MIAMI International Airport has much to be happy about, but air cargo interests now eagerly await a boom to come with 2015 expansion of the Panama Canal which will double the size and number of ships catering for the consumer rich United States.

"Ocean freight and air freight go together, and high-value items always move by air," said Gary Goldfarb, executive vice president of WTDC, a Miami-based supply chain management company.

More cargo will come to Miami and some businesses will use air freight to get a portion of their products to markets faster. "This will provide a tremendous push for air freight," Mr Goldfarb told the Miami Herald.

Asian cargo carriers have already increased service, said Chris Mangos, director of marketing for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. "We've gone from nine Asian freight flights per week before the recession to 15 per week now," he said.

Already MIA is a national import hub, receiving 86.3 per cent of the country's flower imports in 2008, more than 70 per cent of US fruit and vegetable imports and nearly 65 per cent of fish imports.

MIA built 17 cargo buildings with more than 250,000 square metres of storage and increased apron space for cargo lines, said Jose Abreu, director of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.

"What makes us different is the huge infrastructure of freight forwarders, customs brokers and storage facilities located near the airport," Mr Abreu said, adding that this includes more than 1,000 freight forwarders, some 250 customs brokers, supply chain companies, trucking firms, and warehouse facilities around the airport.