She was gently packed away in a hermetically sealed suitcase for her first class flight from Ethiopia to Houston, and hundreds of people helped prepare her arrival and departure at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). Her name is Lucy, and she is the priceless artifact at the center of a world premiere exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Lucy also represents an example of the sort of high value cargo that is routinely handled by the Houston Airport System (HAS). It is often a very delicate and detailed process. “High value cargo is considered cargo that is very expensive in terms of dollars, or very valuable in terms of the item itself, or in some cases an item that is irreplaceable or priceless,” says Mark Mancuso, HAS deputy director of aviation for public safety and technology. “It can be anything from gold bouillon, to precious gems; even computer chips and oil equipment, and all of it is processed through our airports on a daily basis.” In this case the Lucy exhibit consists of the original fossilized remains of the 3.2 million year-old hominid, which is the most complete and best preserved skeleton of any erect-walking human ancestor that has ever been found and completely excavated. In addition the exhibit includes more than 100 artifacts from the east African nation of Ethiopia, such as stone tools, illuminated manuscripts, processional crosses, a collection of Korans and what are believed to be the first coins minted by an indigenous African civilization. Security and secrecy play an important role in the processing of high value cargo, which sometimes requires armed guards, armored security details, mandatory round the clock video taping, and tracking by global positioning devices.

© Houston Museum of Natural Science Precious Cargo. Lucy arrived in Houston onboard a first class air cargo flight at IAH, and she is a good example of the type of high value cargo that passes through the airport's world-renowned cargo center.

IAH boasts one of the largest cargo facilities in the world making the airport uniquely suited to handle these high value items. The facility offers three main buildings with more than 550,000 thousand square feet of space for cargo operators.

Parking is available for 20 wide body freighter aircraft at the IAH CargoCenter. It features a one-stop-shop of federal inspection services for cargo clearance, including a full service inspection facility for quick certification of foreign animals, plants and seeds.

For high value cargo the facility can save time and money.

“One of the important issues when transporting a priceless piece like Lucy is the need for customs coordination, discretion, secrecy and security,” says Dirk Van Tuerenhout, anthropology curator for the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

“There were dozens of people at each end of this journey who were responsible for the safety and security of this important exhibit. In addition there were climate concerns for such a sensitive collection. Everyone had to be aware of the logistical demands in order to make sure the collection was transported safely from Addis Ababa to Houston,” he adds.

High value cargo is most often processed by freight forwarders, cargo handlers or even air carriers directly. More than 900 freight forwarders and cargo handlers in the Houston metropolitan area do business at the IAH CargoCenter, and business is booming.

According to the latest figures available, as of August 2007, air freight is up roughly 5.7 percent so far this year for the Houston Airport System.

Three new air carriers are already on board debuting service from Houston to Dubai, Aberdeen and Taipei, so it is likely the air freight figures will climb even higher, and some of it, like Lucy, will be priceless.

Copyright © 2007 - Houston Airport System