Airport cargo terminal will create jobs for Hamilton, officials say

Politicians and executives gathered at the Hamilton airport on Friday to do an official groundbreaking for the new $12-million cargo terminal they hailed as a job maker for the region.

Federal, provincial and local politicians heaped praise on the new 70,000squarefoot facility at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, which will allow carriers to transport animals, fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals and other fragile and climate-controlled goods.

The terminal "will help the regions economy remain competitive and be well positioned in the future," said Ted McMeekin, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale.

"Im really darnproud of my city when I see things like this happening."

Mayor Bob Bratina said the citys objective is to become "the greatest city in the country, and were achieving that."

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FrankScremin, the airports president and CEO, said work crews have nearly finished the concrete foundation on the new terminal. Its due to open in April 2015.

Here are some facts about the new Air Cargo Logistics Facility:

• The construction of the terminal has created about 50 jobs. The terminal will eventuallycreate an estimated400 direct and spin-off jobs, officials said.
• The provincial and federal governments have jointly contributed $8 million of the cost.
• Cargojet, an overnight air cargo service, will be the main tenant.
• The terminal promises more traffic on the runways, which cant come soon enough asthe airport saw a decrease in both passenger and cargo traffic last year. That dropsparked concern with some city councillors, who say TradePort, the company that manages the airport,promised higher numbers when it signed a management agreement with the city.The airport handled 398,261,000 kilograms in cargo billable weight in 2012 compared to 388,286,000 kilograms in 2013.It had 351,491 passengers in 2012, and 341,740 in 2013.
• TradePort has put $83 million into airport upgrades, includingterminal buildings, air-side runways, taxi ways, and other facilities since 1996, when it took control of the airport,Scremin says.
• Cargojet will fly Boeing767, 757 and 727 aircraft from the terminal.