newswor thy
where there’s a “will” …
“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME” HAS LONG BEEN THE MANTRA
of developers and politicians looking to transform unused (or under-used) space into showplaces of trade and commerce—not to mention
hotbeds for jobs. But the optimistic burghers of Will County, Ill., 40 miles
southwest of Chicago, don’t seem to think they’ll have much of a wait. To
hear them tell it, the people and the commerce don’t have to come.
They’re already there.
The state and county plan to develop a cargo airport as part of an
ambitious multimodal transport complex that will include up to four
intermodal rail yards, access to three interstate highways, and up to 135
million square feet of industrial warehousing and distribution space, 20
percent of which currently sits vacant due to the economic downturn.
There is one major obstacle, however: One of the world’s most estab-
lished cargo airports, O’Hare International, sits only 40 miles away.
State and county officials seem unfazed. As they see it, the “South
Suburban Airport” will offer a compelling alternative to O’Hare, with its
lower airline landing fees, less-congested airside and landside operations,
and convenient connections to Interstates 55, 57, and 65 as well as to
intermodal rail services. “Our point of distribution is more friendly than
O’Hare’s,” says John Grueling, president and CEO of the Will County
Center for Economic Development.
The new airport’s backers believe the two airports can thrive despite their close proximity to
one another. “We are not going after the folks at
O’Hare,” says Dr. Susan Shea, director of the
Illinois Department of Transportation’s aeronautics division.
Olympic dreams
Not everyone shares their optimism. Dan
Muscatello, managing director, cargo and logistics
for Cincinnati-based airport planner and developer Landrum & Brown, says a new airport so close
to O’Hare would have a tough time attracting new
business or diverting traffic from the older facility. O’Hare has a well-established base of airlines, truckers, and freight forwarders that would
be loath to pull up stakes and move down the road, Muscatello says. Nor
would international airlines with all-cargo operations, like Korean Air, be
inclined to split their passenger and cargo flights between two airports,
he says. And any advantage South Suburban may have in terms of landing costs and ease of access would be more than offset by the significant
volume-based discounts that shippers and forwarders get by tendering
large quantities of freight at a “gateway” airport like O’Hare, he adds.
What’s more, O’Hare is about to shed its reputation for being short on
cargo space. It is currently adding 750,000 square feet of airside cargo
space, including 18 additional parking spaces for freighter aircraft. When
the project is completed, O’Hare will have 45 freighter parking p. 12
Beumer buys
Crisplant
The Beumer Group, a leading technology
provider for a wide range of supply chain
functions, announced Sept. 10 it had
acquired Crisplant AS, a Danish sortation
technology provider, from U.K.-based
Melrose/FKI for an undisclosed sum.
Germany-based Beumer supplies
technology for conveying, loading, palletizing, packaging, sortation, and distribution operations. Crisplant provides
baggage sortation systems for airports
and sortation technology services for the
courier, express, and package delivery
sectors.
Christoph Beumer, Beumer’s chairman
and CEO, said in a statement that he
sees the acquisition creating “
considerable synergies” across multiple businesses, but particularly in the baggage-han-dling segment.
Under the transaction, the Crisplant
brand will be retained and will be marketed as an independent entity, Beumer
Group said in the statement. With the
acquisition, Beumer grows to a US$510
million company with approximately
2,000 employees, it said.
The sale of Crisplant is another step by
FKI/Melrose to divest its material handling holdings. In the late 1990s, FKI
acquired several logistics companies
such as Crisplant and combined them
under the FKI Logistex brand. In 2008,
financial services company Melrose PLC
bought FKI and announced it would put
FKI Logistex up for sale. In June 2009,
FKI Logistex’s U.S. operations were sold
to Intelligrated, another U.S. company.
—M.S.
