NEW YORK CITY — A partnership between The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) and Annapolis-based transportation real estate investment and management firm Realterm has completed a $270 million consolidated cargo handling facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens. WFS, the airport’s main cargo handling agency, will operate the 350,000-square-foot facility, which spans 26 acres, replaces two older facilities and brings together operations from four separate cargo zones into a single modernized location. Realterm, which developed the facility via ground lease, specializes in owning and operating airport logistics facilities via a 17 million-square-foot portfolio of such assets across 37 airports. The project was first announced in summer 2021.
The new cargo facility features several innovations designed to reduce wait times for truck drivers and minimize queuing outside the facility. These include an advanced truck dock management system that optimizes the flow of goods in and out of the facility, leveraging real-time scheduling, automated check-ins and digital communication between drivers and dock operators. The system automatically allocates the most efficient doors based on the size, type and contents of each delivery and also ensures that trucks arrive only when a dock is available, reducing idle wait times and onsite congestion. The new facility also includes 3,000 square feet of cooler space for goods requiring temperature-controlled storage, making it JFK’s first dedicated on-airport facility for temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and perishables. Lastly, the facility promotes sustainability through its use of electric forklifts, electric vehicle chargers and an automated unit load device system to optimize power usage.
The delivery of the new cargo handling facility follows the announcement of a major redevelopment of Terminal 5 at JFK, a project that is also being spearheaded by The Port Authority, along with JetBlue and aviation facilities and operations manager Fraport USA. The redevelopment of Terminal 5, which traffics some 165 JetBlue flights and 35,000 travelers on a daily basis, is part of a larger $19 billion overhaul of the entire airport. That initiative also includes the $4.2 billion redevelopment of Terminal 6, which will connect to the new Terminal 5.