It may come as a surprise to many, but the Alaskan city of Anchorage is Cathay Cargo’s second-busiest port on the network after Hong Kong. Its airport, Ted Stevens Anchorage International, is also the second busiest cargo hub in the US after Memphis, and the fourth in the world in terms of cargo throughput, as listed in the most recent ACI (Airports Council International) rankings.

The airport describes itself as the midway point between New York and Tokyo, within 9.5 hours flight time of “90 per cent of the industrialised world”. Here, cargo flights outnumber passenger services, 50,000 to 43,000, and in 2023 the airport handled 50,000 wide- and narrow-body cargo movements. That equates to around 138 wide-body daily cargo aircraft landings every day. Typically, the Cathay Cargo and Engineering teams will turn around 10 to 15 freighters. Remote it may be, but for aviation enthusiasts with a penchant for Boeing 747 freighters, Anchorage is less an outpost than a bucket-list destination.

The airport sits on the Cook Inlet, which was named after the British captain who sailed here during his failed attempt to find the Northwest Passage – the seasonal seaway that allows ships through the Arctic Ocean between the Atlantic and Pacific in summer. And as Arctic ice recedes, the region has become a strategic hot button beyond new shipping routes. But Anchorage was a trading centre for Indigenous peoples well before Cook “put it on the map”, and this cultural influence remains part of the city’s identity – and in the Cathay cargo team.

Heartbeat of the Americas

“Anchorage is vital to our cargo operations in the Americas, particularly in recent times with the e-commerce boom,” says Vice-President Cargo Americas Fred Ruggiero. In simple terms, a fully laden freighter needs to refuel when travelling between Hong Kong and Cathay Cargo’s stations in the Americas, which extend down to Miami and ports in Mexico. Ruggiero adds that without Anchorage they’d be operating with reduced loads, and that maximising tonnage is key to success.

The transpacific trunk route explains the sheer number of freighters. Anchorage is also a hub for integrators such as UPS, which breaks down and redistributes packages for the US domestic market.

Storied past

Anchorage’s domestic passenger terminal is busy, especially in summer, but international flights are few, bar domestic ones. The smaller international passenger terminal has the atmosphere of a deserted museum, with check-in counters and baggage belts flanked by glass cases of taxidermised bears and Alaskan wildlife, snarling at the occasional freighter crew or cleaner.

Today, only sporadic summer flights serve cruise ship passengers, hinted at by an abandoned Korean Air counter. Yet just a couple a decades ago Anchorage was a bustling refueling stop for passenger craft, much as freighters do now. Longer-range engines have ended that era, save for the rare diversion of a Cathay plane – which is when the Cargo team steps in. Cargo Services Officer Lorraine Bradford, who began on the passenger side, once found herself trying to find hotel rooms for 300 slightly disorientated guests who had to disembark in Anchorage.

No winter wonderland

The seasons are stark in Anchorage. Summers are mild, and light much of the day – ideal for cruise holidays. But winters are dark, windy and bitterly cold, with an average of 80cm of snowfall The aurora borealis shimmering in the moonlight over the snow-capped mountains is scant compensation for working outside, turning around freighters on an exposed ramp.

The eight-person Cargo team here is led by Cargo Services Manager Tammy Liftee, who outlines what the team’s role is, in normal operations. “If it’s just a regular transit flight – a gas and go – the team will check the main deck, ensure all the locks are engaged and that everything’s secured, that nothing has shifted or is leaning,” she says. “They’ll coordinate with the catering company and our ground handling agent to make sure the paperwork and crew catering is on time. They’ll check with the flight crew to make sure that they have everything they need and confirm the load sheet with them.”

But Anchorage is cargo, and this inevitably means winter operations. The weather can be cruel, and that’s when the hard work begins: aircraft diversion, mechanical issues and the dreaded acronym AOG (aircraft on ground). When this happens, “regular” operations are upended, cargo transferred onto an alternative aircraft, engineering teams deployed to tackle maintenance issues. When it comes to diversions, the team need to go to where the diverted aircraft is – often Fairbanks. This is when the We Know How ethos comes into effect, keeping freight moving whatever the elements throw at them.

“Our team in Anchorage are Cathay Cargo’s unsung heroes,” says Ruggiero. “This is a group of individuals who are on call 24-7, ensuring our freighters land, refuel and take off without incident – often for three or four months in sub-zero temperatures, and in winds that feel like you’re being hit with needles.”

Part One in a three-part series of dispatches from Cathay Cargo operations in Anchorage.