Perishable import/export project at Nashville airport resurfaces

Fresh Link could bring food from Latin America to Middle Tennessee twice as fast

From the Nashville City Paper: a perishables facility is being contemplated for the Nashville International Airport that would cut in half the time it takes for Latin American food to reach Middle Tennessee shelves. The effort is being led by the new company "Fresh Link" - which is a reincarnation of "Perishable Link" (see May 2004 story here). The effort to create this facility has been underway since before the 9/11/2001 attacks, according to the 2004 story.

From the Nashville City Paper article today:

It’s needed, Russell said, to break the bottleneck Miami has on much of the perishable air freight business in the Southeast, particularly imports from Central and South America. Miami is currently ranked No. 1 among all U.S. airports in international freight, according to preliminary 2006 figures.

Fresh South American seafood arriving through Fresh Link in Nashville, for instance, could arrive in front of Middle Tennessee customers up to five days faster than seafood imports going through Miami gateways, Russell said.

Tommy Jones, director of business development for NIA, says the airport is currently negotiating the lease price with Fresh Link, and would work closely with Fresh Link to build the facility.

Both the City Paper article today and the 2004 article from the Tennessean reference China Air's existing international cargo flights into and out of Nashville, at a rate of six per month.

Photo credit: Darwin Bell