Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) airport is adding to its cold chain storage facilities in response to the growth in pharma and perishables traffic.

The Texan hub soon will begin installing equipment at the facility, which will be operated by AirLogistix USA.

Expected to be operational this summer, the transfer facility will give DFW the ability to control warehousing temperatures for shipments of pharmaceuticals, flowers and fresh foods.

John Ackerman, executive vice president global strategy and development at DFW, said: “There are tremendous growth opportunities for domestic and international cargo customers to ship perishables through DFW to 180 markets.

“Today, we handle 66% of the air cargo from Texas, and our cargo tonnage increased by more than eight percent over last year and is up 18% this year. This new facility will increase our handling capabilities and open new doors for all our cargo and logistics partners to ship high-value, temperature and time sensitive products through DFW.”

The airport handles more than 794,600 tons of airfreight per year, with 14 dedicated freighters serving 22 major cargo hubs throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. Belly cargo capacity is also available to more than 200 global destinations on the 26 passenger airlines that serve the airport.

Ray Brimble, president and chief executive of Lynxs Group, owner of AirLogistix USA, said: “Dallas Fort Worth is a natural choice for us to further develop AirLogistix USA ‘middle mile’ on-airport perishables handling services.

“The DFW gateway has the advantage of being located in the central US, which helped drive our expansion into North Texas.

“We look forward to working with all airlines that serve DFW. Our facility will be available to distributors and forwarders who need to keep their perishable and temperature sensitive goods cool during shipping, with particular emphasis on transit through the airport. We are ready to get started at DFW.”

In June 2016, DFW become one of the first two US airports to be fully electronic airway bill (e-AWB) compliant, as designated by IATA.