Lockwood Greene to design new cargo facility at JFK

Real Estate Weekly, May 12, 1993

Lockwood Greene, an international engineering design and architectural firm, is providing design engineering and architectural services for a new cargo terminal for Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) at Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, New York.

Lockwood Greene is the principal A/E component of a design/build team with E.W. Howell that was awarded a contract for the new facility. Services for the project include preliminary design, detail design and construction. Major components of the projects involve relocation of existing mechanical and electrical site utilities, and extensive taxiway, apron and ramp system design.

Sited on 15 acres in the northeast portion of the airport, the 175,000-square-foot facility will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced terminals at the airport devoted to air cargo handling. The design will allow for unobstructed movement of service vehicles and flexible cargo staging and handling. Both nose in and belly cargo systems to accommodate Bceing 747s are being designed.

The primary means of freight movement in the terminal will be by Elevating Transfer Vehicles (ETVs), manufactured by Lodige Fordertechnik Air Cargo Systems of Scherfede, Germany. This ETV system is capable of moving and storing over 200 M-1 containers stacked three high and four lanes deep, and is serviced by a moving ETV of over 20 feet in width and rated at 30,000 pounds capacity. It interconnects with an elaborate rollerized bypass system for quick transfer and delivery of containerized cargo.

The interior of the new structure will feature clear span designs which virtually eliminate building columns. The air side of the terminal, which will permit the loading and unloading of two 747 freighters simultaneously, will encompass an area of over 200,000 square feet. The land side of the facility will feature adjustable-level truck docks equipped with the safety Dok-Lock system. The facility will also include multi-tenant mezzanine office space.

In order to accommodate the wide variety of cargo NCA routinely handles, provisions will be made for security cages, a livestock area, freezers, and refrigerated zones.

NCA plans to invest over $40 million in the project, which will generate many jobs. The project is scheduled to be completed in May 1994.