London gets $11-million freight facelift

LONDON, Ont. — This economically beleaguered region in Southern Ontario will soon get a much-needed boost after it was announced that an international air freight trans-shipment hub will be built here.

The so-called Gateway Project involves $8 million from Ottawa to build state-of-the-art air cargo terminal at the London International Airport. The project also includes other airport enhancements and upgrades in Highway 401 infrastructure leading to the facility.

The airport will kick-in in $500,000 and the City will cover the $2.5-million balance, although that hasn’t been formally approved yet, according to the London Free Press.

The paper reports that city officials plan to market the city as a significant freight-forwarding centre along one of the most commercially traveled stretches of highway in North America.

About 300,000 tons of cargo are flown or driven past London every year, notes Steve Baker, president of the airport, who’s heavily involved in the Gateway Project.

To start, the cargo terminal is expected to generate nearly 100 direct jobs in freight handling and packaging and additional jobs in customs, warehousing and trucking, Baker said.