Clipper cargo horizons, Vol. 2, No. 9, September 1962

              
HORIZONS
A Pan Am Publication About Worldwide Air Distribution • Vol. 2, No. 9 * September, 1962
In prosperous West Germany ...
Frankfurt Is International Air Cargo Hub
Worldwide Links,
All-Cargo Services
Make Airport The Focal Point of
Central Europe
Frankfurt-Main Airport, lying at the center of the Federal Republic of Germany and surrounded by an important complex of industries, has become the air cargo hub of Germany and of Central Europe.
Traffic stimulated by the booming German economy of recent years has almost tripled the airport’s cargo volume since 1958. With a network of services feeding to other points in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world, Frankfurt now is handling about 55% of all air cargo moving in and out of Germany. In 1961, its total cargo, excepting in-transit, was second in Europe only to London.
The overall cargo moving in and out of Frankfurt during 1961 totaled 63,313,229 kilos, an increase of 35% over the previous year. For the first half of 1962, the total was 37,419,906 kilos, a 32.3% increase, and airport officials estimate the total for this year will reach about 85,000,000 kilos.
Direct same-plane services provide cargo lift from Frankfurt to 107 cities of the world on all continents. Increasingly important to the airport are allcargo services: arrivals and departures of airfreighters in 1961 totaled 10,459, an increase of 29%.
Frankfurt is a junction point for shipments from the U. S. to Europe, the Middle and Far East, and Africa. Volume shipments are broken down at Frankfurt and routed on to other points. American shippers are taking advantage of high weight breaks in rates by sending their goods to Frankfurt for distribution through the Common Market area by excellent air, rail, and truck facilities.
Frankfurt, a center of commerce and finance, historically has been a traffic
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hub for Germany. The Main river has been the waterway for goods moving in and out of the city, and it is the focal point of an important rail network. It was therefore logical that with the postwar development of air cargo, Frankfurt would become the hub of this new form of traffic.
Political factors — the division of Germany and the presence of great numbers of Americans in the country, with Frankfurt at the heart of the American occupation zone—have aided Frankfurt in its postwar growth. For example, Germany’s fur center formerly was located in what is now East Germany; since the war, Frankfurt has become the fur center of the Federal
Republic. Planeloads of furs move in from auctions in London and from other points.
As another example, Frankfurt has taken over from Leipzig—now in East Germany—the role of the major fairground for international general trade exhibits.
One effect of the presence of many Americans in the Frankfurt area has been the import of commodities to meet their needs: for example, household goods for personnel moving to the area with American firms; clothing from Hong Kong for the U. S. armed forces.
The airport lies within the second most important of three West German
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