Airport partners pour $8m into jet fuel storage farm
April 09, 2010
Steve Arnold
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/750534
Backers of Hamilton's airport are taking another $8-million gamble on the field's potential.
This time, money has been poured into a new fuel farm on the south end of the airport property where two brand new tanks have sprouted to hold 3.6 million litres of jet fuel.
At the facility's official opening yesterday, airport president Richard Koroscil said the lack of such storage has been a problem, especially for the thriving cargo business Hamilton does at night.
"We've been put at a real disadvantage for years because we haven't had fuel capacity on site," Koroscil said.
"We're pumping as much or more fuel than airports like Winnipeg."
The system, which has been in service since January, is a joint project between the six airlines that regularly use Hamilton airport -- WestJet, Cargojet, Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, UPS and Kelowna Flightcraft. They joined forces on the project to give themselves a sure source of fuel at better prices than they were paying when the only fuel at Hamilton was the half-day's supply kept by a private operator.
"This is basic economy for us," said Cargojet executive vice-president Jamie Porteous. "We use 20 million litres of fuel a year, and having assured access to that is very important to us."
With large storage tanks now at the airport, he said, the operators can buy fuel wherever they can get the best price and gain a competitive advantage.
"Now that we can buy our fuel at lower prices, we can pass that saving on to our customers," he said.
Koroscil says the real threat from the limited supply on-site was a road closure or strike or anything else that could keep the fuel trucks from getting to Mount Hope.
"Anything at all could have held us up," he said. "We're doing our best to play our role as a good partner here."
As it is currently structured, trucks will load up at the fuel tanks and move the gas to aircraft.
As air traffic through Hamilton picks up, Koroscil said, the system is ready to pump fuel directly to the tarmac.
The land purchased for the fuel farm -- it used to be a regular farm -- is big enough that at least two more tanks can be added as demand dictates.