West Coast air cargo volumes down

West Coast air cargo volumes down Air cargo tonnage statistics at major West Coast airports have taken a beating during the first seven months of the year, with total tonnage at airports from Seattle to Los Angeles dipping sharply from 2007.
   Seven West Coast airports are ranked in the nation's top 25 busiest U.S. cargo airports according to 2007 numbers from the Airports Council International of North America and tonnage statistics are available for the January through July period from each of the seven except Anchorage International Airport and Oakland International Airport. For most of the airports, July represents the latest statistics posted for the calendar year.
   Air cargo tonnage through Los Angeles International Airport was off 6.5 percent to 1.1 million tons for the January-to-July period. International air cargo accounted for slightly less than 58 percent of the LAX total air cargo tonnage through July with the remainder being listed as domestic. Imported air cargo accounted for just over 53 percent of the total with outbound cargo making up the remainder.
   Pure air freight declined 7.3 percent to 1.05 million tons while air mail cargo increased 18.6 percent to 45,101 tons.
   San Francisco International Airport said air cargo volume dropped 5.4 to 306,780 tons. Outbound international air cargo was up 2 percent to 71,000 tons. Domestic outbound declined 14.3 percent, domestic inbound dropped 15.8 percent, and international inbound fell 4.6 percent.
   Ontario International Airport, managed by the same city agency that operates LAX, posted an 8 percent air cargo decline to 305,832 tons.
   Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, or Sea-Tac, saw cargo drop 8.1 percent in the first seven months of the year to 145,815 tons. Sea-Tac's losses were across the board with inbound international air cargo off 16 percent and international outbound cargo down 2.7 percent. Domestic inbound air cargo at Sea-Tac dipped 11.5 percent and domestic outbound air cargo slipped 3.9 percent.
   Portland International Airport was off 11.3 percent in total air cargo to 141,651 tons. International outbound air cargo improved 0.2 percent while international inbound air cargo at PDX dropped 2.6 percent. PDX, which handles primarily domestic air cargo, saw outbound domestic air cargo tonnage drop 10.5 percent and inbound domestic air cargo tonnage decline 13.1 percent.
   Anchorage International Airport came in at No. 2 on the ACI list of the nation's 25 busiest air cargo airports, with LAX at No. 5, Oakland International 12th, San Francisco International 13th, L.A.-Ontario International 16th, Sea-Tac 20th and Portland International 24th.