Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • April 29, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com T he freight industry is tak- ing off at Bradley Interna- tional Airport. Package-delivery and other supply-chain companies operating out of Bradley handled 281 million pounds of freight and mail shipped in and out of the air- port last year, a 16.4-percent increase vs. 2017, according to Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees Bradley. Those companies include shipping giants FedEx, UPS and DHL, as well as smaller businesses and airliners that carry cargo for shipping in addition to transporting passengers. Last July, Pinnacle Logistics, which ships pack- ages for Amazon, began operating in 394,000 square feet of space at the airport, contributing to the spike in cargo handled by freight companies. That also helped pad Bradley's bot- tom line. The airport, which receives rental and landing fees from freight carriers operating on its grounds, recorded $9.2 million in cargo-related revenue last calendar year. By comparison, it earned only $2.9 million in fiscal 2017, which ran from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. The growth in the freight and logis- tics industries — including trucking and warehousing — at and near Brad- ley dovetails with the continued rise of e-commerce, which relies on planes, trucks and other modes of transporta- tion to move online-purchased goods from the manufacturer and/or retailer to the end customer. U.S. Census data show U.S. e-com- merce sales totaled $132.8 billion in 2018's fourth quarter, nearly twice the amount spent during the same period five years earlier. "I see a real opportunity for us to grow freight handling on a regional basis," Dillon said. Dillon said he attributes much of the 2018 boost in freight at Bradley to Pinna- cle — which employs about 200 people at the airport — and he's expecting an even larger increase in 2019, since last year's numbers only reflect about five months of Pinnacle's operations there. Dallas-based Pinnacle Logistics moved to Windsor Locks after clos- ing its warehouse operation at the Quonset Business Park and T.F. Green Airport in Rhode Island. The company has kept a low profile since starting its local operations here and declined to comment for this story. But Dillon said he thinks Pinnacle relocated to Bradley because it's the better option logistically, as the air- port is geographically central to New England, and has access to Interstates 84 and 91, which T.F. Green lacks. In its five-year lease with Pinnacle, the Airport Authority waived all fees in the first year, but will charge just over $1.2 million in rent for building and ramp space in year two. Those fees rise slightly to as high as $1.3 million. The so-called Bradley Airport De- velopment Zone, which encompasses the towns of East Granby, Suffield, Windsor and Windsor Locks, has also benefited from the rise in e-commerce as more logistics companies and online retailers want to be closer to the airport, as well as major highways near it. Businesses that set up shop within that zone are eligible for tax breaks if they acquire an idle facility, or con- struct or renovate one, and use it for specific purposes like warehousing and motor freight distribution, according to the Bradley Development League. Several distribution hubs have popped up in the development zone over the years, including Amazon's fulfillment center, which opened in Windsor in 2015. Windsor also landed drugstore chain Walgreens' 700,000-square-foot, $175 million distribution center in 2009 and Dollar Tree's 1-million-square-foot distribu- tion center in 2013. Meantime, long before the e-com- merce boom, UPS started shipping out of Bradley in 1987 and moved from an airplane hangar to its current UPS Bradley Air Hub facility in 1997. It employs 325 workers who handle about 60,000 inbound and outbound pack- ages per day, a UPS spokesperson said. "Freight and small package volume are both areas of tremendous growth for UPS," said Paul Lussier, district air manager for UPS. "For businesses of all sizes, Bradley plays a role in con- necting the Northeast region to the rest of the U.S. and the world." And Dillon says Bradley is in a unique position for significant future growth in cargo shipping. The airport owns 300 acres of unde- veloped property — most with airfield access — on which existing tenants or new ones could build shipment facili- ties and hangars, Dillon said. Bradley's available space and lower rents, he added, set it apart from transportation hubs like Logan International Airport in Boston and John F. Kennedy Inter- Shipping Center Spurred by e-commerce, Bradley Airport sees spike, significant growth potential in freight business Total cargo (freight+mail) shipped in and out of Bradley International Airport Source: CT Airport Authority Packages shipped to and from Amazon's Windsor fulfillment center are part of the reason Bradley International Airport has seen a significant spike in the amount of freight and mail handled at the Windsor Locks-based airfield. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Total cargo (in lbs.) 249,011,765 245,240,773 239,695,661 231,973,730 236,496,199 256,089,120 253,317,148 295,021,672

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