Sun, Nov. 15, 2009
Three months have passed since the last air cargo plane bearing flowers from South America landed at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.
Tim Cantwell, the airport director, has spoken optimistically about the future of the flower program, stating that flights headed north to MidAmerica, and then southbound, loaded up with cargo from the Midwest, "are full both ways."
But Cantwell's assertion conflicts with information contained on a log of the 39 Arrow Cargo flights that landed at MidAmerica between Oct. 30, 2008, and Aug. 6, the date of the last flower flight.
The cargo log, a copy of which was obtained by the News-Democrat, shows that most of the flower flights to MidAmerica were less than half full, averaging payloads of less than 22 tons apiece on the Arrow Cargo MD DC-10 cargo planes, which can haul more than 70 tons at a time.
The return trips fared even worse, with five of 39 flights carrying nothing to South America at all, the log shows.
Several other MidAmerica flights headed south with just a few tons of cargo loaded on them. Overall, the average payload for the remaining 34 flights was about 8.7 tons apiece, the logs show.
"There were multiple flights that were empty. No cargo going out, none," said Olga Munoz, the operational manager of the flower flights for the firm that until September had overseen the airport flower import business.
Munoz was on hand for each of the 39 Arrow flights that landed and took off from MidAmerica, she said.
Cantwell could not be reached for comment for this article.
Mark Kern, the County Board chairman, has said the next flight is set to land Friday.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, however, has not been informed of any future flights, according to a patrol spokesman.
Steve Armellini, the owner of a flower trucking firm in Miami, has monitored the airport's fledgling flower import business.
Armellini has known for months about MidAmerica's problems finding cargo to haul south, he said. He isn't surprised Cantwell has stated the cargo flights are flying full each way.
"They got to build it up," said Armellini, the president of Armellini Industries Inc. "They got to keep making people think it's going to work."
Armellini blamed MidAmerica's problems in filling the return Arrow Cargo flights south on two factors: the recession-wracked global economy -- which has led air cargo firms at Miami International Airport to cut their rates sharply -- and MidAmerica airport's initiation in July of landing fees and other costs on Arrow Cargo, which drove up the rates for moving cargo in either direction.
"They just started charging the fees. The first months were free everything: free rent, free landing fees," Armellini said. "So it was all subsidized. Once the subsidies stopped, so OK, you have to start paying for your landing fees, then the box rate went up $3 a box."
The hiatus in the air cargo flights of flowers is occurring at a pivotal juncture for MidAmerica St. Louis Airport and its effort to redefine itself as a cargo hub after a frustrating decade trying to lure passenger airlines.
Cantwell in October replaced the company that had overseen the flower flights, Miami-based Teqflor International Logistics, with MidAmerica Cargo Handlers, of St. Louis.
MidAmerica Cargo Handlers is owned by the family that also owns Baisch & Skinner, the St. Louis-based floral importer and wholesaler that trucks the flowers to retail outlets in the St. Louis region.
And because MidAmerica Cargo will control operations at the airport's refrigerated warehouse, such an arrangement could drive away other flower importers, said Munoz, the vice-president of Mission Cargo, which co-owns Teqflor.
Munoz said she is not sure why the county replaced her firm with MidAmerica Cargo, especially because of concerns that MidAmerica Cargo's control of warehouse operations could deter other flower importers from doing business with MidAmerica.
"The thing that always concerns me is that because it is taxpayers' money and the airport has the potential to be a very successful airport," Munoz said. "Why not develop it in the right way and develop it in the right manner?"
As a result of the switch, Munoz's firm in late September ended its $3.3 million contract with St. Clair County, the airport owner.
The contract had called for Teqflor to repay over nine years, at $365,000 per year, the refrigeration units and other specialized equipment the county had bought last year. MidAmerica is supposed to take over payments for the refrigeration units, Kern has said.
The county Public Building Commission, which oversees the airport, is scheduled to vote on a contract with MidAmerica Cargo at its regular meeting this Thursday.
Kern did not return calls seeking comment for this story. But in an interview earlier this month, Kern played down problems resulting from the selection of MidAmerica Cargo to oversee the flower flights and warehouse operations.
"Baisch & Skinner is continuing their operations," Kern said. "So we're dealing with John Baisch's team. They're the ones who are the flower importers."
Kern also noted that Manuel Aragon, Teqflor's co-owner, is still onboard with Baisch & Skinner.
"It's the same business model, it's the same cargo arriving in the same way, and John Baisch's flowers are still the major part of the equation," Kern said.
County Board member Craig Hubbard, R-Belleville, criticized Kern for not informing the CountyBoard of the change-over in the management of the flower flights.
Noting the many millions of dollars in losses the airport, built at a cost of $313 million has racked up since opening in 1998, Hubbard renewed his call for shutting it down until a new tenant can be found for the airport, which is adjacent to Scott Air Force Base.
"I think we should to continue to try to find new business," Hubbard said. "But in the meantime we should close down anything not pertinent to Scott Air Force Base."
Armellini, the truck company president from Miami, praised the selection of Baisch and Skinner to run the warehouse, calling the firm, "a class act company and if they do it I think they're probably going to do it right."
Even so, MidAmerica is facing an increasingly crowded field, with Houston International Airport on the verge of opening its 50,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse, while other big airports are seeking to enter the air cargo industry.
What's also hurting MidAmerica St. Louis Airport is the fact no other cargo haulers land there, while it is off the beaten path for most big freight operations, Armellini said.
"They got a long row to hoe," he said.