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The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,124

22 MARCH 2021

WOMEN IN AIRFREIGHT - PUSH THE LIMIT

Page 8

INSIDE OMAN AIR: IATA CEIV PHARMA

OMAN Air has been certified IATA Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators for Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma), confirming ... PAGE 2

FVL OPERATION MOTORS FOR RHENUS UK

Could LHR be at risk of collapse?

LHR IS EXPERIENCING ITS LOWEST PASSENGER NUMBERS SINCE THE 1970s

n Heathrow’s financial results for the year ending December 31 2020, John Holland-Kaye, CEO, Heathrow Airport described it as “one of the most challenging years in the company’s history.” Company Debt, which provides business rescue and insolvency services, has looked at the airport’s precarious financial position going forward. The pandemic has caused passenger numbers to plummet, leading to free-falling revenues and an annual loss of around £2 billion. The decline in passenger numbers also saw Heathrow lose its title as Europe’s biggest airport, with Paris Charles de Gaulle taking its place. Passenger numbers for the year fell from 80.9 million in 2019 to just 22.1 million in 2020, with more than half of those travelling in January and February. That was the smallest annual total since 1975. That led to falling revenues, down from

more than £3bn in 2019 to £1.175bn in 2020, and an end of year loss of more than £2bn, compared with a profit of £546m for the year before. As well as a 72% reduction in passengers when compared to 2019, the airport has also moved significantly less cargo. Typically, 94% of the cargo handled by Heathrow Airport is carried in the bellies of passenger planes. However, with a 57.8% fall in the number of air transport movements and restrictions on international trade, the volume of air cargo handled by Heathrow has dropped by 28.2%. However, it is not all bad news on the cargo front. The airport has played a vital role in the transportation of PPE into the UK in response to the pandemic. During 2020, 19,000 passenger flights were turned into makeshift cargo freighters to help bring vital equipment into the UK.

Although there are some signs that international travel could return to the UK this year as the coronavirus vaccines continue to be rolled out, the prognosis for the next few years is not anywhere near as positive as Heathrow and other airports would like. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released an updated global passenger forecast that predicts traffic will not return to the pre-COVID-19 levels until 2024. Short-haul travel is expected to recover more quickly than long-haul, which will provide a boost to passenger numbers. However, factors such as the slow virus containment in the US and developing economies around the world, along with a decline in corporate travel and weaker consumer confidence, means a slow and gradual recovery is likely.

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE - WORLD AIR CARGO AWARDS CLOSE FRIDAY MARCH 26

SIGNIFICANT movements of expensive classic and super cars has given Rhenus UK’s newly established Full Vehicle Logistics (FVL) business a major ... PAGE 2 RFG & CGN SIGN PARTNERSHIP

CHICAGO Rockford International Airport (RFD) and Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) have signed an Airport Co-operation Agreement ... PAGE 4

WHY WE ARE A WACA SPONSOR

THE industry is in a moment of great difficulties but also great opportunities. We have been sponsors in previous awards, but we feel that ... PAGE 4

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NEWS

Emirates SkyCargo and DCAA Condor awards ULD sign MoU for hazmat transport management to Unilode EMIRATES SkyCargo and the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to streamline processes for the transportation of Dangerous Goods (DGs). The MoU was signed by Mohammed Abdulla Lengawi, executive director, aviation security and accidents investigation sector, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Budoor Al Maazmi, Emirates Cargo government business development manager in the presence of Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president, cargo. Under the MoU, the two entities will work together to strengthen mechanisms to proactively share information on certain classes of DG booked for

transport on Emirates SkyCargo through Dubai. This will complement the information that is already provided as part of the Dangerous Goods Declaration submitted to the DCAA as part of the approvals process for the transportation of goods classified as DG in accordance with IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president, cargo, said: “We are delighted to be stepping up our co-operation with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority for the co-ordination of information sharing and best practices around the transport of Dangerous Goods. Safety is one of the key operational pillars for Emirates.”

GERMAN airline Condor has awarded a five-year unit load device (ULD) supply and management agreement to Unilode Aviation Solutions. Condor currently operates a fleet of more than 50 aircraft including 15 wide-body and 30 narrow-body aircraft. The airline offers scheduled and charter passenger flights worldwide, in addition to recently initiated cargo flights to European destinations. Unilode will supply, manage, digitalise and repair Condor’s containers and pallets in a hybrid ULD fleet management model which consists of ULDs dedicated to the

airline’s use and assets shared with other carriers in Unilode’s pool. Bernd Bechtel, commercial director cargo and airport relations and ground handling procurement,

WFS joins Brucargo’s ‘Digital Green Lane’ initiative

orldwide Flight Services (WFS) is working with Brussels Airport and the Air Cargo Belgium community to help eliminate waiting times for international road feeder services in the latest initiative to support Brucargo’s ‘Digital Green Lane’. Two years ago, WFS was one of the first cargo handlers to sign up for Brucargo’s slot booking app, which allows local freight forwarding and transport providers to request a single or recurrent time slot to deliver or collect export and import air cargo shipments. WFS now receives some 2,000 slot requests a month from companies using the centralised web application. The latest phase of the Brucloud project – developed by Air Cargo Belgium, technology provider Nallian, Brussels Airport and the air cargo community stakeholders – is to pilot a new Road Feeder Management app to digitally improve the efficiency of the interface between trucking operators and handling providers. Four trucking providers are participating in the pilot: H.Essers, Jan de Rijk, Ninatrans and Wallenborn. The app allows for automatic booking of flexible slots for cargo drop-offs and collections by Road Feeder Services operators which can shift in time according to the estimated time of arrival (ETA) sent by the truck driver. Once registered, the app tracks the progress of the vehicle and gives the driver an updated time slot prior to arriving at the cargo terminal. As well as simplifying the communications

process, the app aims to ensure drivers and trucks benefit from a better and priority service by eliminating waiting times which can occur when vehicles arrive at a cargo terminal and are processed in order with other trucks. For WFS, the pilot offers the opportunity to gain real-time insight of predicted workflows, which allows it to optimise personnel planning to ensure fast, timely, safe and secure handling of cargo shipments carried onboard its airline customers’ flights to and from Brussels. Koen Gouweloose, managing director, Belgium, at WFS. said: “WFS is keen to participate in and support digital solutions which improve customer experience and the overall efficiency of our operations. Brucloud is already making a significant difference to the way the air cargo community in Brussels works together and provides a win-win scenario for all stakeholders. “I am confident we will see very encouraging results from the pilot of the Road Feeder Management application because it addresses some of the key challenges trucking and handling companies face; time slots and planning are not always predictable due to changing traffic conditions, we rely heavily on manual exchange of information, and language barriers can mean a lack of clear communication with truck drivers. “This new app addresses another key milestone in the ‘Digital Green Lane’ process and has the potential to benefit the entire Brussels Airport community once we complete this trial stage,” said Gouweloose.

Full Vehicle Logistics operation motors for Rhenus UK SIGNIFICANT movements of expensive classic and super cars has given Rhenus UK’s newly established Full Vehicle Logistics (FVL) business a major commercial boost. In its first six months of operations alone, the finished vehicle logistics service transported 86 high performance cars, worth more than €100,000,000 in total. The new highly-specialised FVL solution from Rhenus provides a bespoke logistics service to discerning car enthusiasts, dealers and OEMs. The majority of the shipments by Rhenus FVL over its first six months of operations have concerned the export of new or classic cars from the UK to either Asia or mainland Europe. These shipments included airfreight movements. Ehe FVL service has been even more successful than expected for Rhenus UK.

ACW 22 MARCH 2021

Spencer Davern, air and ocean director at Rhenus UK, commented: “Despite the headwinds of the COVID-19 pan-

demic, the global recession and now Brexit, we’ve seen strong demand for our new specialist service.”

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Condor, said: “We are delighted to partner with Unilode as we highly value their customised solutions and personalised approach to ULD management. “A reliable supply of ULDs is essential for the recovery in our core business of flying passengers, and supports new revenue opportunities, such as our cargo flights. We look forward to growing our operations and working with our new ULD management partner for many years to come.” Marc Groenewegen, chief commercial officer, Unilode, added: “We are proud that Condor has decided to entrust Unilode with the management of its ULD fleet.”

Oman Air obtains IATA CEIV Pharma certification OMAN Air has been certified IATA Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators for Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma), confirming the airline’s capabilities for safeguarding the integrity of time- and temperature-sensitive pharma from point of origin to destination. Abdulaziz Al Raisi, CEO of Oman Air, commented: “I am delighted to announce that Oman Air has been certified by IATA for CEIV Pharma. The certification underpins our capabilities as a global cargo carrier for the quality handling of time- and temperature-sensitive healthcare products. This is especially significant during the current COVID-19 crisis, a time when the integrity of vital medications, including vaccines, relies entirely on safe and dependable cold chain expertise both in the air and on the ground. To do so, our customers can ben-

efit from our state-of-the-art facilities at the Muscat International Air Cargo Hub.” Oman Air successfully completed a thorough analysis of its business processes and product quality environments, and underwent rigorous evaluation of its pharmaceutical quality management systems, process standards and document review, risk assessments and several internal audits. In 2021, Oman Air obtained IATA CEIV Fresh Certification for the handling and transport of perishable products. “Being certified both CEIV Pharma and CEIV Fresh positions Oman Air as a leading airline for the integrity of cold chain logistics,” explained Oman Air CEO, Abdulaziz Al Raisi. “We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere appreciation to IATA for supporting and guiding us through this process.”

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NEWS

Why we are a WACA Sponsor

ACW 22 MARCH 2021

ROCKFORD & COLOGNE AIRPORT SIGN PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

SAVE Group

IN the last two years or so, no-one else in our industry has shown so much importance to the general public as the charter operators - it came somehow natural for our group to sponsor their category as our form of appreciation of their hard work. The industry is in a moment of great difficulty but also with great opportunities. We have been sponsors in previous awards, but we feel that in such perilous times the importance of each one of the stakeholders in the air cargo industry can be better heard and understood. 2020 and 2021 are, in a way, a loud statement on how important air cargo is. We are proud to support the ‘Oscars’ of the airfreight industry, of course, but

more important is the consciousness to be part of an industry that is way too important in everyday life, often underestimated, that in my humble opinion should capitalise more on its primal role to society. We believe that more important than the brand is the value placed on people that makes a logo recognisable: the fact that our company becomes visible at such events is a form of reward for these people, our people, that will take pride in realising what their hard work, even in turbulent times, has brought. We, and I mean all of us, need to make this industry more appealing, more visible, more friendly to the world. Just like the Hollywood Oscars.

CHICAGO Rockford International Airport (RFD) and Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) have signed an Airport Cooperation Agreement to mutually develop the air cargo traffic between their two regions. The partnership will strengthen the knowledgesharing between these two strong cargo service airports and support the collective air cargo reach of each airport. Additionally, the airports will work on cutting-edge initiatives to develop high-quality handling systems for e-Commerce cargo. The agreement is a catalyst for both airports to further optimise their burgeoning air cargo business. Joint goals include attracting additional cargo airlines, alleviate on-ground challeng-

es and impact the movement of products quickly to their final destinations. Additionally, both RFD and CGN agree to support current cargo customers by

evaluating processes and procedures. It aims to make ground and cargo handling more efficient and shorten the delivery times for logistics companies.

CH Robinson: Rethink strategies after Brexit THE UK’s withdrawal from EU two months ago continues to cause uncertainty. Businesses are being urged to rethink their supply chain strategies and see Brexit as an opportunity to build more diverse and resilient supply chains, as part of adapting to new realities.

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The call comes from Chris Mills, director of account management, transportation at CH Robinson Europe: “The impact of Brexit will not be short-lived and will likely add to existing vulnerability in the supply chain of many industries.”

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NEWS

FAR EAST CARGO

Air Logistics Group celebrates a decade in China EAST Midlands Airport-based Air Logistics Group is celebrating its 10th year in China. Stephen Dawkins, CEO spoke to Yasmin Turner about the group’s operations in the region which over the last decade has grown to over 50 staff members, serving its airline partners across 25 stations under the leadership. ACW: How has the pandemic affected operations at Air Logisitics? Stephen Dawkins: The pandemic highlighted the importance of our continuous investment in our network of offices in China. We continue to invest in IT infrastructure and digitalising our processes. In China, the impact of COVID-19 was swift. The Air Logistics China team already had the tools and systems (communication / financial / operations) in place to work directly from home after the first announce-

ment, ensuring swift and efficient communication with our forwarding and airline clients. As the surge for PPE from China started quickly, our video conferencing tools kept us engaged with our partners, freight forwarder customers and with our colleagues in Air Logistics teams around the world, which allowed us to anticipate these significant volumes and find many creative solutions via charter sales with short lead times for over 50 airline partners across our global network of offices. In anticipation of the reduction of passenger flights into and out of China, we initially reduced employee presence in a few offices and maintained staff working from home to keep qualified teams and geographical coverage in place. After seeing other regions affected by COVID-19, export demand began to increase and yields substantially increased.

tics teams reacted swiftly to meet our customer’s requirements. Our existing partners experienced how quickly the ALG network adapted and executed these changes to keep vital supply chains of key consumables open and generate significant cargo revenue for our airline partners.

ACW: What’s changed in terms of cargo? Dawkins: With the shift in the market towards charters and PAX-Freighters and with decision makers located overseas, Air Logis-

ACW: Digitalisation has proved its importance throughout the pandemic. How is Air Logistics advancing this infrastructure?

ACW: What new projects does Air Logistics have in the pipelines for 2021 and beyond?

Dawkins: Air Logistics is focussed on enabling our teams with the right tools to realise efficiencies that enhance sales and yields for our Partners. Customer relationships are still essential in the China market, and our teams are equipped with mobile friendly business intelligence tools to see relevant data, allowing them to reach the right customer at the

Dawkins: Air Logistics expects continuous growth and investment in China in line with the capacity growth of our Airline Partners in 2021. Whilst we are a significant corporation now, in China there is still huge potential. Our airline partners trust us, and they know what they are purchasing from us when appointing Air Logistics in China and Hong Kong.

TELEPORT STEPPING UP TO DELIVER VACCINES

he logistics venture of AirAsia Digital, Teleport, has been appointed by Utama Multimodal Logistics Sdn Bhd (UML), a cold chain logistics services company focused on transporting pharmaceuticals, to deliver future vaccines arriving in Kuala Lumpur to East Malaysia. “Ever since the first news of the vaccines broke out, Teleport has been gearing up our capabilities to transport them. “Transporting pharma shipments requires the utmost care and precision with time and temperature being the most crucial elements,” said Teleport CEO, Pete Chareonwongsak. “With compliance to IATA Temperature Control Regulations and industry best practices, we have built up a strong, reliable infrastructure to ensure the shipment always stays within the stipulated temperature range. “One of our greatest achievements from this to date was delivering medical samples in just under eight hours from a clinic in Kota Kinabalu to a laboratory in Klang.” Teleport will help UML with deliveries of all

ACW 22 MARCH 2021

Construction starts for Ho Chi Minh’s new airport

future vaccines to both Sabah and Sarawak areas, which are Sandakan, Labuan, Bintulu, Miri and Sibu. These vaccines will be accorded as priority shipments on all AirAsia flights.

China Airlines go ultra cold CHINA Airlines has launched a new ultra-low temperature delivery service to take advantage of opportunities arising from COVID-19 vaccine delivery. The airline, which is the only airline in Taiwan to have obtained IATA CEIV Pharma, can now deliver cargo chilled to as low as -80°C once dry ice is added. An agreement has also been signed between China Airlines and international passive temperature-controlled container suppliers to expand the service portfolio to include ultra-low temperature delivery.

right time. This approach allows targeted marketing and sales to position our principal strongly in the market to maximise load factors and revenue. Having the right operational and financial systems in place to communicate the correct information with our customers is the key to our continued success in China and across our total network.

Unlike conventional cold chain logistics in which temperature-controlled containers utilise battery-powered active-cooling, passive ultra-low temperature containers require no batteries. A combination of patented vacuum insulated panels and phase change materials effectively maintain the specified temperature for up to five days. A storage temperature as low as -80°C can even be achieved with the addition of dry ice. This provides certain vaccines with the stable and safe temperature they need to maintain their efficacy, quality during transport, and cost-effective delivery.

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CONSTRUCTION has commenced on the first phase of Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai province, Vietnam, which was approved by the Vietnamese government last November. The new airport will be located near Ho Chi Minh City and covers more than 5,580 hectares. Costing $16 billion in total, the project will be split in to two phases. Phase one involves the development of one 4,000m long runway and a terminal that can handle 1.2 million tonnes of cargo annually. Phase two will see the development of a second runway and terminal. This will bring total capacity to 75 million passengers and 2.7 million tonnes of cargo annually. Once fully operational, the airport will have a yearly capacity of five million tonnes of cargo.

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Supply Chain Management

NEWS

CONTROLANT: IMPORTANCE OF REAL-TIME MONITORING

he pharmaceutical supply chain is increasing in complexity and creating a demand for digital transformation in order to gain total supply chain visibility and control. Adopting scalable and cost-effective solutions will be mission-critical moving forward to ensure public safety and protect the bottom line. In a recently released white paper, Controlant, a provider of sustainable, real-time digital supply chain visibility and cold chain solutions noted: “Real-time temperature monitoring and supply chain total visibility offers many benefits: proactive product waste reduction; exponential operational cost savings, including reduced time spent on quality review; faster release times; improved collaboration with logistics partners; shorter delivery times; and more accurate forecasting.” The white paper explores how technology enables enterprises to better monitor, measure, and manage the supply chain, mitigate risk, drive continuous improvement, and generate substantial cost savings and ROI. “When shipping pharmaceutical products by airfreight, real-time monitoring provides

critical visibility of shipments while at the airports. Airlines cannot always guarantee storage within their temperature-controlled facilities, which are often treated on a firstcome, first-served basis as storage space allows. “Tracking a shipment to China by air, several benefits were realised. The customer started receiving alerts on day two while the goods were stored at the airport. “Due to cold ambient temperatures at the

originating airport, the temperature began to decrease. “Upon contacting their freight forwarder, the customer learned that their shipment of pallets was at the airport handling facility and due to capacity issues was not held in temperature-controlled storage. “Contacting the airline in a timely fashion and explaining the severity of the issue, the onsite staff agreed to move the pallets into the temperature-controlled storage facility.

“Soon after, the temperature fell within the acceptable boundaries. “Receiving alerts in real-time allowed for immediate action to rectify the deviation from temperature standards. The products were exposed to a minor excursion for a short period of time. “This resulted in the shipment, valued at several million dollars, passing the QA requirements and release of the products to the market upon their arrival.”

ACW 22 MARCH 2021

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

110 years of International Women’s Day: gender diversity is still a serious issue in transport

PUSH THE LIMIT

DESPITE campaigns for gender parity for more than 100 years, the latest research shows that 63% of managers within the transportation industry believe their sector still struggles with a lack of gender diversity. The research, which comes from multi-discipline recruitment experts, Search Consultancy, was conducted with 1,000 managers and asked respondents to rate how they believed their industry compared against a range of diversity markers. The research also looked into racial and age diversity: 57% of managers in the transportation industry believed their business lacked racial diversity with 52% admitting age diversity was an issue.

More diverse Erin Vickers, director of talent and engagement at Search Consultancy, said: “Although research shows that 68% of managers in the transportation sector believe their industry is suffering from a skills shortage, little is being done to encourage a more diverse workforce and consequently widen the talent pool available. “The benefits of having a diverse team are endless. Looking outside of the typical candidate demographic can help resolve the skills shortage, create a better understanding of customers and significantly improve employer brand.”

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Don’t accept “can’t” or “this is how it’s always been done,” and don’t accept mediocrity – it simply isn’t good enough. There are many companies out there where your gender does not prohibit what you can and cannot do, and where opportunities are open for the right people with the right skill set and attitude. Strive to work for such an organisation – and United is absolutely one of them - as they are the leading the way forward ensuring the cultural and attitudinal shift to a time when we no longer have to have debates about gender. “I fell into this industry– I didn’t really realise it was

out there. [In regard to gender balanced workplace], the change in attitude comes from within. “Teams with a mix of people from a range of backgrounds and with a balance of gender create a broader outlook, and therefore a complete and rounded perspective. This ultimately enhances results for the organisation, and creates a more fulfilling working environment. United Airlines has these values at its core with women throughout the world in leadership roles.” Liz Woolmington, senior regional manager cargo EMEIA at United Airlines

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I truly believe the entrance of more women in logistics will have an added value to the industry; simply because we are different. Not better, not worse, just different! Air cargo was a complete unknown and an invisible industry to me being a student. I never realised the importance of this part in the logistics chain! “Once entering the exciting world of air cargo it will get under your skin and become a part of your DNA! “Historically, air cargo was seen as a typical ‘man’s world’! It’s a high-pressure environment. Decisions are taken rapidly and commercial and operational processes tend to be very complex.” Esther Romar, business development director, IAS Aviation

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I manage a diverse team of professionals in operations, sales, customer services, finance and even industry experts. My typical day is full of meetings with customers, providers, my team or the company as a whole to ensure we’re moving in the right direction. Combining my family life together and having happy team members with a vision, which becomes a reality, gives me a tremendous boost of energy and pride. “As women, we constantly run logistics: at home; school logistics, supermarket logistics, family life logistics, everything needs to run as a Swiss clock. The step to cargo logistics is not that big. “When I first started in logistics, I was more conscious of being female than I am now. I once noticed

at a big internal meeting that, aside from the HR rep, I was the only female present in this typical ‘man’s world’. Now I don’t really focus on being one of the cargo ladies. I am part of a smooth working organisation who delivers a service no matter what gender or age we have. “Think like a boss! At the end one thing matters: getting things done to help your clients. No excuses, be bold, have moxie, go for it, bring in the deal and thank your colleagues for their work and help. After all, it is not a one wo(man)’s show. It is one team.” Pascale de Mieter, CEO Coast Air

Women are flying high in aviation, but we must do better • • • •

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We are chief executive officers, C-level executives, chairs, founders, vice-presidents, managers, employees. We are business workers who strive to benefit our industry. We are determined, we are brave and bold, we are negotiators and we are experts. But there is still much work to be done to achieve the balance we need, particularly when it comes to gender diversity at senior levels. Our industry offers a wealth of possibilities, it is innovative, and it is changing. It is diverse and it welcomes skills and drive. Women not only belong in our industry, they are essen-

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tial to it. Let’s remind ourselves: since 1910, we have marked March 8 as a day on which we remember past struggles for women’s rights and in particular to reduce the inequalities women face compared to men. This day reminds us – women and men alike – that we must continue to inspire progress for women to rise to new heights in aviation. We have come too far to stop now. Together, new horizons await.

From the cargo teams at Qatar Airways

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