Pie in the sky?

The Ministry of Infrastructure has announced the setting up of a special commission to select a location for a new cargo airport to be built near Warsaw between 2006-2008. Radom, Bolimów, Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą and Mszczonów have all been considered as possible locations

Though it is generally advisable to maintain a sceptical distance from government investment plans, the prospect of a new cargo airport has got the tongues of warehouse operators and developers wagging. Paweł Piasecki of the Europa Distribution Centre claims that information about the new airport has been going round for some time now. In his view, Mszczonów is best equipped for the construction of an airport because the area has good communication with Warsaw by rail and road and suitable climatic conditions, i.e. strong winds and air pressure.
"Naturally, I would be happy if a cargo airport was to be built in Mszczonów, and not just because it would create a substantial increase in the flow of goods but also a larger range of means of transport for companies who own warehouses or run production in the area", says Paweł Piasecki. "Couriers would certainly be pleased and a number of their centres would spring up around the new airport."

Couriers to benefit
Piotr Kohman of Fiege Goth, a logistics operator, which owns a warehouse in Mszczonów, takes the rumours with a pinch of salt and won't let himself get carried away by the news of a scheme which so far has no definite investor, date or location.
"Would an airport in Mszczonów change anything from our point of view? I don't think so," says Kohman. "Perhaps we could add an extra service to our product range but there is no guarantee there would be any demand for it."
Since Fiege Goth's current customers don't use air transport they wouldn't benefit from there being an airport nearby. The air route is more likely to interest courier firms and companies which transport pharmaceutical products and documents. The Swiss branch of Fiege Goth provides such services domestically, but not in Poland.
"Couriers operate differently to conventional logistic firms because most of their income comes from one off deals, whereas we have a number of clients who provide us with the bulk of our revenue. For the time being we aren't looking to change our orientation," explains Kohman.

Better infrastructure
The lion's share of goods in Poland is transported over land, and in terms of tonnage most of this is by rail, although the distribution of Silesian coal around the country is the main reason for this. Compared to rail and road transport the volume of air cargo is insignificant. This is perhaps why Sławomir Godyń, warehouse agent for CB Richard Ellis, chooses to emphasize the potential of the prospective airport.
"A cargo airport would boost the popularity of the location among warehouse operators, as it's hard to imagine that this type of investment wouldn't stimulate development of infrastructure in the area, though it wouldn't radically increase the flow of goods, since most of these will continue to be transported over land. In all likelihood it would improve communication with Warsaw and the connections with other roads. In the future there might even be a fast rail connection," says Sławomir Godyń.
Most goods transported by air are expensive products, which are imported under strictly defined conditions and require minimal transport time. Medicines are a prime example of this type of product and it might be expected that the airport would particularly encourage producers and distributors of pharmaceutical goods to build production plants and warehouses in the vicinity. Indeed, there already is a pharmaceutical company, Roche, which produces vitamins and animal feed components, in Mszczonów.