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The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals Volume: 19

Issue: 24

20 June 2016

Air cargo industry excellence celebrated in Shanghai

NETWORK EXPANSION FOR QATAR AIRWAYS CHINA STILL PROVING FRUITFUL FOR DALLAS ECS WINS NEW CONTRACTS IN GERMANY AMERICAN CASHING IN DUE TO STRONG DOLLAR

Jobs cuts on the cards at Lufthansa Cargo

cstatic winners raised their trophies aloft in Shanghai on 15 June at the glittering Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards - which celebrated excellence in the airfreight industry. The luxurious Kerry Hotel’s Shanghai Ballroom was the venue, seeing nine rounds of a crescendo of cheering and applause for the prestigious accolades that were up for grabs. US television presenter, Steven Weathers of Chinese broadcasting network CCTV fame, compered the evening. Before the sumptuous dinner, the audience of more than 350 air cargo professionals were then

treated to Chinese acrobatics, a Broadway jazz dance and other entertainment acts. The first award was Airfreight Forwarder of the Year, won by Dimerco, which beat the other finalists DHL Global Forwarding, Geodis and Kuehne + Nagel. Next up, was Air Cargo Handling Agent of the Year, sponsored by Etihad Cargo, which was won by HACTL (Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd). The other finalists were Alha Group, Asia Airfreight Terminal, and dnata. The Air Cargo Charter Broker of the Year, sponsored by Saudia Cargo, was won by Air Charter Service. The other finalists were Air Partner, Chapman Freeborn

and Hunt & Palmer. Airport of the Year, sponsored by AZura International, was won by Brussels Airport. The other finalists were Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport, Dubai Airports and Hong Kong International Airport. Air Cargo General Sales Agent of the Year, sponsored by Saudia Cargo, was scooped by Kales Airline Services, having faced strong competition from Air Logistics Group, Cismat, and ECS Group. The Air Cargo Industry Customer Care Award, sponsored by Brussels Airport was won by Air Asia – beating fellow finalists Emirates SkyCargo, Etihad Cargo and Saudia Cargo.

The Air Cargo Industry Achievement Award was won by Saudia Cargo. The other finalists were Etihad Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, and Volga-Dnepr. The IT for the Air Cargo Industry Award, sponsored by Air Asia went to WebCargoNet. The other finalists were Accelya Kale Solutions, Descartes, and Wipro Ltd. Lastly was the Cargo Airline of the Year Award, sponsored by Kales Airlines Services. The winner was Etihad Cargo. The other finalists were Cargojet, Emirates SkyCargo, and Qatar Airways Cargo. The next Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards will take place at Air Cargo Europe taking place in Munich (Germany) in May 2017.

LUFTHANSA Cargo is looking at cutting up to 800 jobs worldwide as it tries to reduce costs to remain competitive. The German carrier made the announcement on Friday, 10 June and could axe up to 800 jobs, to reduce costs by 80 million euros ($90 million), but gave no indication when this would start happening. It is believed that up to 500 of the job losses would be in Germany. Lufthansa Cargo made a 74 million euro profit in 2015 but this is expected to fall significantly in 2016. Two Boeing MD-11 Freighters have been grounded due to falling air cargo demand. It has a fleet of 12 MD-11 Freighters and five Boeing 777 Freighters. In the first quarter of 2016, Lufthansa Cargo cut capacity in available cargo tonne kilometres by 1.6 per cent to 2.8 billion, but volumes in revenue cargo tonne kilometres fell 4.8 per cent to 1.9 billion. Lufthansa Cargo’s load factor was down by 2.3 percentage points to 67.6 per cent. All regions of the world saw double digit revenue falls, with the Americas suffering the most, down 25.2 per cent to 193 million euros.

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NEWSWEEK Network expansion for Qatar Airways Cargo

atar Airways Cargo is to expand its network across the globe including in China and is to develop a new European hub at Luxembourg Airport. During a press conference at Air Cargo China on 14 June, the carrier’s head of cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann Ipictured) says the carrier, which runs a freighter to Guangzhou three times a week, will switch to a Boeing 777 Freighter from an Airbus A330 Freighter. Qatar will switch its bellyhold route to an Airbus A380 into Guangzhou on 1 July. Qatar will then have 300 tonnes a week into the city, adding to the 1720 tonnes into Hong Kong, 400 tonnes into Shanghai and into other Chinese cities. He says: “We have capacity for 3,200 tonnes into China. There are discussions between our authorities and the Chinese

authorities to do some. We are optimistic about the Chinese economy.” O g i e r mann says it is targeting developing routes into Australasia and the Transpacific, and a new market in South America. He says: “We want to get into markets two are currently not serving. We want to open up South America, which is a white spot on our network. We want to invest heavily in new territories and we want to have a significant stake in that market we go into.”

Ogiermann says Qatar is to develop a new base at Luxembourg Airport and will double flights into and out of the European gateway. The airline will also expand in North America and next month on 19 July will begin freighter operations to Halifax (Canada) and New York’s JFK airport. At Air Cargo China Qatar launched a new product QR Live for animal transportation and Ogiermann says it will further roll out QR Express after launching at Heathrow. He ees potential for three more specialist services. He notes Qatar is on track to build a second cargo terminal in Doha by the fourth quarter of 2018, expanding itscapacity to 4.4 million tonnes, by adding three million tonnes. The carrier has 19 freighters, but will have 22 in nine months as adds a 10th Boeing 777 Freighter in July, an 11th in October and 12th in 2017.

Saudia and ACS sign deal

AIR CHARTER SERVICE (ACS) signed a deal with Saudia Cargo at the Air Cargo China 2016 tradeshow in Shanghai last week. ACS cargo sales director – Greater China region, Joseph Tam and Saudia Cargo director of charter and strategic partnership, Mike Duggan signed the agreement, which will see telecommunications equipment transported from Guangzhou to Algiers. Tam says as a regular client of Saudia Cargo, he is very pleased to sign this agreement as Saudia has always been “committed, offering cargo freighter dependent solutions that adequate to cargo needs with all the volume and one go load ability”.

China pharma MoU signed by Lux

LUXEMBOURG AIRPORT’s operator, lux-Airport has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Eastern Air Logistics (EAL), which operates Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong airport cargo terminals for transporting medicine. The MoU, which was penned at Air Cargo China in Shanghai on 15 June, will promote the transportation of temperature and time sensitive medicinal products for human use, in accordance with European Union and World Health Organization Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification. Lux-Airport chief executive officer, Johan Vanneste says: “I am convinced this is a very interesting and unique development for shippers of valuable pharma shipments, and that it will stimulate traffic between Shanghai, the world’s third largest cargo airport, and Luxembourg.” EAL vice president, Jin Xu says: “By establishing such a fully GDP secured End-to-End trade lane for pharma and healthcare shipments, we shall stand together to provide more comprehensive, professional and reliable services to all kinds of our clients in this high-valued specific market in the bright future.”

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NEWSWEEK Rio pharma station opened by Delta

DELTA Cargo has opened its first Variation Pharma 4 station in Latin America, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The station was previously only variation 1 – 3 certified, but can now handle commodities including vaccines, medicines and pharmaceuticals that need storing between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius. Delta Cargo president, Gareth Joyce says:

“Expanding our Pharma 4 stations to include Rio de Janeiro echoes our commitment to globalization and is a direct response to customer feedback.” “Delta Cargo has 49 stations around the globe certified to handle one or more Variation Pharma products, 16 of which are certified for Pharma 4. Our vast network will connect Brazil to the world.” Delta Cargo general manager – cargo commercial operations, Miriam Altmann-Berry says: “With a global reach, our Pharma desk works with all of our cargo stations to streamline a smooth operation. Specialised Pharma agents are welcoming this opportunity to support our customers’ Pharma 4 business into Rio de Janeiro. Pharma-specialised agents provide booking and support seven days a week, as well as 24/7 online tracking.”

China still proving fruitful for Dallas DALLAS FOFT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (DFW) has not been harmed by the slowdown in the Chinese economy, helped by consolidating imports and its convenient location for Latin America, executive vice president global strategy and development, John Ackerman (pictured_ tells Air Cargo Week (ACW). Speaking to ACW at the Air Cargo China tradeshow in Shanghai, Ackerman explains that there has been consolidation of supply chain managers and freight forwarders of Chinese imports, while DFW has also benefitted from re-shoring manufacturing from China to Mexico, which he says makes Dallas for most attract truck-air gateway. Ackerman tells ACW: “DFW has been less harmed, compared with other U.S. airports, by the slowdown in the Chinese economy, because the Airport has been one of the few major gateways at which supply chain managers and freight forwarders have consolidated Chinese imports, due to the Central and Southern U.S. distribution advantages that the geography of DFW Airport offers.” In 2015, DFW overtook Los Angeles as the largest passenger gateway between Asia and Latin America, providing cargo with extra bellyhold capacity, and overtook the Californian city as the largest US

or Mexican hub for airfreight originating in Mexico destined for Asia. He says that Asia, and particularly China, is indispensable, and continued diversification of the DFW region’s economy, will cater for growing Chinese consumer demand. Imports to DFW are predicted to fall as China moves away from being an export-driven economy but Ackerman predicts US exports will grow. “The continued growth of consumption in China, particularly for high-value US exports, as well as food perishables from the US, Mexico, and South America will create opportunities for air freight export growth at the Airport to more than offset any decrease in imports.” DFW researched 579 import, export and transit trade lanes between European, Asian, Latin American and Central US regions, and found that it enjoyed the advantage of landed costs, availability of lift and transit time compared to rivals such as Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta and Houston Bush. Ackerman says DFW wants to tap into the trade, which is trucked between Los Angeles and Miami before flying onto final destinations, helped by Dallas’ central location. “DFW Airport will pursue trade lane-specific opportunities with forwarders and shippers, to offer optimal low total landed costs and transit times, while simultaneously creating an unmatched culture of customer service and state-of-the-art facilities and services for the handling and last-mile distribution of imports, exports, and transit freight.”

Third 747 freighter for CAL Cargo

AL Cargo Airlines has increased its fleet to three freighters after adding another Boeing 747 Freighter to its ranks, The Israeli carrier has bases at Liege Airport and in Tel Aviv. Owner and chief executive officer (CEO), Offer Gilboa says: “We are thrilled to announce the completion of two deals: we are introducing freighter Charlie to our fleet while keeping freighter Bravo as well. “The three freighter fleet will support Cal’s Growth Strategy aimed at increasing our activ-

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ity of scheduled and charter flights from our hub in Liege (LGG).” He adds: “I recently returned to the position of CEO at CAL. Together with the management team we are making sure that CAL continues to grow and is on course with our strategic plans for 2016. “Our new online station in Atlanta has expanded our capabilities in the US, and clients can rest easy knowing that we have added capacity to service them with top notch expertise, infrastructure and equipment.”

NEWS WEEK ECS wins contracts

CS Group has won two new general sales agent (GSSA) contracts in Germany with DHL and Malaysian Airlines, starting from 1 July. Speaking to Air Cargo Week at Air Cargo China on 14 June, the Group’s chief executive officer, Adrien Thominet (pictured) says it sees a room to increase DHL’s revenue in Germany and will operate a dedicated set-up. He says: “We have a good chemistry with them as work in five or six other countries already for them, but this is a new step. We are also starting Malaysian Airlines in Germany so two new contracts, which is very interesting for us.” Thominet says ECS will soon announce two “major” deals in Asia – one an acquisition and one a contract with a big carrier in the region – to be finalised by the end of June. He says: “In terms of Asia, the focus is more South East Asia, we are finalising one very strong acquisition, opening nine markets and nine countries and close to finalising an agreement with a big carrier. At the same time we can have a new product and new network.” China and Asia is a key part of the ECS strategy: “We have two offices in Shanghai and Beijing and growing our activity. We are the GSA for Ukraine International Airlines, which is growing capacity. It will change from a Boeing 767 to 777 into Beijing and open Shanghai next year. “For us, we want to grow in China and will most probably open an office in Guangzhou too.” Thominet says Asia is suffering, as rates are falling and the market was not prepared for the decline, but he notes: “For us it is more interesting, the more the market struggles the more the GSA solutions are coming more natural and we have opportunities with more airlines – the market is sick but that is good for us in terms of opportunities.” Thominet says in Asia the market is different to Europe, as if you work with one carrier it attracts their competitors – the opposite of Europe. Thominet also notes: “We have an opportunity here and think the GSA will be the new Uber concept for cargo in the region. Airlines immediately outsource entirely, through total cargo management and we are totally ‘uberising’ their activities. We are you could say aiming to be the new Uber in the region.”

New ULD management contract for Jettainer

JETTAINER has signed a contract with Spanish carrier, Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas, to manage its containers and pallets. The airline, which uses Airbus A340-300s on routes between Madrid and Latin America, will receive 150 AKE containers complete with PMC type pallets from the unit load device (ULD) management firm. Jettainer will also be maintaining the ULDs. Jettainer announced the deal at Air Cargo China in Shanghai last week. Jettainer sales director, Thorsten Riekert says the deal fits with the company’s marketing strategy of working with smaller airlines from their beginning. “We want to develop

our business with aspiring airlines and grow with them. A solid and long-term partnership is of great importance to us.” Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas vice president of ground operations, Olaf Schmidt says: “For our airline, the global network and long-term experience of ULD-management of Jettainer is what makes them the best possible partner for us. By outsourcing the ULD acquisition, management and maintenance, these processes are carried out with considerably more efficiency than if we had taken it on ourselves.” “At the same time, this step enables us to free up resource, which can be used for further growth.” Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas operates flights from Madrid to Lima in Peru and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and plans Latin American services to Panama, Costa Rica and Cuba. In the future, it intends to start Asian services to cities including Bangkok in Thailand. Jettainer, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo, is responsible for the management, organisation, positioning, repair and maintenance of about 90,000 ULDs for 19 airlines.

Etihad to run Brussels freighter

ETIHAD CARGO has increased capacity to Belgium with twice-weekly Airbus A330 Freighter flights, adding to the daily passenger services with bellyhold space. The Abu Dhabi based carrier says Brussels Airport will benefit from Etihad Cargo’s infrastructure for transporting and handling products that require an unbroken cold chain, particularly pharmaceuticals and perishables. Etihad Cargo launched its dedicated pharmaceutical product, TempCheck, in March 2015; to make sure all temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals are transported in compliance with industry and regulatory guidelines. Etihad Cargo vice president, David Kerr explains: “Brussels is an important route into Europe with the freight operation returning to full strength, so as part of our plans to expand further this year, we are pleased to begin operating in and out of the city. “Brussels provides vital connections across Europe and is also a key connector into Africa so we know that it will be another important route on our global freighter network.” Brussels Airport’s cargo traffic recovered in May after the 22 March terrorist attacks – as full-freighter and integrator cargo saw positive growth again, but bellyhold continues to show negative growth. In May, cargo was back to the level of May last year (-0.3 per cent) to 40,395 tonnes, down on the 40,535 tonnes in May 2015. For the first five months of 2016, cargo was down by 5.7 per cent to 190,265 tonnes, a fall on the 201,756 for the same period last year.

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AFRICA

Perishable cargo the main driver in Kenya

enya is among the leading exporters of perishable cargo to various regions across the globe. The key market for flowers and agricultural produce such as fruits are primarily found in Europe and parts of Africa. Kenya is also a major importer of temperature-sensitive cargo from Europe, South Africa, Dubai and Asia such as pharmaceuticals. For the East African country to maintain its position and market share in perishable cargo exports it must meet demands of the market. A thorough and rigorous cargo-handling programme must be in place to ensure the entire cool chain is secured and satisfies the cargo temperature and packaging requirements. One of the key players in Kenya is cargo hander Siginon Aviation, which operates from Nairobi airport, and export manager, Edward

Muchiri explains: “Siginon Aviation launched a new $10 million air cargo terminal on the airside of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya. The facility has been strategically developed to perform warehouse activities and ground handling operations in JKIA. “With a 5000 square metre of floor space, Siginon has dedicated an additional 3,000 square metre of cold room floor space that is custom made to handle cargo that is perishable in nature.” The terminal has the capability to handle temperature-sensitive cargo enough to fill two Boeing 747 Freighters at a given flight turn around with a direct access to ramp, pharmaceutical cage measuring 70 square feet, DGR storage facility for both imports and export. The Siginon air cargo terminal has a cool chain

corridor that opens up into the JKIA airside that allows for direct movement of the perishable cargo from the cool corridor onto the aircraft. Edward adds: “The cool chain corridor is a one of a kind feature in the JKIA cargo environment. The design of Siginon’s cool chain corridor is a reaction to customer demands for a solution to movement of perishables from the warehouse onto the aircraft without tampering with the temperature requirements.” Siginon handles temperature-controlled shipments ranging from horticultural, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. In addition, all classes of dangerous goods, explosives, flammable products, radioactive, gases, toxic substance,

fragile cargo with “handle with care” specifications due to delicate nature and ease of breakage should they be poorly handled and pharma cargo that requires special storage and specified security measures due their high versatility. Over the years, Kenya has seen an increase in exports directed to various international markets due to its global reputation as a trusted source of agricultural and horticultural produce. This position is further strengthened by industry players such as Siginon who adopt innovative solutions that safeguard the cargo quality and focus on customer satisfaction while benchmarking on international standards of operational excellence.

Boeing 747 freighter for TAAG Angola Airlines

NETWORK AIRLINE MANAGEMENT has signed a long-term contract to provide TAAG Angola Airlines with a Boeing 747-400 Freighter to operate a weekly Liege – Luanda service. The 747-400 will provide the Angolan national carrier with up to 120 tonnes of capacity for oil related and general cargo and export capacity back to Europe with forwarding connections worldwide.

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TAAG will benefit from trucking connections across Europe into Liege as part of the agreement as well as interlining facilities from North America, Asia and the Indian sub-continent. The national carrier of Angola’s 15 all-Boeing fleet services domestic belly services in Angola, medium-haul services in Africa and long-haul services to Brazil, Cuba, China, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.

AFRICA

The last region of air cargo opportunity is rising

frica is the last frontier of opportunity for aviation and the air cargo market, relatively untapped and waiting to develop into the powerhouse region many think it can become. However, it continues to be held back by political instability, despite this improving, a lack of infrastructure and co-operation between all 54 countries on the continent, although it is most definitely on the way up. The International Air Transport Association estimates Africa will be the second fastest air cargo market over the next five years with a projected growth rate of five per cent per annum. One optimist for the region is Astral Aviation chief executive officer and founder, Sanjeev Gadhia and he explains: “While there is not enough data on the growth of the intra-African air cargo market. Astral Aviation estimates the intra-African market presents the best growth rates in the world estimated at 10 per cent growth per annum. “There are a number of positive steps that are taking place in the area of liberalisation with the ratification of the Single African Air Transport market in 2017, which has already been embraced by 22 out of 54 countries in Africa.” Intra-African trade needs to grow in the view of many and Gahdia says it is as more African countries are trading with each other due to the presence of free trade agreements (FTA) or free trade areas such as COMESA, SADC, ECOWAS and EAC. He also notes the Tripartite Free Trade Area which comprises of 26 countries with a combined population of 632 million people which is 57 per cent of Africa’s population and with a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $1.3 trillion - contributing 58 per cent of Africa’s GDP. Gadhia feels Africa has countries that have good potential across the four sub-regions of North Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa. He believes these include Libya and Tunisia (North Africa), South Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda (East Africa), Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar (Southern Africa) and Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast (West Africa). He adds: “The real opportunities are in the intra-African sector with Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Lagos being the primary hubs and the gateway for cargo to and from the continent.” Political instability at least improving and Africa is more stable in Gadhia’s view, but there are countries still seeing problems such as South Sudan and the Central African Republic. There is also a strong international presence in the air cargo market and foreign carriers uplift in excess of 85 per cent of volumes to and from Africa, and approximately 40 per cent on the intra-African sector.

oil-gas-mining-projects, utilities and infrastructure sector, agriculture, and other sectors. He explains: “Astral has big plans for this sector and aims to operate a combination of drones for urban deliveries of small parcels and medicines in addition to remote deliveries for the oil, gas, mining and projects sector. In addition, it will provide surveillance services for infrastructure projects.” Gadhia says Astral will invest considerable resources to acquire commercial drones and invest in drone ports and training pilots.

Despite positive signs in the African market, more commitment and investment is needed across the continent. Gadhia concludes: “Africa is often regarded as the last frontier of opportunity, however, there is still a hesitation by the rest of the world to invest in Africa, as the approach is that of an arms-length. “The outlook for growth in intra-Africa is immense and more attention and investment is required especially in the air cargo sector.”

Regulations and infrastructure

Gadhia feels African airlines need more assistance: “African carriers have a limited share of the market and are disadvantaged due to the regulatory authorities who grant unrestricted market access and fifth freedom rights to foreign carriers. In addition there are limited joint ventures (JV) between foreign carriers and African airlines.” But how can they gain more of a market share? Gadhia believes African airlines need to take a realistic view and realise they don’t have the resources to compete with the foreign carriers and they have to “find innovative ways in co-operating with them” in areas such as codeshares, SPA’s and JV’s. Astral has interline agreements with over 20 airlines and a few codeshares in addition to a JV with its UK partner, ANA Aviation. He adds: “In addition, African airlines need to co-operate amongst themselves as there are various initiatives by AFRAA (African Airlines Association) which remain unexploited due to a general lack of interest.” Infrastructure needs investing in and despite this growing through private sector investment in airports and air cargo facilities, there are positive signs in key markets such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, but Gadhia says there is “sufficient facilities in many countries which hampers growth”. He notes high costs and taxes are an impediment to growth of airfreight infrastructure in addition to state monopolies in certain regions. As for drones, Africa is set to see them - to meet humanitarian needs, medical supplies and get cargo to locations off the radar. Astral is at the forefront and Gadhia says it will diversify into commercial drones once the regulations have been ratified in Kenya, as currently only South Africa and Rwanda have them in place and cover consumer goods, medical, emergency relief,

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ACW 20 june 2016

FRANCE

American cashing in due to strong US dollar

emand from France to the US has been strong so far in 2016 due to the strength of the US dollar, following a good year in 2015, American Airlines Cargo regional manager cargo sales, Western Europe, Kathleen Lesage tells Air Cargo Week (ACW). Describing how well 2016 is going, Lesage says: “So far so good! 2016 is holding up with quite a good demand to the US. Again, the strong dollar is certainly continuing to help European exports. We’ve also added great capacity from France this summer with multiple [Boeing] 777 frequencies to the US.”

She says 2015 was a “Pretty good year comparatively speaking, given global market conditions and the strong dollar.” Last year, the strong US dollar meant exports from Europe were strong even though the bottom line revenue took a hit but the integration of US Airways helped. “In general, following the integration year that gave us access to an ever more expansive network and the introduction of new aircraft, facilities and improved website functionality, we had another great year—and I think 2016 will bring even more innovation and positive change,” she says. After a good start to 2016, Lesage has high hopes for the rest of the year, helped by twiceweekly trucking connections to London’s Heathrow Airport from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. She tells ACW: “This, in turn, opens up new

opportunities with daily departures to Los Angeles and Raleigh-Durham with direct flights, which we do not currently have out of Paris, as well as much expanded reach into Latin America via several US gateways.” She says French customers can benefit from American’s presence in South America, using US hubs as stopovers: “We do continue to have quite a demand to South America and, with the important capacity American offers from numerous gateways, we are moving quite a significant volume of shipments. We offer daily one-stop connections to many major South America destinations via multiple gateways in the US.” American has nine hubs in the US, giving

French customers wide coverage. “One of the benefits of having nine hubs in the United States is that we can provide great service all throughout the Americas. With our network, obviously we do a lot of business to Texas, the entire east coast of the US and connect beyond into Latin America,” she notes. France will also benefit from a summer of expanded routes to the US, with New York John F. Kennedy, Miami and Dallas Fort Worth being upgraded to 777s, and a seasonal Airbus A330 Paris – Charlotte flight. Lesage says: “In addition to the new aircraft, we of course still have our Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston flights this summer. So, all in all, the summer of 2016 is much expanded.”

DHL boosting Marseille Provence

MARSEILLE PROVENCE AIRPORT has broken all monthly records, with volumes between January and May up 11.5 per cent, cargo managaer, Jean-Marc Boutigny tells Air Cargo Week (ACW). Boutigny says: “Business is going very well because we never had such good results. We broke all our monthly records from January to May 16 to reach a total of 23,240 tons in the end of May (a +11.5 per cent growth compared to end of May 15).” For the rest of 2016, Boutigny says: “Marseille Airport Express Hub, perishable products from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey and Israel, and export drilling parts to Algerian oil fields in Hassi Messaoud. We should break our yearly historical record to

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reach 55 000 tonnes (by December 2016).” Boutigny says North Africa is a very important market for Marseilles, connecting countries such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia: “Marseille is rank number one in Western Mediterranean area for Express industry, (ranked number one with Malta, Corsica, Tunisia, Algeria and Southern France), so it is the right place to be in the heart of the Mediterranean markets.” Marseille has been expanding facilities, with a new cold storage facility and DHL’s expansion has resulted in very strong growth. DHL Express spent eight million euros modernising its Marseille hub and launched services to Algiers in January. The new facility means DHL can handle 8,000 pieces a day for import and 2,500 for export. Boutigny says: “New facilities are performing very well. Our brand new cold room station registered a +60% growth from January till May and DHL new facilities allows them to register a +17% growth in Marseille in five months. There is no further expansion plan for 2016 but we are actually studying the opportunity to expand our cargo stands area beginning of 2017.”

LOGISTICS PARTNERING NETWORKS

IT upgrades for SkyTeam Cargo

kyTeam Cargo is working on improving its IT systems for alliance members, vice president cargo alliance, Eric Hartmann (pictured) tells Air Cargo Week. SkyTeam Cargo is not actively looking for new members at this time but is working on improving its IT. Hartmann says: “Currently we are focused on IT solutions that will assist us to bring together the world’s largest air cargo network effectively. We are not actively looking to add new members but with that said if the fit is right we would welcome new members.” He continues: “We are working hard on looking for ways to continue offering the best products to our customers by offering fast - transparent IT solutions, seamless connections and one stop warehousing.” Hartmann says SkyTeam Cargo offers airlines a customer focus stamp of quality by adapting to the product pillars of equation, variation, cohesion and dimension. “These four products are designed with the customer in mind and the special needs that today’s cargo demands.

Worldwide exposure as the alliance positions each airlines brand on a platform that reaches customers around the globe.” He says the network covers 175 countries with a fleet of more than 3,100 aircraft, 80 of which are widebody freighters, as well as 14,500 daily departures. “Our members market share of world traffic grew to more than 24 per cent in 2015 but in general we are feeling the same difficult market that the rest of the industry is experiencing.” He continues: “Our industry is under tremendous pressure but we are starting to see some positive trends which we expect to stay with us into 2017.” Hartmann says the biggest challenge network members are facing is overcapacity due to increasing numbers of passenger aircraft, though that is not necessarily a bad thing in his view. “In my point of view this growth is positive for us as additional capacity brings new opportunities with higher levels of service and combining this with seamless network, it should open the door to new commodities being shipped by air in particular one we are all talking about, e-commerce.”

Three members a week for Cooperative Logistic Network Cooperative Logistics Network is growing by on average three agents per week, and they can benefit from securing new business by cooperation, the alliance tells Air Cargo Week. The alliance says members are seeing business grow this year and are positive about their prospects. “The feedback we are receiving from members is that business between members is growing. With every interaction or face to face meeting, agents get to know each other better and are therefore more willing to share business. Overall, I would say that cooperation in the network is at an all-time high.” For the rest of 2016, the network is expected to expand, and Cooperative Logistics Network will be launching new tools for members. “We are currently growing at an average of 3 agents per week, so as the network grows so will cooperation. We will also be launching some tools in the coming months which will aid trust between members including an online quatation request tool tool and a payment monitoring system.” The online quotation request tool provides one common system to simplify management and tracking of rates, as well as automatic reminders to agents who have not responded to requests every 24 hours. The payment monitoring system allows members to add, view and edit details of open invoices. The alliance says members can benefit from the strict selection process for members joining, cooperation between members, a strong global presence and the complimentary marketing package. Cooperative Logistics Network only allows leading forwarders into its network. and explains to ACW: “An international freight network is only as strong as its weakest link. We operate an extremely strict selection process ensuring that any company joining will only be working with the most reliable and financially stable agents.” It has a wide network, with partners at every major airport. “Our aggregated figures show that The Coop has superior resources in terms of size and reach than some of the largest multinationals, so those joining will join members in working co-operatively to serve clients globally, wherever in the world they need to send a shipment.” Members also receive help with promotional material and marketing, which can be expensive to produce; the alliance has created a package including videos, brochures, websites and power points, which can be personalised. “As the multinationals conveniently gain more and more of the market each year, good marketing is a crucial weapon in the fight back for independent forwarders.” Cooperative Logistics Network says the biggest challenges facing its members are finding reliable partners and bureaucracy: “Finding reliable partners is definitely a challenge especially in a time of economic uncertainty worldwide. In addition, we hear a lot from members about the increasing levels of bureaucracy involved in shipping which definitely ties up staff with the smallest errors or corrections taking an age to iron out.” Cooperative Logistics Network also operates Conqueror Freight Network, where all members must be audited prior to entry.

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