For Air Cargo Management, Zachary Oakley, executive director at Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) shares insights on the airport’s strategic initiatives to enhance its role in international cargo transport, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector, while maintaining a commitment to sustainability.
Located in northern Illinois, 68 miles northwest of Chicago, the Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) is emerging as one of the fastest growing cargo airports in the world.
The commercial service airport specialises not only in cargo transport but also passenger services, making it a crucial hub for domestic and international travel.
Spanning over 3,000 acres of land, RFD is equipped with an aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility as well as an aviation maintenance education programme dedicated to developing skilled workers.
As UPS’s largest regional parcel-sorting centre, and with air route network connecting RFD to more than 20 US cities, our airport plays a vital role in the regional, national and international express freight business. State-of-the-art facilities, coupled with runway lengths of 10,000ft/3,048m and 8,200ft/2,500m, enables RFD to accommodate any aircraft operating in the world today.
Chicago Rockford International Airport is multifaceted and has the capability to make an even more significant impact on cargo services, paving the way for exciting new developments across key air cargo verticals such as pharmaceuticals and life sciences, e-commerce, perishables and general air cargo such as machinery parts, aviation parts and automotive parts.
The importance of pharma logistics at RFD
The Indian pharmaceutical industry’s contract manufacturing market is anticipated to double over the next three years, with current trade between India and the US valued at over $22 billion annually. That number is projected to grow to more than $40 billion by 2029, and RFD plans to capitalise on the market.
Transporting pharmaceutical and healthcare products by air requires meticulous handling procedures, is highly regulated and demands strong cooperation between logistics organisations and airport authorities. To meet and exceed standard operating procedures for handling imported pharmaceuticals, RFD recently received a large trial shipment of pharmaceuticals from India, in order to test and validate the airport’s recently established Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and Good Storage Practice (GSP) protocols.
This inaugural trial was undertaken in partnership with Penta Freight Pvt. Ltd. India, one of the country’s leading pharma-focused freight forwarders, on behalf of their client, an India-based pharmaceutical company.
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Cargo activity at Chicago Rockford International Airport
The shipment was flown into RFD by Maersk Air Cargo on their owner-controlled Magma Boeing 747-400F scheduled flight from Frankfurt Hahn Airport (HHN), Germany, with the cargo being initially flown from Mumbai (BOM) airport into Frankfurt (FRA) where it was then interlined by temperature controlled road feeder service to HHN.
Upon arrival at RFD, the pharmaceuticals were loaded directly from the aircraft onto an Xperts Group Rollerbed Reefer Truck parked on the ramp. They were then promptly transported to a state-of-the-art temperature-controlled, dedicated pharmaceutical warehouse for breakdown. With cargo moving directly from aircraft onto reefer truck, the RFD process helps to reduce handling costs and lowers risks associated with the potential loss of cool chain integrity. This method of handling pharma also is highly efficient and time-saving.
The successful shipment establishes RFD’s partnership with the Chicago-based specialist pharma and life sciences logistics, trucking and warehousing company, Xperts Group.
The positive outcome from this trial shipment has encouraged Penta to work on further developing the pharma trade lane between India and RFD.
New pharma trade lane
With this new business development, we need to be aware of current capacity size. Our existing HHN-RFD flight is currently full, making it impossible to accommodate the volume Penta wants to bring into RFD. We are now hoping that the proof of demand and handling preference will stimulate an increase in air cargo capacity and route options in order to help open up the market in a move that is much wanted by Penta and their clients.
Indeed, this new trade lane, supported by our GDP and GSP protocols for handling pharmaceuticals and life science products, comes in direct response to a growing demand by the pharma sector in India. Both manufacturers and their freight forwarding agents want to improve the efficiency of the handling of these sensitive shipments by shipping them though a less congested airport system like RFD.
Environmental benefits
Global business is committed to finding ways to reduce CO2 emissions and airport selection has a role to play in this process. For example, when air cargo flights arrive into RFD they are wheels down to engines off consistently in less than five minutes. By comparison to busy hub airports, RFD, with direct in approach and little vectoring, and no taxiway or ramp congestion, has a very low landing and takeoff cycle time, whereby aircraft engines are not in use and emitting as much CO2 as aircraft operating into a congested airport system. Accordingly, by selecting RFD, the shipper and forwarder are able to considerably lower their CO2 emissions.
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Transporting pharmaceutical and healthcare products by air requires meticulous handling procedures
Air cargo flow and growth
The flows of air cargo between India and the US have been increasing. In 2022, the total air cargo market stood at approximately 244,000 tonnes, with India ranked as the 14th largest air cargo market in the US Data from 2023 shows that air cargo trade with India has grown by 50% and now stands at just over 400,000 tonnes, and in terms of value of this trade, India now ranks as the 11th largest air cargo market in the US.
The US leads the entire market with 60% of air cargo into Illinois originating from India, while 40% consists of export cargo from Illinois to India. However, Chicago-India is not served by any direct scheduled freighter service, relying solely on the daily Air India flight to Delhi, which covers less than 20% of market needs.
Moving forward, there is a significant opportunity, not just for pharmaceutical imports but for US machinery manufactures like Caterpillar and John Deere, which have a strong presence in India. Additionally, India’s booming e-commerce market is set to drive further growth.
At Chicago Rockford International Airport, we believe the overall air cargo market between Chicago and India is ready for increased expansion, particularly in high-yield verticals like pharmaceuticals and e-commerce. We are committed to this growth while maintaining our reputation as the world’s fastest-growing cargo airport.
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