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Couriers keep aerospace on the move

Express

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January 19, 2022

Aerospace logistics specialist B&H Worldwide says customers are turning to onboard courier (OBC) to keep critical moving. It has seen a rapid expansion in its OBC services in the last few months as an alternative to traditional freight movements. Requests for aerospace OBCs saw a huge rise during the initial months of the Covid pandemic and this is continuing to gather pace even with the restart of flights on many routes.

B&H says it is enhancing its services to key locations including the US, Latin America, Asia and intra-Europe with newly appointed product service manager Gustavo Mundel responsible for leading the development and market roll-out of OBC and new product service offerings.

Kale appoints CTO

IT/Software

Chris Lewis

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January 19, 2022

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Maritime and air cargo IT specialist Kale Logistics Solutions – installer of North America’s first airport cargo community system – has appointed Vikram Bansal as its new chief technology officer. He brings over 20 years’ experience as an IT professional, working in leadership positions with top organisations such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Lionbridge, and Wipro GE Healthcare.

Tech expert joins Nexshore board

IT/Software

Chris Lewis

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January 19, 2022

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Logistics tech firm Nexshore, which powers IATA’s OneRecord air cargo data-sharing platform, has appointed Lionel van der Walt, global chief commercial officer of the PayCargo payment platform to its advisory board. He has held various leadership roles with IATA including president of its Cargo Network Services subsidiary and joined PayCargo LLC in 2018, becoming chief executive officer and president for the Americas in 2019 and taking up his current post in 2021.

Air Partner appoints industry veteran

Brokers

Chris Lewis

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January 19, 2022

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London, UK-based aviation services group Air Partner has appointed Pierre Van Der Stichele as vice president of its global freight division. He will be responsible for bolstering and expanding the freight business at all Air Partner locations and target specific market sectors after an exceptionally busy year in 2021. He joins Air Partner after 19 years with Chapman Freeborn in Gatwick, where he was recently group director of cargo.

Anglo-Dutch airline and Envirotainer sign green pact

Airlines

Chris Lewis

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January 18, 2022

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Anglo-Dutch airline and Envirotainer sign green pact

Envirotainer has signed a sustainability collaboration agreement with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo) for pharmaceuticals. The carrier has approved the newly introduced Envirotainer Releye container and is in the process of implementing it in its booking system. It says it provides outstanding environmental performance, delivering up to 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to available passive solutions. Envirotainer is meanwhile investing in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) which reduces CO2 emissions by up to 85%, when compared to conventional jet fuel. The company said it reached its target of becoming climate neutral in 2020. It also report industry-leading levels of less than 0.1% temperature deviations, with 600 million vials of pharmaceuticals transported in its cold-chain solutions.

GDP for Nippon Express in Brussels

Forwarding

Chris Lewis

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January 18, 2022

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Nippon Express (Belgium) has obtained pharma industry Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification for its air and ground forwarding operations, at Brussels Airport, evidencing its compliance with GDP standards for the proper distribution of pharmaceuticals. The forwarder has signed an agreement with Medexi, which specializes in pharmaceutical transport, and obtained GDP certification for operations at a Medexi-owned temperature-controlled 2,000sq m facility is capable of both refrigerated (2ºC-8ºC) and constant-temperature (15ºC-25ºC) storage.

ECS Group joins forces with cargo tech firm

IT/Software

Chris Lewis

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January 17, 2022

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ECS Group joins forces with cargo tech firm

GSSA ECS Group’s in-house solution developer, Cargo Digital Factory is to join forces with French software and data-science company, Wiremind Cargo to launch a new CargoTech venture. The new business unit will collaborate to digitalise as many air cargo processes as possible. It will design digital solutions to expand the standard product portfolio, as well as tailor individual products aimed at airlines, handlers, sales agents and freight forwarders and will develop digital products for the benefit of existing ECS Group customers, as well as for other airlines.

Existing Cargo Digital Factory products include the Apollo reporting system, the Pathfinder track and trace solution and the Quantum pricing support system while Wiremind Cargo’s shipment volume evaluation and flight planning system Skypallet will form the basis of CargoTech’s product portfolio.

ECS group chief strategy and digital officer, Cedric Millet, explained: “We believe that whatever can be digitised should not remain manual but are also aware that not everything can be automated. Whatever requires human expertise is covered by our New Abilities portfolio, whereas CargoTech takes care of automating and digitalising routine processes to reduce costs and optimise revenues while fostering innovation.

Wiremind Cargo chief executive Nathanaël de Tarade (pictured) added: “Our intensified collaboration with Cargo Digital Factory will enable us to deliver more quickly on our vision of becoming a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions to the air cargo market. Not only will we be taking SkyPallet to the next level, but we will also be introducing new products to the market that we are developing together.”

SEKO takes the direct approach to E-commerce

Logistics

Chris Lewis

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January 17, 2022

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SEKO takes the direct approach to E-commerce

SEKO Logistics is launching a new Ecommerce business unit to handle international cross border shipping, global fulfilment, heavyweight last mile, returns and recommerce.

The specialist forwarder says the move reflects the rise of direct to consumer (DTC) brands selling through their own channels using platforms such as Shopify. SEKO has pre-built integrations to all major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, Commerce Cloud and Demandware, allowing faster and more frictionless implementation.

SEKO Ecommerce expects rapid growth by working with brands selling through multiple channels and marketplaces such as Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, Tmall and Walmart.

Now accounting for 40% of SEKO Logistics’ annual revenues, SEKO’s ecommerce operation has more than doubled in size in the last 12 months as online consumer purchases accelerated during the COVID lockdown.

The new business unit is led by senior vice president of SEKO Ecommerce, David Emerson (pictured). He joined SEKO in 2003 as a partner at SEKO UK and was previously vice president of sales-EMEA.

Chris Zheng has also been promoted to senior vice president – global cross border for SEKO Ecommerce. He was previously executive vice president at Air-City, acquired in 2019 and has been spearheading and growing SEKO’s cross border parcel solutions, including T86 parcel clearance and final mile into the US.

SEKO was one of the first entrants in the increasingly global ecommerce fulfillment market, and has been growing its international cross border parcel volumes rapidly since 2013 through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

President and chief executive of SEKO Logistics, James Gagne, said: “The launch of SEKO Ecommerce advances our ability to embrace this demand by bringing all our ecommerce solutions together under one leadership team. SEKO was an early adopter of ecommerce in 2011, and this next evolution enables us to see the market through one lens, and to globalize what we offer. Ecommerce penetration has essentially accelerated five years overnight.”

SEKO Ecommerce will continue to primarily work with fashion, beauty, cosmetics, tech and lifestyle clients. It is also working with other aggregators and postal operators to better facilitate global international ecommerce parcel shipping. In the US, SEKO will also grow its offering for larger consumer purchases.

Back where they belong – with a little help from DHL

Forwarding

Chris Lewis

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January 17, 2022

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Back where they belong – with a little help from DHL

DHL Global Forwarding has helped the Warriors of Wildlife charity take a group of lions and tigers to a better life in South Africa. The lions Hercules, Cher, Khaya, Ilana and Arslan – the latter named by the forwarder’s Turkish Airfreight team – as well as tiger Kisa, were being kept in zoos in Ukraine.

DHL flew them to the Simbonga Game Farm and Sanctuary in the Eastern Cape, via Boryspil and OR. Tambo International airports, monitored throughout the 72-hour journey by qualified vets.

DHL Global Forwarding MEA chief executive, Amadou Diallo, said: “They are finally back where they belong.”

Warriors of Wildlife is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, relocation and future care of abused and neglected wildlife in captivity, founded in 2016 by Lionel de Lange and his wife Anya Masyach. It has now rescued a total of 28 wild cats and other animals from Ukraine including brown bears, pandas, and most recently, the elephant, Kaava.

Freightos gains scale in North America with 7LFreight buy

IT/Software

Chris Lewis

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January 17, 2022

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Freightos gains scale in North America with 7LFreight buy

Airfreight booking platform specialist Freightos Group has acquired North American rate management company, 7LFreight. It said the move would solidify the North American presence of its WebCargo offering, bringing 7LFreight customers onto the world’s largest cargo booking platform

Freightos said that by the end of 2021, over 29% of global air cargo capacity was already available via WebCargo, while electronic bookings had grown ten-fold in 2021.

WebCargo chief executive Manel Galindo commented: “As more airlines embrace digital air cargo, we’ve been able to give forwarders the digital tools to book cargo instantly, saving time and money; 7LFreight has been working towards that same goal and we’re excited to combine our experience and networks so more forwarders can offer quicker, cheaper and more predictable air cargo services while maintaining the highest standard of customer care.”

Brennan O’Dowd, chief executive of 7LFreight, added: “We’ve competed with WebCargo over the years, and I believe that by joining our data sets and capabilities, we’ll be able to provide an industry-leading, comprehensive global solution to our customers. This acquisition makes a lot of sense for our customers as well as our employees.”

“We’re extremely proud to be taking this step forward with 7LFreight,” said Zvi Schreiber,

Freightos Group chief executive Zvi Schreiber concluded: “This acquisition helps us continue to build Freightos’ vision of creating a truly vendor-neutral global freight booking platform.”

According to Freightos,, 7LFreight works with over freight forwarders and its solution is deployed in over 1,250 offices worldwide, with more than 10,000 transportation professionals rely on the platform as their primary source of rate information and generating some 4 million rate quotes per month.

Its principal solutions include a rate management platform and a global flight schedule tool.