Clipper cargo horizons, Vol. 1, No. 2, February 1961

              HORIZONS
A Pan Am Publication About Worldwide Air Distribution • Vol. I, No. 2 • February, 1961
The Biggest Air Cargo Center in the World
Value and variety typify Idlewild cargo flying to world markets; Pan Am tops international carriers, features own customs section
THIS CARGO center at Idlewild covers 80 acres, moves 140,000 tons of cargo in and out a year; a major portion of it high-value items.
Idlewild has mushroomed into a fantastic airport city. In turn it has spawned a city within itself.
That’s its air cargo center, where 27 airlines lease space, and through which in 1960 an estimated 140,000 tons of air cargo were funneled into domestic and international trade channels.
What made this feat possible was a cluster of four cargo buildings, each with 67,000 square feet of space; a separate 56,000-square-foot mail facility, an Animalport run by the A.S.P.-C.A.; broad access roads and parking areas; paved expanses which permit planes to taxi up to cargo buildings for loading and unloading, and a two-story customs facility. The latter contains an in-bond warehouse and some 50 customs brokers, cargo sales agents, and consolidators.
Even so, Idlewild is bursting at the seams. Ten new box stalls are going into the Animalport and revamping of its interior is in progress. Two new cargo buildings are slated for completion in 1962, and there’s a general lifting of cargo sights in anticipation of future growth.
Values High. The 140,000-ton figure is somewhat deceiving. Tonnage-wise any
*Trademark, Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.
number of U. S. ports may outrank Idlewild. But the value of the overseas cargo which passes through the airport is estimated at over one billion dollars. And considered on the basis of import duty, in the neighborhood of $57Vi million for 1960, it vies with the port of Los Angeles (harbor and airport) for second place behind the port of New York itself. Observers believe that if the Queens airport goes on bursting its
cargo seams it will go unchallenged into the number two slot in customs receipts within the next six months.
Compact, high-value cargo is what accounts for Idlewild’s top ranking position duty-wise. Whether flying in or out, the most significant cargo by type is machinery and machine parts, wearing apparel, pharmaceuticals and drugs, textile piece goods, periodicals, optical goods and photographic equipment, autos and auto parts, electrical and electronic equipment, and aircraft and aircraft parts.
Speed Paramount. Overseas cargo handled at Idlewild increased 30% in 1960 over 1959, and Pan Am continued to dominate overseas traffic by accounting for 30% of it.
Rapid handling of details on this cargo traffic remains paramount. To cope with it, Pan Am maintains a streamlined staff; operates an in-bond section for cargo in transit to points in the U. S. and destined for the West Coast and re-export there; has separate warehouse space for inbound and outbound cargo, and a separate appraiser’s room. Forklifts abound, and a special forklift pallet, with drop pieces to form an incline plane, has been devised for loading and unloading cars and other 4-wheel vehicles. Four horse ramps are on tap for handling horses, cattle, and other livestock.
A giant customs installation in a separate building, said to be the most complete of its kind in the U. S., has (Continued on Page 4)
THIS ALL-TRATSSISTOR computer flying to Stockholm is just one of many types of valuable cargo regularly leaving Idlewild. W.G.E. Vreeland, v-p, International Marketing, RCA International, checks 73-piece polyethelene-wrapped shipment during loading operations.