percent increase in April.

ATL officials attribute some of that growth to TruckPass as well as the extraordinary efforts of the air cargo community. ATL Cargo Award winners are as follows:

Q&A with Elliott Paige

The Airport director of air service development spoke about ATL’s air cargo community – and what’s to come.

Q: What was the impetus for the Cargo Awards?
A: The ATL Cargo Awards is a way of giving back to the community and recognizing their contributions to the growth and development of cargo in and around the Airport. It’s our way of recognizing that Hartsfield-Jackson plays a vital role in the global supply chain for air cargo and also awarding key stakeholders who have made major contributions to the growth and efforts of our work in cargo in Atlanta. It’s also an opportunity for us to network and meet the people who are involved in this sector.

Q: What are the most popular items shipped from ATL?
A: The things that pass through this Airport tend to be a function of what’s around the Southeast. The Southeast become the nation’s hub for automotive production. We have Nissan, Kia Motors, Hyundai, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Then aerospace [industry] is here. We have the largest airline – Delta Air Lines – and they have they have their Technical Operations Center here, which means they do a lot of repairs. [Commercial jet] spare parts, engines pass through here. We have Airbus, Gulfstream and so on. Lastly, we receive a lot of pharmaceuticals that pass through as well.

Q: What would you like to change? Are there any industry challenges?
A: One of the challenges we have is the quality of ground-handling services – and the speed to move [cargo] from landside to airside. The more efficient we become, the higher the value of cargo that passes through this Airport, and the more we as a community are able to pay workers and increase their wages. Moving forward, we hope to position the cargo community for even greater collaboration, not just among ourselves, but also other cargo communities internationally.