3PL Foundations
April 30, 2025
Just about the coolest thing on our list of cool things at JFK International Airport is the TWA Hotel (all 1960s time capsule vibe, $500-a-night rooms, $14 fries!). Topping that list, though, might very well be JFK’s cargo scene.
JFK is the busiest international commercial airport in North America and the sixth busiest airport in the nation. Combine that with the Tri-State area, which has the world’s largest metropolitan economy, the largest metropolitan urban landmass (4,669 square miles), and a population of some 20 million people.
Those numbers also reflect the traffic. The human movement, the vehicle movement. And the cargo. From edible nuts to mechanical bolts, from produce to wood pulp, from garments to electronics, from most anything to everything: the cargo scenario at JFK is enormous. And growing.
JFK’s Air Cargo Center has a number of entities operating within this ecosystem, including:
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70,000 square feet of cargo warehouse space for Air France-KLM.
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The ARK at JFK, an animal handling facility includes veterinary services, a kennel, and handling of equine, bovine, swine, birds and exotic & zoo animals.
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A 260,000 square-foot cargo building for Worldwide Flights Services.
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175,000 square feet for American Airlines cargo terminal
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225,000 square feet facility for Prologis Cargo Center, which includes operations for U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
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90,000 square-foot building for DHL Global Forwarding.
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81,000 square feet for China Airlines Cargo.
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220,000 square-foot cargo facility for Korean Air.
Add to that now a new consolidated cargo handling center. At 350,000 square feet, it will contribute to the support of 93,000 jobs and $11 billion in annual economic activity to JFK’s air cargo universe, which processed more than 1.6 million tons of cargo last year and is, among many other things, the country’s busiest eCommerce center.
The Tri-State region gives commercial trucking easy access to the I-95 corridor, Maine to Florida. Cargo arriving here, departing from here, and passing through here is best served by efficiency (yeah, and price). And a state-of-the-art cargo center helps to best serve that.