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142 The modern airport is a hub not only for passengers but also for air cargo. As the world con- tinues to shrink, and demand for faster transportation of goods, as well as people, continues to grow, the volume of air cargo will rise accordingly. This chapter discusses typical target populations for air cargo surveys, such as air cargo opera- tors and freight forwarders, and the key factors relevant to cargo surveys. Note that air cargo is not restricted to dedicated aircraft, as considerable volume is carried in the belly holds of passenger air- craft, particularly on international flights. 10.1 Need for Air Cargo Data The cargo activity at an airport generates a requirement for dedicated terminal and apron facil- ities as well as producing truck traffic, both within the airport boundaries and on the surrounding road system. One purpose of collecting air cargo data is to forecast the amount of cargo activity in order to determine future facility requirements. A second purpose is to develop a relationship between the air cargo tonnages and the resulting truck traffic, both volumes as well as temporal and geograph- ical trip patterns. The latter encompasses the immediate road system of the airport itself, as well as the connections to the major highways throughout the region. Metropolitan planning organiza- tions should include the airport as a generator of both truck and passenger traffic in their plans and forecasts. While the purpose of an air cargo survey can be clear, there is little experience with collecting data in this area. Considering the increasing importance of air cargo on the world economyâand the lack of experience in the conduct of air cargo studies and the collection of air cargo dataâthere is a requirement for research in this area. 10.2 Collection of Air Cargo Data The tonnage of air cargo handled at an airport is the starting point for both facility and munic- ipal planning purposes, but other information about the characteristics of the cargo is also required. It should be noted that cargo activity at an airport is not necessarily all air cargo. A cargo consoli- dation facility is sometimes located at the airport to serve an air cargo function as well as a freight consolidation and transfer function between other modes, including truck-to-truck transfer. Internationalâand to some extent nationalâair cargo flows are influenced by the volume of passenger activity between particular airports, because passenger volume affects the size of air- C H A P T E R 1 0 Cargo Surveys
craft and availability of belly hold capacity in the market. For this reason, air cargo is often con- solidated over a wide geographic area and trucked to a gateway or major hub airport where ade- quate capacity exists to fly the cargo to its destination. Air cargo data are collected and are available at an aggregate level from federal statistics agencies as a reporting requirement under various regulations. These data are available as total tonnages for inbound and outbound cargo. In the case of international trade, there may be additional data avail- able on tonnages of air cargo by commodity. In the preparation of any cargo study, these sources should be explored thoroughly as a prelim- inary source of data. However, given the purpose of air cargo studies, this aggregate level of data is frequently inadequate. Additional characteristic data are required, including the following: ⢠Weight and/or volume. ⢠Ultimate origin and destination. ⢠Times at origin and destination. ⢠Commodity type or value. ⢠Flight information. ⢠Truck trip characteristics. Basically, this is the information available on an air cargo waybill. This information is, naturally, highly valued by the shippers and forwarders, guarded by privacy rules, and not released easily. A concerted effort is required to obtain even a small sample of data for a single highly focused study. It may, however, be possible to obtain information at a summary level. While the best data for an air cargo study may not be available, there are many other sources that should be investigated before taking on the expense of a survey. As mentioned, some air cargo data are available through regulatory reporting requirements. Another source of data might be munic- ipal and state agencies that conduct truck surveys and interviews. For basic truck volumes in and out of airport cargo facilities, the local municipality may have traffic count information, which can be used to estimate both the volume of activity and patterns over the counting period. With the advent of Intelligent Transportation Systems, there are an increasing number of auto- mated truck pseudo-tracking systems. The I-75/AVION is one such system. It allows selected transponder-equipped trucks to be cleared electronically at weight and inspection stations, while allowing all participating U.S. states and the Province of Ontario to maintain existing regulatory regimes. The weight and inspection stations are equipped with automatic vehicle identification (AVI) and automated weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales. Such systems are based on intelligent tags that track the truck and, by extension, its contents along a corridor. Exploring such data sources may provide information related to air cargo activity. When all these sources of data have been investigated and the available information is still insuf- ficient for the planned analysis, then consideration should be given to collecting additional data through a survey. 10.3 Survey Methods Planning an air cargo survey is not a simple matter of planning a routine survey. There is little experience to draw upon, and therefore virtually no standard practices that can be applied, or mod- ified, for a particular airport. Any survey designed to capture air cargo data is likely breaking new ground. To date, the most common survey method for air cargo is similar to stakeholder interviews. Although shippers and forwarders may be reluctant to release detailed information on air cargo Cargo Surveys 143
shipments or cargo activity at their facility, it is possible to construct a survey in the form of an interview. Using the survey purpose as a base, a series of questions can be constructed to form a structured interview to be conducted with all, or selected, air cargo operators at the airport. Each selected shipper and forwarder would be approached to participate, and an interview con- ducted at a convenient time. The cost and duration of such a survey would depend on the number of interviews to be conducted. As an alternative or supplementary method, it may be possible to conduct driver interviews at a roadside location near the cargo facility. This survey method was adopted for the extensive survey performed at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2005 (the questionnaire used is included in Appendix K). The actual methodology is similar to the roadside interviews used by state agen- cies, and the experience of such agencies would be valuable in the design of a roadside intercept interview at an airport. The numbers of truck movements by truck category can be collected through observational studies. Such a study will not provide the detailed data on loaded weight and origin and destina- tion, but it would act as a census of the volume of truck movements. 10.4 Summary Air cargo surveys may be required when the available data sources do not provide the level of information needed. Waybill data would be a superior data source for analysis, but there is cur- rently no easy way to access detailed waybill data for air cargo shipments and freight forwarding companies are reluctant to release this information. There is limited experience in conducting air cargo truck interviews, which may be the best approach to getting access to waybill data. 144 Guidebook for Conducting Airport User Surveys
