UK-owned broker Air Charter Service has appointed Brian Rodriguez as head of its Florida operation, based in Miami. Having moved from our ACS’ New York seven years ago he is currently vice-president of ACS Miami.
Maersk opens O’Hare hub
Maersk has inaugurated a new Chicago air freight gateway near O’Hare Airport offering direct planeside offloading with immediate transfers. The new facility also serves Maersk’s air cargo hub at nearby Rockford International Airport. The new facility is a bonded container freight station (CFS) with and operates as a US Transportation Security Administration Certified Cargo Screening Facility.
Colombia’s Avianca first to gain CEIV fresh certificate
Colombia’s Avianca Cargo has become the first airline in the Americas certified by the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Fresh program.
IATA representatives officially presented the certificate to the carrier at Miami International Airport (MIA) on 13 October. Miami and Bogota are the airline’s first certified stations, and Medellin and Quito will also be CEIV Fresh certified by the end of 2022.
Latin America represents more than 50% of the carrier’s transported cargo, including flowers from Colombia and Ecuador and other perishables such as fruit, fish, and meat products from Chile, Peru, Argentina to the US, Europe and the rest of the world.
Avianca Cargo chief executive, Gabriel Oliva, said: “This is a highly relevant milestone and we are very proud to receive this certification from IATA. Miami International Airport and all our allies are a fundamental part of the supply chain of perishable transport. We continue transforming our business and we want to continue being the best ally of our clients by transporting their products that are sensitive to time and temperature, under the highest quality standards. We continue to work every day to promote the development of Latin American economies and be a quality reference in the region.”
MIA director and chief executive, Ralph Cutié, added: “Congratulations to Avianca Cargo on being recognized for its dedication to cargo handling excellence. As the busiest US airport for perishable freight, handling 69% of all perishable imports to the US by air, we are proud to celebrate this global achievement with Avianca Cargo’s Miami operation.”
Rock-it Global signs up to US green scheme
Global Critical Logistics’ Rock-it Global has signed on to the US SmartWay sustainability program.
SmartWay is a collaboration between the US Environmental Protection Agency andindustry to provide a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of supply chains.
The SmartWay program will support Rock-it by providing a comprehensive system and tools to track, document, and share information about its freight emissions and help Rock-it reduce emissions by speeding up the implementation of fuel-saving technologies.
Chief administrative officer, Sasha Goodman, said: “As a SmartWay partner, we will be joining close to 4,000 other partners that include shippers and other logistics companies, as well as truck, rail, barge, and multimodal carriers to achieve our common goal.”
Since its launch in 2004 SmartWay partners have reduced and avoided 336 million barrels of oil, USD 44.8 billion in fuel costs, 143 million metric tons of CO2, 2.7 million short tons of NOx and 112,000 short tons of particulate matter (PM).
This new partnership ties in with Rock-it’s mission to be a socially and environmentally responsible pioneer in the live event industry.
This includes environmentally friendly packaging material, fuel efficient modes of shipping and sustainable routing schedules as well as offsetting carbon emissions of the projects executed for clients through initiatives such as tree-planting.
Drones for Abu Dhabi
Maqta Gateway – the digital arm of AD Ports Group – Emirates Post Group and aerial logistics provider SkyGo are to collaborate on a trial programme to deploy drones to carry parcels and documents across Abu Dhabi. Beginning with short-range journeys, the programme will expand to long-range tests with an increased capacity to assess demand and understand the wider benefits.
The objective is to provide a sustainable, user-friendly service that can carry vital medical supplies, fresh foods and urgent documents rapidly, while providing real-time tracking.
Maqta Gateway will deploy its integrated digital marketplace, Margo Hub, to facilitate online transactions between customers and Emirates Post Group, which in turn will manage the service and provide tracking and status updates, while SkyGo provides the drone solutions.
Details of the programme will be released towards the end of 2022, with a full commercial offering planned for launch next year, pending approval.
Hactl makes the grade again
Hong Kong handler HACTL has obtained IATA’s CEIV Lithium Batteries (Li-batt) standard, giving it accreditations in all parts of the CEIV program, the others being Pharma, Fresh and Live Animals.
With the well-documented risks arising from incorrect packaging and handling of battery shipments, Hactl has been steadily tightening its procedures and improving resources for handling such traffic. Measures to date have included additional in-house staff training to IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) standards (Hactl being an IATA Accredited Training School since 2003, authorised to train its own and third party staff) and IATA Lithium Battery Shipping Regulations. It has also opened a dedicated DGR zone with competent, experienced staff; and undertaken proactive facilitation of agents and shippers in the correct declaration, handling and storage of lithium battery shipments.
Hactl executive director and chief financial officer Amy Lam said: “Lithium batteries will become an increasing element of air cargo traffic globally, so ensuring the correct procedures and training for handling them has never been more important.
“Although Hactl has been fully prepared and resourced for such traffic for some years, we recognise that every link in battery supply chains must perform its functions to a consistent and high standard. We therefore strongly support the concept of IATA’s CEIV Lithium Batteries standard – the first for handling this specific commodity – and were enthusiastic adopters.”
Broker ACS keeps on growing
UK-based broker Air Charter Service recorded sales of $770 million for the first six months of its financial year (1 February-31 July 31), an increase of 49% on the same period last year.
ACS founder and chairman, Chris Leach, commented: “Last year was our record year, with revenue of $1.8 billion, but at the halfway point we weren’t in as good shape as we are for this one. All three divisions of cargo, private jets and group travel have truly outdone themselves.
“The cargo industry remains strong with our cargo division generating 44% more revenue than at the halfway point of 2021, as supply chains continue to struggle. We expect a cooling of the market at some point and there are signs of it in certain regional markets and sectors. However, as of September, we have not seen that translate to a slowdown of our overall cargo business.”
Qatar boards Cargo.one platform
The Cargo.one platform has signed a global partnership with Qatar Airways Cargo. Users can now book Qatar Airways Cargo’s capacity in markets including North America, Europe, Japan, India and Brazil. The carrier currently offers customers more than 60 dedicated freighter and over 150 bellyhold destinations on a fleet of some 250 aircraft. Its network adds 2,000 new pairs or origins and destinations and 3,000 additional flights per month.
Strong third quarter for Deutsche Post DHL
Deutsche Post DHL Group says its third quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose by 15% to around €2.040 billion. Group EBIT for the first nine months of this year reached around €6.5 billion (compared with €5.765 billion for the same period in 2021).
It added that 2022 EBIT guidance will be increased with the formal release of full third quarter 2022 earnings on 8 November.
E-commerce volumes are coming closer to strongly elevated levels delivered last year, after volumes recorded a more pronounced decline in the first half of 2022. The capacity situation in the ocean and air freight markets has eased. EBIT in Global Forwarding stood at around €585 million in the third quarter of 2022, clearly ahead of previous year’s quarter of €372 million.
EBIT in the Express division reached around €1,010 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to previous year’s quarter of €971 million.
EBIT in Supply Chain came in at around €220 million in Q3 2022, also well above last year’s quarter result which stood at €142 million. E-commerce Solutions recorded EBIT of around €85 million in the third quarter 2022 compared with €91 million in the third quarter of 2021.
Air Canada Cargo crosses the border
Air Canada Cargo is to expand its freighter network into the US for the first time in November, with flights to Dallas and Atlanta from its Toronto hub.
Air Canada Cargo is also expanding its presence in Latin America with a service to Bogota.
In addition to the eight converted Boeing 767 freighters already announced, two factory-built 767-300F will enter service in 2023 and two Boeing 777 freighters in 2024.
Managing director, commercial, Matthieu Casey, said: “These additional routes allow us to expand the reach of our freighter network to key US markets, and conveniently connect cargo in the US to Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific with our freighter service.
“The additional growth of our freighter fleet allows us to continue to expand to better serve our global customers and we remain committed to supporting global economies and supply chains with reliable transportation moving critical goods.”