ELP is like the southwestern equivalent of YIP. A lot of cargo moves between their and Mexico. Also, a lot of cago originates in southern Texas and Mexico with destinations bound for the north. A lot of smaller freight outfits base aircraft and crews there.
I don't know labrat if it's the southwestern equivalent then why aren't there the same amount of cargo ops going on there compared to YIP? Hmmm looking at cargo ops in 2005 ELP had 86,235 tons of cargo go through and YPI has about 200,000 tons based from both of the airport sites. About the only thing El Paso is good for is cargo movement between the US and Mexico, there are a ton of cities in Texas that cargo carriers can be based at to move freight up north, so I don't see your logic. A lot of smaller freight outfits base there ops out of there? who? Anyways, there are plenty of places in the country where small air cargo ops are based out of, I don't think that should make it a cargo hub. The airport cargo site listing the carriers has airborne, bax, dhl, fedex, egl, emery, and ups, seems pretty standard for an airport of that size. I don't know man, I'm not convinced nor is the air cargo industry yet obviously that ELP should be a cargo "hub" of the southwest.