Hamburg Airport replacing old Air Cargo Center Groundbreaking for the new Hamburg Airport Cargo Center

With a symbolic traditional groundbreaking ceremony, Hamburg Airport today celebrated the official begin of construction work on the new Air Cargo Center. Modern buildings and facilities on Weg beim Jaeger will replace the existing Air Cargo Center. The facility will retain the total space of 60,000 square metres. And at the same time, the name of the modern cargo terminal was announced: the new facility will open for business as the “Hamburg Airport Cargo Center” (HACC) in summer 2015, with modern and efficient freight handling processes. “We, the airport, are investing around 45 million euro from our own funds in the modern air freight facilities on Weg beim Jaeger. The money is a good investment for the site and the region. The new HACC will further strengthen the already successful aviation sector in Hamburg, bringing security for the future,” comments Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport.

Efficient use of space

The design of the Hamburg Airport Cargo Center was planned in close cooperation with the freight forwarding companies already based here. The airport already has a high tenanting ratio, with around 85% of the space either already under contract or fully negotiated and ready for contract.

The new HCC, consisting of cargo handling halls and offices, is based on a concept that allows for an annual capacity of up to 150,000 tonnes of air freight. The space in the future oriented facility is allocated as follows: a total of 6,000 m² is assigned to offices buildings (so-called pavilions), whilst 20,000 m² is assigned to logistics operations for freight forwarding agents and freight handling companies. The facility will have up to 40 loading ramps for articulated trucks and around 36 parking positions for tractor-trailer combinations.
The space layout in the freight halls ensures an efficient process chain, so that freight can be transhipped as quickly as possible. This is particularly important for the time-sensitive goods that make up the majority of goods handled at Hamburg Airport.

Furthermore, cargo aircraft such as the wide-bodied Antonov 124, which visited Hamburg Airport in January, can taxi to a loading and unloading point directly in front of the Cargo Center. An underpass being constructed on the street, Weg beim Jaeger, means that the new Air Cargo Center will be directly connected to the airport’s apron. Sufficient space has been allotted for the so-called Air Cargo Screening process. Stateof- the-art screening technology will ensure that the processes for the legally mandated security checks run smoothly.

Resource-efficient concept

Environmental experts have been involved in the project to develop a special resource efficient concept for the Hamburg Airport Cargo Center. This satisfies above average building and environmental standards for a logistics facility. Included in the concept are geothermal probe pumps which cover ⅓ of the heating and cooling requirements, as well as a highly efficient heat recovery system. Furthermore, exclusive use will be made of low-energy lighting.

Follow construction progress on the Hamburg Airport Cargo Center via webcam

In the next step, the complete pit for the foundation will be excavated, so that surface construction can begin this summer. As with the P1 multi-storey car park, under construction since April 2014, the daily progress on the construction site may be viewed online on Hamburg Airport’s website in the “Airport Development” section.