ACW 4th June 18

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals Volume: 21

Issue: 22

4 June 2018

Growth picks up in April

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fter a slow month in March, global airfreight picked up in April with freight tonne kilometres (FTK) rising 4.1 per cent, says the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The association says that demand in March fell to a 23-month low, down to 1.8 per cent, before picking up again in April but growth remains significantly slower than in much of 2017.

IATA says the weaker growth is primarily due to the end of the restocking cycle, during which businesses rapidly increase their inventory to meet unexpectedly high demand, consistent with demand drivers moving away from the highly supportive levels seen last year.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing and export orders fell in April 2018 to its lowest level since 2016.

SPENT FORCE? NOT US SAYS TIACA CHAIRMAN

A softening of global trade is also evident with containerised freight demand slowing in tandem with airfreight demand.

IATA director general and chief executive officer, Alexandre de Juniac says: “April saw a strengthening from the abrupt slowdown in growth experienced in March. This is good news. We remain cautiously optimistic that demand will grow in the region of four per cent this year.

“But the forecast appears to have increasing downside potential. Oil prices continue to rise as does protectionist rhetoric. Borders open to people and to trade drive economic growth and social prosperity. We are all disadvantaged when they are closed.”

Freight capacity measured in available tonne kilometres grew by 5.1 per cent in

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April 2018, the second time in 21 months that capacity growth outstripped demand growth.

Latin America had the strongest growth among the regions, increasing by 10.6 per cent in April helped by economic recovery in Brazil.

The Middle East grew by 7.3 per cent, mainly due to the previous year being weak.

Africa was up 5.6 per cent but capacity increased by 23 per cent, pushing down load factors to 21.3 per cent.

Asia Pacific grew by 3.9 per cent but is disproportionately exposed to protectionist measures.

North America increased by 3.2 per cent with the weakening US dollar helping exports.

Europe was up 2.4 per cent but the strengthening Euro and softening German

CARGO DRIVES RECORD Q1 RESULTS FOR ACS

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Heathrow gains links to Wuhan and Sanya HEATHROW Airport has gained new connections to China with flights to Wuhan and Sanya, adding over 6,000 tonnes of cargo capacity a year.

China Southern Airlines launched its thrice-weekly service to Wuhan, a mega-city known as ‘Chicago of China’ on 30 May, and will start flying to Sanya on Hainan Island twice a week from 12 July.

The service to Wuhan will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays using an Airbus A330 and provide 3,744 tonnes of cargo capacity per year, while China Southern will fly to Sanya on Thursdays and Sundays also using an A330, providing 2,496 tonnes of cargo capacity a year.

Heathrow chairman, Lord Deighton says though the new routes are good news, British exporters remain at a disadvantage due to the airport’s lack of capacity.

He says: “A third runway will better enable British exporters to compete on a global stage, and we urge the Government to table its final National Policy Statement on expansion so that Parliament can vote and we can get on and deliver it.”

The Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming adds: “I sincerely hope that these new routes will become bridges of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples, facilitating travels and exchanges between our two countries and giving fresh impetus to the Golden Era of the China-UK relationship.”

UPS paints 747 for Expo 2020

UPS has given one of its Boeing 747 Freighters a modified paint scheme to highlight the company’s role as official logistics partners for Expo 2020 Dubai.

Millions of visitors from around the world are expected to attend the Expo in the United Arab Emirates. During the six month run, UPS will manage all of the logistics of the event using a team of nearly 1,000 employees and a dedicated 290,000 square foot warehouse.

UAE REMAINS REGION’S GATEWAY FOR AIR CARGO

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TRUCKERS KEEP AIR CARGO ON THE ROAD

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New airport behind Turkish Cargo drive

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ff the back of a bumper year Turkish Airlines Cargo has offered some hints as to how it will develop in the coming year – led by a new, impressive airport.

Turkish “achieved record results, carrying 1.13 million tonnes of cargo in 2017,” one of its officials told Air Cargo Week, “According to WACD (World Air Cargo Data), compared with 2017, in the first quarter of 2018, the annual increase was 37.2 per cent,” the official added.

The Istanbul-headquartered carrier already has plans for the pharma, express and e-commerce business to help it grow further.

“These products will be some of Turkish Cargo’s priorities in 2018. In terms of warehouse infrastructure, we will have special areas and tailor made solutions for special needs,” the official said. Highest growth is foreseen in parcels and packets, and in the express segment.

Turkish has just opened Brussels where it aims to focus on carrying mainly time and temperature sensitive shipments such as drugs and other express products. It has also added Taipei to its roster.

“Karaganda (Kazakhstan), Tokyo (Japan), Navoi (Uzbekistan), Mexico City (Mexico) are among our targets,” the official added.

This might be small scale though compared to the opportunity mega-hub Istanbul New Airport, which will be replacing the existing Ataturk Airport, brings when it opens in October.

“With the New Airport, we will be increasing our cargo capacity to two million tonnes annually with cargo aircraft parking areas which will allow simultaneous handling of 35 wide-body freighter aircraft,” said the official.

Turkish’s target is to be one of the five largest air freight carriers in the world by 2023, with four million tonnes of carried cargo per year.

dnata to serve Egyptair at DWC

DNATA has extended its partnership with Egyptair by providing cargo handling services for freighter flights to Dubai World Central (DWC).

Egyptair will initially operate one cargo flight a week between Dubai and Cairo using an Airbus A300 Freighter.

Dnata has been providing Egyptair with ground handling services at Dubai International Airport since 2005, and says the expansion underlines the attraction of Dubai as an air cargo hub.

Dnata senior vice president – UAE cargo and DWC airline services, Bernd Struck says: “Delivering service and operational excellence to our customers has been the core of our business for decades. DWC is designed to support logistics well into the future and we are excited to welcome Egyptair to be part of this journey with us.”

Pictured left to right: Dubai Airports director - cargo business management, Faisal Al Mulla; Egyptair Cargo Dubai cargo manager, Sherif Sabry Morsi; dnata senior vice president - UAE cargo and DWC airline services, Bernd Struck; Egyptair Cargo UAE business development director - Link Global Logistics FZE/GSSA, Prakash Menon.

ACW REWIND

AFTER three freighters had been brought down by lithium-ion batteries in a decade, Boeing issued its warning as ACW owner AZura International relaunched its popular AZFreight.com website.

Boeing issues battery warnings Volume 18 Issue 29 27 July 2015 BOEING HAS advised airlines not to carry large quantities of lithium-ion batteries as bellyhold cargo until improved packaging is developed.

The aircraft manufacturer has sent guidance to carriers urging them not to move the batteries as cargo “until safer methods of packaging and transport are established and implemented.”

AZURA INTERNATIONAL, owner of Air Cargo Week, has introduced a major new data service on its azfreight.com website, featuring multimedia company listings for industry-wide freight forwarding companies.

The redesigned site also includes featured listings, which now contains a description of the company, a map of its location, its contact details, its branch and global office information and background information on leading personnel.

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NEWS Spent force? Not us says TIACA chairman

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he International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has hit back at claims by airfreight industry blogger Nigel Tomkins that it is “a spent force” and the industry body is “on the brink” of financial collapse.

Writing on his Air Cargo Eye blog, veteran airfreight industry journalist Tomkins bases his claims on what he describes as “confidential figures” sent to the blog. He claims they show the revenue from the biennial Air Cargo Forum (ACF) event, on which TIACA depends for the bulk of its revenue, has been in decline for a number of years. The next ACF is scheduled for Toronto, Canada in October this year.

TIACA chairman Sebastiaan Scholte responded that the claim is based on a report from last year that does not reflect what the Miami-based organisation has since undertaken to rectify the financial situation.

He says: “The numbers referred to are from a report in 2017 and those projections did not include improvements that TIACA has since identified and implemented.”

Tomkins writes: “According to the confidential report, aimed at TIACA board members only, the breakdown of ACF event revenue performances since Kuala Lumpur (2008) show a pronounced roller-coaster swing in the 10 events since the peak at $2.29 million in Amsterdam (2010) and the $2.66 million of Atlanta (2012), before a marked slowdown to $1.83 million (Seoul, 2014), to $1.95 million (Paris, 2016) and, finally, to $1.29 million projected for Toronto (2018).”

Scholte says TIACA has identified in excess of $400,000 in

MAB Kargo charters a 747

MAB Kargo has flown 72 tonnes of oil and gas equipment from Germany to Malaysia using a chartered Boeing 747-400 Freighter.

The equipment was flown from Leipzig to Bintulu in Malaysia’s Sarawak region in an aircraft owned by Silk Way West Airlines. The flight transited in Baku, Azerbaijan before touching down at Bintulu Airport at 19.30h local time. MAB Kargo’s team conducted a detailed planning process to prepare the bulky cargo for loading and unloading the aircraft, and ground support equipment was brought in from Kuching and Miri airports.

MAB Kargo sales and marketing general manager, Amiroel Shazrie Yussof says: “The oil & gas industry’s charters have always been very challenging and more often than not, present logistical intricacies. In this case, we had to prep a small airport to receive a big aircraft. With the support of a great ground handling team and local airport authorities, we made it happen today.”

He adds: “Charter flights are ideal for the oil & gas industry as they allow our customers to work on their own schedule utilising the most convenient airports. Over the years, MABkargo has gained immense experience from coordinating and successfully delivering oil and gas equipment to a number of destinations worldwide.

“We have also handled many types of charters – oil & gas, Grand Prix, concert equipment and livestock movements being the major ones. Our experience in handling charters created a niche strength for us and has secured the trust of our customers.

Today, charter flights are a key revenue generator for MABkargo.”

Quote of the week “There aren’t enough young people wanting to get into the industry because they don’t find it exciting enough” Jan de Rijk CEO, Sebastiaan Scholte

WORLDNEWS JACK So Chak-kwong has been re-appointed as chairman of the board of Airport Authority Hong Kong for a second three year term. Ir Billy Wong Wing-hoo and Dr Allan Zeman have also been re-appointed for terms of three years, and Anita Fung Yuen-mei for one year.

Linda Chan Chang-fan and Adrian Wong Koon-man have also joined the board for three year terms, effective from 1 June.

UPS has appointed Kevin Warren to the position of Chief Marketing Officer, effective June 1, 2018. Warren will report to UPS Chairman and CEO David Abney. He also joins the UPS Management Committee, the most senior leadership group in the company.

Scholte improvement opportunities and “we have already implemented around $300,000 in savings for the full year 2018.”

TIACA is working to identify new revenue streams and further cost reductions for the organisation.

“We have substantial cash reserves and are confident of a strong financially viable future for TIACA,” says Scholte. “In general TIACA is confident of a strong future, for this year, and beyond.”

Earlier this year, TIACA announced a new vision and mission for the association, which reflects this work and a fresh logo and new web sites to underpin its vision for the future. A comprehensive rate card for the ACF, along with a list of exhibitors, is available on its web site, tiacaevent.org.

Icelandair Cargo embraces CHAMP’s Traxon Quality tool

ICELANDAIR Cargo has implemented CHAMP Cargosystems’ Traxon Quality tool enabling it to track shipments across the whole supply chain.

CHAMP says as the launch customer, Icelandair Cargo has benefitted from proactively measuring the cargo performance based on live information collected from daily operations.

The Traxon tool not only enables the tracking of shipments across the whole supply chain but also provides a customisable overview with real-time information flow. KPIs are measured to improve customer satisfaction and generate cost reductions to fulfil their needs.

CHAMP Cargosystems vice president of global sales and marketing, Nicholas Xenocostas says: “CHAMP appreciates the partnership with Icelandair Cargo and is delighted to provide our customer with more solutions and services to support its continuous development.

“Data and performance improvement is, after all, one of our key missions – enabling more airlines and forwarders to achieve this is a win for us and the industry.”

Icelandair Cargo IT manager, Bertel Olafsson says: “Icelandair Cargo is excited to be the first to use Traxon Quality. The platform will give us crucial insights to drive the process improvements for many years to come.”

The airline also uses CHAMP’s Traxon CargoHUB, Traxon Global Customs and Cargospot products.

Delta Air Lines to fly directly to Mumbai DELTA Air Lines will start nonstop flights to Mumbai, India from next year, linking the USA with one of its strongest trading partners.

The airline says the move marks a return to a market it was forced to exit after the route became economically unviable.

The service is subject to government approval and full schedule details will be announced later this year.

Delta chief executive officer, Ed Bastian says: “We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible.”

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ETHIOPIAN Airlines will take delivery of its 100th aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 on 5 June. This makes it the first carrier in Africa to operate a fleet of 100 aircraft.

CARGO volumes at Changi Airport have grown 4.5 per cent year-on-year in April to 179,410 tonnes. So far in 2018, the airport has handled 691,500 tonnes of cargo, up 3.8 per cent on 2017. Singapore Airlines has added increased services from Changi to Australia, by increasing frequencies to Sydney to 35 times a week, and making the thrice-weekly Canberra service a daily flight. It has also added an additional service to Ahmedabad in India, bring the total to five a week.

SHAMIL Kurmashov has stood down as deputy CEO for commerce and finance at Aeroflot to focus on a new area of the business. The company says it is in the process of identifying a candidate to take up the position on a permanent basis. Kurmashov has been a member of Aeroflot’s management team since 2009, and Aeroflot says a senior executive’s decision to change roles after occupying one position for many years is a “routine occurrence fully in line with international business practice”.

ALL Nippon Airways (ANA) and United Airlines have expanded their cargo joint venture on transpacific routes to include shipments from Japan to Mexico. The airlines say the programme will offer customers more destinations with shorter lead times with a joint network of 377 nonstop flights a week to 16 destinations and further flight and truck connections within Japan, the USA, Canada and now Mexico. ANA’s daily nonstop flight from Tokyo Narita to Mexico City will be available for both customers.

EMIRATES will become the only airline serving Hamburg, Germany with an Airbus A380 from 29 October, using the aircraft on its afternoon service. The A380 will be used on flight number EK061 leaving Dubai at 15.00h and arriving in Hamburg at 19.05h. The return flight, EK062 departs Hamburg at 21.00h and lands in Dubai at 06.20h the next morning. The other daily pair, EK059/EK060 between Dubai and Hamburg will continue to be served with a Boeing 777-300ER. S&P Global Ratings has upgraded CEVA Logistics’ longterm issuer rating to BB- with a positive outlook based on the deleveraging as a result of the IPO on SIX Swiss Exchange as well as the improvements in operating results. This follows an upgrade of CEVA’s corporate rating by four notches to B1 by Moody’s Investor Service. CEVA has repaid indebtedness with the proceeds from the IPO and plans to replace the majority of its remaining debt facilities through a comprehensive refinancing in due course.

THE government of Canada will invest C$8.1 million in transport infrastructure at Charlottetown Airport on Prince Edward Island. The project will consist of rehabilitating runway 03-21 and connecting taxiways.

Major components of the work include grading and draining improvements, replacement of storm water collection infrastructure, and rehabilitation and reconstruction of pavement structure.

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American honours fallen heroes

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merican Airlines continued to honour fallen US armed forces members on Memorial Day with measures such as transporting their bodies home.

Team members work together, often on very short notice, to ensure every body is transported home with the utmost respect, dignity and honour. In most cases, Color Guard members move the casket from the aircraft to a waiting hearse, then the fallen soldier is taken to the American Airlines Cargo facility while the family awaits their arrival in painted military carts designed to honour them. After a moment of silence, the Color Guard assists in transferring the fallen soldier from the cart to the hearse.

Juan Garcia, an American Airlines Cargo account manager in Chicago says: “It is a reminder to all of us about the delicacy of life and the unimaginable sacrifices that the men

and women of our Armed Forces—and their families—make. No words could ever completely express the emotions that are felt by these families, their loved ones and their military brothers and sisters.”

He adds: “To all our veterans, active-duty service members and families, we want to say thank you. While no words will ever be enough to express our gratitude for your sacrifice, we are simply humbled to help out where we can.”

Cargo drives record Q1 results for ACS Air Charter Service (ACS) has got off to a record start in 2018 with a record first quarter driven by a particularly strong cargo division.

The cargo division saw a 33 per cent increase in the number of charters, arranging 1,048 contracts compared to 790 in the same period of the previous year. Cargo turnover was also up 12 per cent to £41.5 million.

ACS group cargo director, Dan Morgan-Evans says: “When you bear in mind that 2017 was our record year across all divisions and exceeded even our wildest expectations, the growth shown so far this year is even more remarkable.

The other thing to note is that February to April is the quietest quarter for much of the industry, with cargo charters often half their autumn and winter peaks.

He adds: “Our onboard courier department also continues to flourish since its restructur-

Morgan-Evans ing three years ago. Bookings were up 10 per cent year on year, averaging more than 150 jobs every month and revenue grew by eight per cent. The German headquarters of the division is moving into new offices in Frankfurt next month to allow the team to grow further.”

Kerry Logistics moves into South Africa KERRY Logistics has acquired Johannesburg, South Africa based freight forwarding and logistics company, Shipping and Airfreight Services (S.A.S.).

The South African company was established 30 years ago, and the takeover of S.A.S.’s air and ocean freight entities means Kerry has expanded its services in the South African freight forwarding market. The Johannesburg office will be managed as part of Kerry Logistics’ Europe division.

S.A.S. freight forwarding unit offers a complete suite of ocean and airfreight services, with the air portfolio including direct shipments, consolidation and charter services. The company also provides customised warehousing and distribution solutions to guarantee reliable services in the African market.

Kerry Logistics managing director of Europe, Thomas Blank says: “South Africa’s economy has an important standing on the African continent with excellent trade lanes not only to the Chinese market but also the large exporting economies of the European Union.

“We are pleased about this great opportunity to further develop our business through this

Left to right: SAS commercial director, Paolo Buccellato with Carla Laue and Thomas Blank trade. We are glad to welcome the entire S.A.S. team into the Kerry Logistics network. Their experience and local knowledge will strengthen our freight forwarding capabilities in Africa.”

S.A.S. managing director, Carla Laue says: “S.A.S. looks forward to joining the Kerry Logistics family and adding first-hand knowledge of the African freight forwarding market to Kerry Logistics’ global network. Together, we will work to bring South Africa even closer to markets around the world.”

Aeroflot cargo income grows 11% AEROFLOT Cargo income grew at a greater rate than tonnage growth in Q1 2018. This was during the first three months of the year, traditionally weak for the Russian aviation market.

This is due to a number of factors, primarily seasonality of demand, as fewer passengers fly during this period. However, managers are predicting a ‘World Cup’ effect later in the year

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as both domestic and international air travel increases.

Q1 2018 saw cargo income of RUB 3.7 billion, an increase of 11.8 per cent. At the same time, cargo and mail volumes grew by 9.6 per cent in Q1.

In Q1 2018, Aeroflot Group carried 11.0 million passengers, a 6.6 per cent year-on-year increase.

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PHARMACEUTICALS IAG Cargo delivers vaccines in battle against disease

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ndia’s growing pharmaceutical sector is part of a worldwide effort to stamp out preventable diseases.

In April, the world marked the launch of World Immunisation Week, a global public health campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the aim of increasing rates of immunisation and ensuring that every person is protected against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world.

Immunisation programmes currently avert two to three million deaths a year, but over one and Dorling half million could be

avoided if vaccination coverage improved.

As part of India’s role in this battle, IAG Cargo is celebrating its partnership with Biological E.Limited, a prominent biopharmaceutical company based in Hyderabad, India. The manufacturer transports millions of vaccines to over 90 countries throughout the world under stringent temperature controlled conditions from laboratory to final gateway.

According to IAG Cargo global head pharmaceuticals and life sciences, Alan Dorling the airline has a track record in helping the Indian manufacturer reach its overseas markets.

Dorling says: “We have been a preferred airfreight carrier for temperature controlled solutions for several years and work through a tripartite partnership with them, and their

primary freight forwarders. These tripartite relationships give the shipper the transparency and confidence they need, as well as helping to create a seamless supply chain.”

“Regulation of both EU GDP Guidelines and future FDA GDP requirements will drive standards and inevitably mode of transport and packing solution chosen up the value chain.”

Biological E.Limited COO, Lakshminarayana Neti comments: “Having a trusted supply chain partner is ever so crucial. IAG Cargo has been an extremely reliable partner. Two billion doses of delivery across 90-odd different countries and there have been no failures what so ever.

“The most significant vaccine by volume that we transport is the pentavalent vaccine, which contains five vaccines in one, targeting diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B.” This traffic equates to some 300 tonnes of the most perishable and delicate consignments, notes Dorling.

IAG Cargo has several tripartite partnerships with organisations such as Serum Institute of India and all major generic manufacturers and biosimilar producers.

“The nature of pharmaceutical supply chains results in the movement of goods into and out of India. We airfreight some of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API’s) predominantly form US, Europe and South America into India for production locally,” says Dorling.

“Temperature controlled airfreight will continue to grow strongly for the foreseeable future due to the increasing volumes of Vaccines, Insulin and Biologics for cancer immunotherapy treatments. Regulation of both EU GDP Guidelines and future FDA GDP requirements will drive standards and inevitably mode of transport and packing solution chosen up the value chain.

IAG has a global network of 108 Quality approved (GDP and IATA TCR compliant) gateways which meets the majority of the key Pharma flows across the globe.

Dorling says: “We have an experienced dedicated vertical team of 32 people covering our global network of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences flows with a blend of both Pharmaceutical and Cargo career experience and skills managing the business.

“Our Constant Climate product is our fastest growing Premium Product in IAG Cargo and will remain a key focus of investment for IAG Cargo to ensure we can always meet the needs of our shippers and freight forwarders for time and temperature precision airfreight services.”

India produces a huge variety of products for the global economy, many of which travel with IAG Cargo. These range from healthcare OTC products all the way through to textiles and technology.

IAG Cargo carries vaccines for: • Yellow Fever to Brazil and Africa • Small Pox to Nigeria • Pentavalent vaccines predominantly to Central and South American countries and India • Polio to Syria and Africa, Ebola to the US • Prevanar 13 to the US, Europe and China and Polio vaccines to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria

Crucial partnership

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Approved gateways

PHARMACEUTICALS

AFKLMP and CSafe launch the e-container

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ir France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) has joined forces with CSafe Global to launch the RAP e-container.

The airline says the RAP e-container is the most robust operational container and will allow them to offer state-of-the-art service to customers in the pharmaceutical industry.

AFKLMP head of product and development pharma logistics, Fabrice Panza says: “With its unmatched capabilities at extreme ambient temperature and its improved battery, this new RAP container will enable us to offer even more reliable solutions on extra-long-range shipments with best-in-class maintained of the temperature setting.

“We are excited to partner CSafe Global in launching this innovative product, reaffirming our commitment to offering customers the very latest technology to ensure the quality of the products and services we offer.”

CSafe global strategic sales director and key account director, Sebastien Berrous says: “The industry has identified lanes where efficiencies can be achieved by utilising RAPs versus multiple RKNs. The CSafe RAP offers the expanded cargo capacity (up to five Euro pallets or four US pallets) needed to accommodate larger cold-chain shipments.”

Fabrice Panza (left) with Sebastien Berrous

va-Q-tec expands in Kolleda

Va-Q-tec has expanded its facility in Kolleda, Germany adding 3,000 sqaure metre of the production area and creating additional space for storage, laboratories and offices.

After 10 months of construction, Plant 2 was opened on 22 May, adding to the 5,700 square metre Plant 1 facility that opened in 2009 and has been expanded several times since then. Some 142 employees work at the plant in Germany’s Thuringia region.

Va-Q-tec head of operations and production, Thomas Schwab says: “In a few weeks, almost exactly one year after construction was started, the expansion will be complete.

“As a result of the measures taken, we will be tripling production capacity at this location. We’re also already thinking about further stages for expansion. We still have an additional 27.000 square metres of space at our disposal for just that.”

Va-Q-tec will manufacture vacuum isolation panels (C-VIPs), thermal energy storage components (phase change materials) and passive thermal packaging systems. The products and solutions are primarily used in pharmalogistics, cooling units and in the construction industry for thermal isolation or cold chain logistics.

Va-Q-tec founder and chief executive officer, Dr Joachim Kuhn says: “The expansion of production capacity is a central component of our growth strategy and an important step to meeting the rising demands of international customers. Kölleda has provided us with a very solid infrastructure and, thanks to the support of the state of Thuringia, we have the optimal conditions for a long-term investment.”

More QEP stations for Turkish TURKISH Cargo has received QEP accreditation for 14 new destinations, bringing the total Envirotainer approved stations to 22.

The 14 new stations are Basel, Paris, London, Milan, Berlin, Zurich, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, New York, Miami, Toronto and Johannesburg.

The airline is also International Air Transport Association Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics certified at its Istanbul hub.

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UAE

UAE remains regional gateway for air cargo

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ubai is not only the hub of UAE air cargo but the chief gateway for the whole GCC region, covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, writes Stuart Flitton.

Dubai International (DXB) opened in 1960 and services grew at a fast pace with enormous increases in passenger numbers and freight traffic.

In 2010 Dubai World Central (DWC), also known as Al Maktoum Airport, opened for cargo and has capacity for 16 million tonnes of cargo per annum.

It has five runways, Al Mulla

200 widebody aircraft stands and an eight sq km cargo facility to handle 16 million tonnes per year and is now the main airport in Dubai for freighter aircraft.

The new city, built at a cost of $32 billion and dubbed “Dubai South” has commercial and residential areas built around the airport.

The site is also located within a vast bonded economic region that stretches north to connect DWC with the bustling port of Jebel Ali, near Abu Dhabi.

The importance of the airport is highlighted by the 25 square kilometre Dubai Logistics City, with aviation and logistics businesses including DB Schenker, Panalpina and Hellman Worldwide Logistics. It has the most high-tech warehousing infrastructure in the world.

DXB still handles significant amounts of bel-

Dubai International Airport lyhold and is complementary to DWC with cross-docking and cross-trucking between the two airports on a daily basis. There are multiple cross-docks at DXB that connect the north and south sides of the airport.

The hub of choice

“Dubai is the hub of choice,” says Dubai Airport director, cargo business management, Faisal Al Mulla. “We invested a lot of time and resources to make it a fully integrated air cargo model. We diversified in terms of the commodities received at the airport.

“An example of that is the licence for the pharmaceutical movement. It is fully integrated with land traffic, so we have a network of trucking businesses going all over the GCC - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates,” Al Mulla says.

One of the most important attributes of DWC is its proximity to the sea and large container terminals.

“You have a 10km bonded and secure zone [the Jebel Ali Free Zone] where every trader can come and connect from air to sea or sea to air in eight hours or less,” Al Mulla says.

“We operate an integrated doctrine between ourselves and our customers. We work hard to ensure that the whole operation is seamless.”

He adds that Dubai Airports felt that even a connection of eight hours was a lot and was working to reduce this as much as possible.

Dubai World Central

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Al-Mulla said that there were still indications of concern from some businesses and exporters about the high temperatures in Dubai, which can reach 40C at the height of summer.

The necessary facilities

“We have the necessary facilities to cover the entire temperature range from -8C to -2C for certain types of pharma products or -2C to 8C and 8C to 18C to cover the perishable area.

“Our biggest growing commodities are pharma, perishables and dangerous goods. All of these require highly controlled facilities and ULDs with temperature controls.”

The Dubai airports are home to Emirates and its SkyCargo division. In its latest annual report, Emirates recorded an annual revenue for its freight arm of $3.4 billion, an increase of 17 per cent over the previous year. There was a slight increase in tonnage of two per cent to reach 2.6 million tonnes as Freight yield per Freight Tonne Kilometre (FTKM) increased by 14 per cent.

SkyCargo has 13 Boeing 777Fs, which have capacity for 103 tonnes with space for 550 cubic metres.

In the past year the airline launched new freighter services to Maastricht in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Aguadilla in Puerto Rico. In November last year it signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai CommerCity to improve its services to e-commerce, using Dubai as a hub.

UAE

Etihad Cargo operates humanitarian flights

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tihad Cargo has launched its first humanitarian freighter missions to Kazakhstan and India as part of its Year of the Zayed programme.

The specially branded Year of Zayed Boeing 777 Freighter departed Abu Dhabi – first to Almaty in Kazakhstan and then to Hyderabad in India – carrying special provisions to be distributed to those in need during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The humanitarian missions are taking place throughout the year in collaboration with the Khalifa Foundation, the Red Crescent, and His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation.

Etihad Airways chief executive officer, Peter Baumgartner says: “We are pleased to have commenced our first Year of Zayed humanitarian operations with our cargo aircraft which is crossing the globe to deliver vital items to help people most in need.

“The humanitarian missions embody the spirit and values of the UAE’s founding father, HH Sheikh Zayed, and we are proud to play a small role in carrying forward his legacy and supporting people in need from around the globe.”

The Founder’s Office general manager, Faris Saif Al Mazrouei says: “The Founder’s Office is proud to support Etihad Airways’ humanitarian efforts, which will bring relief to thousands during the holy month of Ramadan.

“The late Sheikh Zayed initiated countless philanthropic and charitable endeavors throughout his lifetime. His spirit of altruism and generosity transcended borders, and laid the foundations for the UAE’s ongoing role as a leading provider of international aid.”

He adds: “This worthy initiative upholds his legacy, reflecting one of the central themes of our Year of Zayed campaign which is to reinforce the spirit of solidarity amongst community members through selfless giving, and globally extending a helping hand to all those in need.”

Cargo slumps in Abu Dhabi, Dubai also falls in 2018

CARGO volumes at Abu Dhabi International Airport have slumped in 2018, while Dubai International Airport has also noticed a decrease in numbers.

Abu Dhabi has seen a decline of 20.4 per cent between January to April, handling 193,893 tonnes in the first four months of 2018, down from 243,722 tonnes in the same period of 2017.

In April, cargo was down 5.5 per cent to 51,400 tonnes, following a major fall of 22.7 per cent in March, when volumes were down from 67,668 tonnes in 2017 to 52,281 tonnes this year.

Dubai International also saw volumes declining, down 0.7 per cent in April to 216,333 tonnes and a year-to-date dip of 2.6 per cent to 832,187 tonnes.

Dubai World Central performed better; in March, the latest month where figures were available at the time of going to press, cargo volumes had grown 8.9 per cent in the first quarter to 211,144 tonnes.

Over in Sharjah, the airport handled 42,987 tonnes in the first three months of the year, and 3,136 tonnes of sea/air cargo.

The airport says it faced a number of challenges including reduced frequencies by airlines including Lufthansa Cargo, Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways, as well as fewer ATS Hong Kong flights and a decrease in cargo volumes to African destinations.

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9

ROAD FEEDER SERVICES

Truckers keep air cargo on the road

R

oad Feeder Services are vital in the air cargo supply chain. Global providers talk about growing demand, capacity challenges and digitalisation opportunities, writes David Craik.

Jan de Rijk Logistics chief executive, Sebastiaan Scholte says the last 12 months has seen a lot of growth in its road feeder service volumes. “From last summer to the present air cargo is booming and yields are up,” he states. “We’ve seen an economic revival with e-commerce shipments particularly strong.”

The group, which has RFS contracts with the likes of Virgin Atlantic and China Eastern Airlines, says it had also benefited from high demand for the movement of large aerospace engines and for pharmaceuticals where it has last mile delivery to patients’ homes.

Jan de Rijk was the first logistics Breakwell group to achieve certification in IATA’s

“There is a shortage of manpower and drivers in the logistics industry in general,” he states. “There aren’t enough young people wanting to get into the industry because they don’t find it exciting enough or because there aren’t as many of them around given the ageing demographics in Europe.”

Capacity challenges

CEIV Pharma programme back in 2015. “Both aerospace and pharmaceuticals give us key differentiation,” he explains.

However, there are mounting challenges.

The main hurdle has been driven by an ongoing capacity squeeze in the sector which has led to increased operating costs.

He says Jan de Rijk, with 800 drivers, has the manpower to cope with capacity challenges but the industry shortage is putting pressure on costs.

“Because drivers and warehouse personnel are getting scarcer in numbers that means labour costs rise in the form of higher wages,” he states. “In some countries there are collective work agreements where instead of a salary increase you make the differentiation between yourselves and other firms through job perks. But in other nations labour costs have jumped by double-digits.”

He believes the labour shortage puts more onus on the industry looking at automated driving solutions and digitalisation.

Wallenborn commercial director, Jason Breakwell says it has experienced similar challenges and opportunities.

“Both commercial and consumer sentiment has been more positive in the last 12 months or so. As a result, there has been higher demand for transport movements including re-stocking,” he states. “In 2017 our volumes were up 20 per cent year on year and in the first quarter of 2018 we are eight per cent ahead of the same period last year.

“There has been a real capacity squeeze particularly through driver shortages as the plentiful source from Eastern Europe begins to dry up. But new legislation in some EU countries around rest breaks and minimum wage payments has also restricted the movement of truck drivers,” he adds.

Those movements, he declares, are increasingly powering towards ‘secondary airports’ such as Liege and Leipzig.

“At primary airports such as Schiphol, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle they are reaching capacity with not enough space for freighters, strike meltdowns, curfews and limitations on night flights.”

Another of those opportunities is using digitalisation to boost efficiency and customer service. Breakwell says, for example, it is now streaming real-time temperature data from its trucks.

Jan de Rijk is also becoming increasingly digitalised. Since 2016 it has been one of the parties working with KLM Cargo to improve delivery times and accuracy as part of the European Green Fast Lane. Through improved data exchange and compliance checks on the route between Frankfurt and Schiphol delivery speeds have increased and waiting times have reduced due to less congestion.

It is currently testing a new Control Tower solution powered by smart algorithms with an unnamed freight forwarder. It intends to roll out the system next year.

Belt and road

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Hong Kong Air Cargo is certainly buoyed by the opportunities in RFS. It launched its HKAG Logistics service in March.

“With the introduction of the ‘Belt and Road initiative’ and the ‘Integrated Development Plan of the Guangdong-Hong KongMacau Greater Bay Area’, Hong Kong Air Cargo looked to expand its business as an all-round cargo, logistics and ware housing service,” explains, at HKAG general manager, corporate development, William Chan.

Another RFS expansion story comes from American Airlines.

Last year American Airlines Cargo grew its European RFS network in both France and Germany to cater for flights between Spain and the US. “American has a growing seasonal online operation in Europe with additional capacity added for the summer in Italy, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Iceland, the Czech Republic and Hungary,” says AA regional sales manager Northern Europe, Andy Cornwell. “We regularly truck from Amsterdam into the UK, with a large portion being perishable cargo - flowers and produce. We also truck plenty of hard freight too. For the perishables, we have temperature-controlled trucks to maintain product integrity.

“We have several double-decker trucks coming across each day from the Netherlands, in addition to some business moving directly on the new flights out of Amsterdam to the US.” Keeping it on the road is paying dividends for many it seems.

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