Friday, February 16, 2001, Target Distribution Center, Wilton, NY

Attendance:

Larry Bascom (Quandt's) Chungchin Chen (CDRPC)

Larry Doak (AFCO) Art Dutcher (Saratoga Transport)

Stephen Foster (Target) Michael Franchini (Albany County)

Martin Hull (CDTA) Steve Iachetta (Albany Int. Airport)

John Kearns (Target) Ken Musgrave (Emery Worldwide)

John Newman (Konski Engineers) William Sheffield (Target)

Dan Spigner (Trans-Border) Ted Thompson (NYSDOT - Region 1)

Keith Veltri (Quandt's) Katherine Forster (CDTC)

Regrets: Jack Earl

The Distribution Center (D.C.) in Wilton opened in May 2000. It services all of New England, Central and East Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. Presently the D.C. is supplying merchandise to 50 stores and has plans to expand. Everything goes through the D.C. (including Halloween candy) except for food. The D.C. has dry storage for the stores.

Merchandise from the West Coast is shipped to Syracuse by rail and then put on trucks. Swift, M/S, and Dart run loads for the Wilton D.C. Target has consignors on both coasts and in the Midwest.

This D.C. has 700 employees including executives. The shifts are from 6:00 - 3:00 AM Sunday through Friday. Target is the second largest import retailer in U.S. (behind Walmart).

S. Iachetta presented aerial photograph images of the airport to show the development of the airport over the years. The Airport's expansion plans have included the new cargo facility to facilitate just-in-time (JIT) perishables, medical supplies, etc. and in the future a CNG fueling facility for 60 airport vehicles

Direct access to the cargo facility from Route 7 is being coordinated with the Town of Colonie. It is estimated that eight trucks an hour access Route 7 from the cargo facility at night. The access will be on airport property. Alternatives include Kennette Ave and Mill Rd. where it could be tied into the traffic light. The new road would provide a better radius for trucks to turn onto Route 7.

M. Franchini reported on the Albany-Shaker Road project. It is scheduled to start this year. It includes raised medians, a multi-use trail and landscaping. Estimated costs are $19 M for construction, $2 M for engineering, $3 M for right-of-way acquisition with the entire project totaling approximately $25 million.

M. Franchini also informed the Task Force that the Exit 3 project is in a preliminary stage. NYSDOT is looking at alternatives that may extend from Exit 2 to Exit 6. South of Exit 4 there would be a need to buffer Ann Lee Pond beside Delassandro Blvd. A public meeting is expected later this year when alternate design selections are narrowed down.

Port of Albany – Agreement with NY/NJ Port Authority to receive barge containers and distribute from here to Upstate New York. The Port has received a $1 million EDA grant for the $3 million project that includes a new crane, rail track work, etc.

NYSDOT – CP Rail's Expressway trailer service may be starting to run to New York City in 2001 or 2002. CP Rail is separating into 5 corporate entities. The CSX lawsuit against the State is holding up some of the Capital District rail projects, including the double tracking from Schenectady to Albany.

Quandt's – Quandt's Foodservice Distributor expanded their refrigeration by 15,000 sq. ft in 1999. They have seen a 12-15% growth per year. They have 20 trucks and 115 personnel that work five days a week, 24 hours a day. Quandt's would like to use more bar coding. They distribute to Price Chopper (ship to deli, bakery), local restaurants and other businesses.

A discussion was held on the plans for the Airport Cargo facilities and freight-forwarding in general. If the Airport is considering doubling its air cargo what is it targeting? Will there be more cargo coming in?

The Airport views refrigeration as a possibility, but the expansion is to be geared towards trucking. The economy is slow presently and the Capital District is a low-manufacturing area - the cargo volumes are low. Many freight forwarders rent the planes they use but some companies own their own planes (BAX and Emery) which makes competition difficult. Emery forwards heavy freight not belly freight and Transborder does some importing. If the Airport could accommodate larger planes that would mean bigger belly freight. With the increased cargo facility, it may attract more shipping. Presently U.S. Air doesn't consider shipping here. It goes through Hartford, Boston and New York City and freight is trucked to the Capital District. Quandt's receives its West Coast seafood from Logan. It takes the trucks 4 hours to deliver the merchandise from Logan (with the airport begin congested).

Champlain-Hudson Trade Corridor - There will be a meeting at the Albany International Airport on March 23, 2001 for the Trade Corridor Coalition. It is being organized by the Plattsburgh North-Country Chamber of Commerce. There will be a tour of the airport and the next round of CORBOR grant applications will be discussed. More details will be sent out to the Task Force when CDTC staff received it. Everyone is invited to attend.

May 18, 2001, 1:30 pm - CDTC Freight Task Force Meeting