Lufthansa Cargo has been recertified by auditing company SGS to IATA’s Cargo iQ Standards for quality management. The carrier achieved three out of three for, among other things, implementation of the Cargo iQ milestone system, in particular for its performance in the Corporate Social Responsibility, Innovative Spirit and Contribution to the Cargo iQ Community. Cargo iQ is an IATA community of interest, connecting more than 60 members in the air cargo industry, including airlines, forwarders, ground handling agents and IT providers. It provides metrics and a quality management system to monitor and evaluate compliance with customer promises.
Online bookings nearly triple at AirBridgeCargo
Volga-Dnepr Group ‘s AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) says its digital bookings increased by 274% in 2021 compared with 2020.
The company has been developing its eBookings and eFreight systems on its website as well as approaching online booking platforms.
The carrier says it was one of the first cargo operators to join online booking platforms back in 2019, starting with Cargo.One followed by WebCargo and CargoAi.
It has worked closely with the booking platforms to expand online booking capabilities for customers in China, Japan, South Korea and other Far East countries.
Commercial director Alexey Zotov said: “With customers becoming more digitally minded, we aim to adapt the same digital experience they have become accustomed to as consumers and transfer it in the business-to-business environment. We have been in close dialogue with our key accounts to see how we could increase online bookings and integrate our capabilities into their internal transport management systems. This will enable more seamless customer experience and open new opportunities for further cooperation, including in the area of integrated logistics solutions which we are set to expand”.
In 2022 and beyond, AirBridgeCargo and Volga-Dnepr Group plan to transform their internal cargo management system to create smoother booking and confirmation, but also offer customer relationship management (CRM), invoicing and revenue management.
Qatar offers online emissions tool
Qatar Airways Cargo has developed an emissions calculator to allow its customers can now determine shipments’ carbon footprint. Available under the eServices menu on the airline’s website: https://www.qrcargo.com/calculate-emissions, it determines the total CO2 emissions in kilos or pounds, based on origin, destination, flight date, and weight.
Live Animals completes CEIV triple for Etihad
Etihad Cargo has gained IATA CEIV certification for Live Animals, making it the first airline in the Middle East and third globally to hold IATA’s CEIV Live Animals, CEIV Fresh, and CEIV Pharma certifications.
If followed an IATA-led assessment of Etihad Cargo’s dedicated LiveAnimals, for animal transportation, and SkyStables, for equine transportation, products, as well as its logistics’ audit checklist to ensure compliance with standards, requirements, and Live Animals Regulations (LAR).
Etihad senior vice president Martin Drew said: “The transportation of live animals requires specific conditions and the CEIV certification further underlines Etihad Cargo’s experience and commitment to animal welfare and safe transportation. Etihad Cargo is proud to have secured certification for its LiveAnimals and SkyStables products. This recognition further endorses the industry-leading service we provide global customers.”
Key benefits of the certification include improving animal welfare and safety through appropriate quality and risk management, and enhancing standardisation and professionalism in the handling and transportation of live animals in a multimodal environment.
Handler to build state-of-the-art Schiphol site
Handling company dnata is to invest €200 million investment in a 61,000sq m (656,600sq ft) fully automated cargo centre at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The facility is scheduled to open in 2024.
Cargo City Amsterdam, at Schiphol South-East, will include 19,000assq m (204.500sq ft) warehouse space and an annual capacity of over 850,000 tonnes. It will comply with the highest industry standards, including perishables, pharmaceuticals, dangerous goods, mail, live animals, aircraft engines and vehicles.
It will be developed by Schiphol Commercial Real Estate and equipped by Lödige Industries. The facility will have two separate automated storage and retrieval systems for up to 2,500 pallets with 12 stacker cranes with a separate storage areas for ULDs serviced by four elevating transport vehicles (ETV).
Seven Lödige Industries intelligent automated guided vehicles will move ULDs within the terminal, the first large scale application of the technology. Smart gates will automatically record the volume and weight of all incoming consignments by scanning them in 3D.
Other developments by dnata include new cargo facilities in Manchester (UK), Karachi and Lahore (Pakistan), and additional cargo capacity and infrastructure in Brussels (Belgium), Sydney (Australia) and Toronto (Canada). In March dnata will open the second phase of the dnata City East project at London Heathrow.
Kenya Airways to end monkey transport
Action for Primates has welcomed a commitment by Kenya Airways to end the transportation of research monkeys and has renewed its call to Spanish holiday charter airline Wamos Air, to do the same.
Kenya Airways said it would not renew a contract to transport the monkeys which expires in February this year. It follows a recent US truck crash involving 100 long-tailed macaques that had been flown from Mauritius to JFK by Kenya Airways.
Action for Primates says that a number of other including American Airlines, British Airways, United Airlines, South African Airways, Air China, China Airlines, Delta Airlines, Eva Air and Air Canada have ended their involvement in the trade.
It adds that Wamos Air has transported thousands of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia to Houston for Envigo, a global contract testing corporation with the monkeys confined to small transit crates for around 40 hours.
ACS turns Santa to get gifts to Queensland
Air Charter Service helped to buy, wrap and deliver more than 300 Christmas presents for children in the remote region of Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire, in Queensland’s far north.
Chief executive of the broker’s Sydney office, Paul Crook, said the operation was planned for almost four months, with some of the team going shopping for the gifts at the toy store earlier in the month. They then helped to wrap them all, using more than 250 metres of wrapping paper. Seats were removed from the Cessna C208 Caravan aircraft removed to fit as many as possible.
Air Canada ramps up in Germany
Air Canada has increased handling capacity at its Frankfurt hub by 35% in preparation for the start of its Boeing 767-300ER freighter service to the German hub later this year. The additional capacity is in addition to the existing 5,000sq metres (53,820sq ft) already it already operates at the self-handled facility.
IAG automates dangerous goods acceptance
IAG Cargo, which includes the British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling cargo brands, has adopted IATA’s new Dangerous Goods AutoCheck system to automate acceptance of shipments at its London-Heathrow hub. DG AutoCheck checks all regulations, rules and guidance in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) and converts them into an automated validation solution. It uses optical character recognition technology to transform paper DG declarations into electronic data and facilitates verification of marks and labels.
Geodis expands in-house air operation
Freight forwarder Geodis has expanded its AirDirect in-house freighter aircraft operations, launched in August 2021, with new weekly services from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai and Sydney and a second weekly rotation between Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Chennai and Kuala Lumpur. Services in Kuala Lumpur will dovetail with its road network to and from destinations throughout Southeast Asia. Geodis said the move would ease the strain on supply chains, amidst ongoing delays and flight cancellations across Southeast Asia due to the Omicron variant.