Mayor releases transpolar letter from Cargojet Airways

Mayor John Rowswell has released a letter expressing interest in his transpolar initiative from Mississauga-based Cargojet Airways Ltd.

The Mayor met with officials of the company during a visit to Toronto earlier this month.

In the letter, Cargojet indicates it's currently concentrating on its Canadian cargo operations, but the firm hopes to become more involved in the Asian market in a few years.

SooToday published erroneous information

On the day that Mayor Rowswell was in Toronto, SooToday News reported that he was involved in secret talks with an air cargo company interested in the Asian market.

We indicated at the time that the company was DHL Worldwide Express, but when we spoke with the mayor last night, he advised us that we were misinformed -- he met only with Cargojet, not with DHL.

The following is the full text of the letter released by the Mayor on Wednesday: ********************************************************************

12 December 2002 His Worship John Rowswell Civic Centre P.O. Box 580 Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A5N1

Dear Mayor Rowswell,

Re: Air Cargo opportunities in Canada I would like to thank you for visiting our offices in Toronto to talk about yours and North Bay's ambition to grow air cargo opportunities for your communities.

We at Cargojet believe in such opportunties and are working hard to be a leading Canadian air cargo carrier.

Brochures outlining information about Cargojet are enclosed.

We currently provide overnight carrier/cargo services to twelve major cities in Canada.

Your offer to link up with Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay is enticing.

However, this will depend on the goods you wish to transport.

Even though today we are concentrating on building a solid, reliable air cargo operation in Canada, our recent acquisition of Winnport Logisitics Ltd. has provided us with links into China.

We are intrigued with your transportation air cargo initiative and your strong contacts in Russia.

It is hoped that in a few years we can expand our horizons to bring air cargo to Asia.

We would welcome the opportunity to participate with you as you examine further linkages with Asian and Russian air carriers in your efforts to become air cargo hubs.

More goods coming through Canada would present an opportunity for us as well.

We wish you all the best in moving ahead with your transportation air cargo initiative and look forward to hearing from you with ways that we may help in realizing a strong air cargo industry in Canada.

Yours very truly,

Cargojet Jamie Porteous Executive Vice President Sales and service

c.c. F. L. (Lynn) Bishop General manager Cargojet Airways Ltd.