A report by Cadence Economics shows a maximum potential boost to the combined gross regional product of ACT and NSW of nearly $1200 million over 15 years and the creation of more than 540 jobs.

The report identifies several scenarios and the maximum gain is based on reorganising freight movements for the Singapore, Hong Kong and Middle East routes.

The Singapore-only scenario reallocates 113 cargo flights a year, while the three-port model involves 279 flights.

With four B-double trucks worth of road freight required for a single average air freighter, the report says this translates to an additional 452 to 1116 B-doubles per year.

"Canberra Airport has a number of key advantages in relation to handling international freight," Cadence says.

"It has no night-time curfew, significant runway capacity, existing tarmac-side warehousing facilities, land for development, and easy access to improved road infrastructure.

"Canberra is close enough to both Sydney and Melbourne for express goods to be delivered by road freight while still meeting the express delivery service standards of major air freight operators."

An estimated 37,107 tonnes of exports leave the Canberra catchment each year through Kingsford Smith and Melbourne Airports, valued at $226 million.

This equates to roughly one 747 freighter landing at Canberra Airport per day.

The road transport saving to and from the airport is estimated at 14c/kg for goods previously routed through Sydney.

NSW is expected to benefit from improved efficiencies at Kingsford Smith and replacement of Canberra catchment freight from other sources.

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr said international freight was part of the business case to attract overseas carriers, providing Canberra businesses with an avenue to look global.

"The government will now work with the airport, Singapore Airlines, local businesses and councils in the Canberra region to ensure we have the infrastructure in place to encourage more businesses to utilise the service," he said.

"The report will help inform our strategy to become a freight hub and create jobs for Canberrans."

The report considers likely overall growth based on realising the Canberra region's latent demand including truffles, wine and processed meat.

"Utilising airport capacity for international freight in a city of similar size to Canberra is not without precedent either locally or internationally," the report says, listing Toowoomba, Prestwick [Scotland] and Bangor, USA as examples.

Producer interest in shipping from the ACT has grown since Singapore Airlines introduced passenger flights from Singapore to Wellington via Canberra in September.

It's understood the flights have capacity for up to 20 tonnes of cargo.

Australia's Oyster Coast chairman David Trebeck said the Canberra option would save up to five hours in transit for South Coast growers.

"It gives us more time for the product on arrival before it has to be consumed," he said.

"Sending it through Sydney we would probably need to harvest the oysters a day earlier because of the cut-off time.

"These are short shelf-life products, obviously. They have to be temperature controlled; they are high-value but need to get to markets very quickly."

Singapore Airlines spokesman Karl Schubert acknowledged demand for air freight from Canberra.

"We have received a large number of enquiries from local producers and exporters regarding the possibility of exporting produce from the region via the capital express service," he said.

"While we are supportive of these enquiries and of growing the export opportunities for the ACT and surrounding region, there are a number of infrastructure and administrative constraints that will need to be addressed before consistently high volumes of export can occur."

The report estimates $42 million of required investment at Canberra.

An airport spokesman said land was available for growth "and we have planned to provide additional infrastructure to meet customer demand".