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Cool packaging firm sets up in India pharma hotspot

Chris Lewis
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Cool packaging firm sets up in India pharma hotspot

Temperature controlled packaging provider Peli BioThermal has opened a service centre in Ahmedabad, a major manufacturing hub for pharma companies in western India. Eight of India’s largest pharma companies, including Astra Zeneca, Swiss Pharma and Torrent Pharma, have plants there, all of them  major exporters to the US and Europe.

The state of Gujarat accounts for around 30% of the country’s pharmaceutical production and exports while globally India provides more than 50% of the worldwide requirement for various vaccines and 40% of the demand for generic products in the US.

The new site is a full service network station offering conditioning and refurbishment services for Peli BioThermal’s Crēd Cargo and Crēdo Xtrem bulk shippers.

Challenge Group joins Cool Chain Association

Chris Lewis
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Challenge Group joins Cool Chain Association

The Challenge Group has joined the Cool Chain Association (CCA). Challenge’s six companies include cargo airlines, handlers, and logistics services, and its subsidiary carrier CAL Cargo Airlines which carries perishables between Israel and Europe.

It has a portfolio of temperature-controlled products covering perishables and pharmaceuticals and holds IATA CEIV pharma certification for its two airlines, CAL Cargo Airlines and Challenge Airlines, as well as for Challenge Handling in Liège, Belgium.

Challenge Group will join the CCA’s newly developed Technical Committee, supporting tangible projects and initiatives to drive improvements in the cool supply chain.

Challenge Group, senior manager cargo transformation, Gianluca Marcangelo, said: “By joining the CCA, we know we can make a concrete contribution to raise industry standards as an active member of the Technical Committee. We are looking forward to networking with other members and enhance our industry engagement to build strategic and long-term business partnership.”

Caribbean signs up to CHAMP

Chris Lewis
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Caribbean signs up to CHAMP

Caribbean Airlines Cargo has signed up for CHAMP’s suite of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including booking and pricing in tandem with its SaaS-based Cargospot solution. Caribbean Airlines Cargo will also implement the newly developed e-booking engine, Cargospot Portal, to streamline its booking workflows and increase sales efficiency.  The portal will offer customers functions such as availability with price, booking, master/house airwaybills, status updates and tracking. 

Dnata New York makes the grade

Chris Lewis
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Dnata New York makes the grade

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has awarded dnata USA its Safety Audit for Ground Operations(ISAGO) Accreditation, following the successful completion of a comprehensive review of the company and its ground-handling operations at New York-JFK Airport (JFK).

David Barker, dnata’s divisonal senior vice president for airport operations, said: “We are proud to be recognised for meeting the highest global safety standards at JFK, one of the largest dnata hubs in our international network.

“We consistently invest in training, equipment and industry-leading technologies to deliver world-class safety for our staff, partners and their customers. The achievement of the ISAGO accreditation is a remarkable milestone which demonstrates our relentless commitment to safety and service excellence.

“I thank my colleagues for their hard work and outstanding efforts that enable dnata to provide the highest level of quality and safety, every day.”

Dnata provides a range of ground, cargo and passenger handling services to over 60 airlines at 22 airports in the US.

ISAGO is an audit program for ground-handling companies serving airlines at airports covering organization and management, load control, aircraft handling and loading and aircraft ground movement.

ABC renews Frankfurt handling contract

Chris Lewis
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ABC renews Frankfurt handling contract

AirBridgeCargo Airlines extends handling partnership with Frankfurt Cargo Services

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has renewed its cargo handling contract at Germany’s with Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS), a subsidiary of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS).

FCS, the largest independent cargo hander at Frankfurt, the leading German cargo gateway, has served AirBridgeCargo since 2008. ABC currently operates up to 15 Boeing 747 freighter flights a week from Frankfurt to its hubs at Moscow Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports.

As a customer of FCS in Cargo City South at Frankfurt Airport, ABC benefits from a direct connection between the airside apron and the landside cargo handling operation. FCS’ handling team in Frankfurt also supports ABC’s service requirements for special consignments such as dangerous goods, heavy and outsize loads, and temperature-sensitive cargoes.

FCS’ proven capability of handling temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products was one of the decisive factors in ABC’s decision to extend its partnership.

Transport leaders speak out against ‘knee jerk reaction’ to Omicron

Chris Lewis
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Transport leaders speak out against ‘knee jerk reaction’ to Omicron

The International Air Transport Association, the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Road Transport Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, have jointly called for governments to not reimpose border restrictions on transport workers as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the Omicron variant of the Covid virus.

They say that a week since the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the new Omicron strain of Covid-19 as a “variant of concern”, at least 56 countries have reimposed varying degrees of travel restrictions.

The transport bodies have called for an end to the rushed and fragmented approach to travel rules by governments. They called on heads of state to listen to industry leaders and workers and take decisive and coordinated action to ease strain on the supply chain, and support an exhausted  global transport workforce during the busy holiday season.

But they warned that governments were reneging on clear steps issued to world leaders in September to guarantee the free and safe movement of transport workers and to prioritise those that had received WHO-recognised vaccines.

A crisis meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization is scheduled for Monday 6 December.

Secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping Guy Platten, said: “Unless coordinated action is taken by world leaders we will see a return to the peak of the crew change crisis in 2020 where more than 400,000 seafarers were impacted by unnecessarily harsh travel restrictions.”

IATA director general Willie Walsh, added: “After nearly two years of dealing with COVID-19, we should have progressed beyond these knee-jerk, uncoordinated, Pavlovian-like responses. Public health officials tell us that we should expect variants to emerge. And by the time they are detected, experience shows that they are already present around the globe. Border restrictions that block air crew from doing their jobs will do nothing to prevent this while inflicting serious harm to still-recovering global supply chains and local economies.”

ITF general secretary, Stephen Cotton, said: “The same governments that have blocked global vaccine access are now the first to lock down their borders to keep the Omicron variant out. Instead of pursuing a global solution to this pandemic, their decisions further risk supply chain collapse. It’s not only morally reprehensible, it’s economic self-destruction. We need universal access to vaccines now. It’s imperative for all of us to tell governments to stop bowing down to big pharma and pave the way so that every country can produce the vaccines needed to end this pandemic.”

IRU secretary general, Umberto de Pretto, concluded: “Once again, Covid history is repeating itself with governments unilaterally changing hundreds of rules affecting cross border transport workers within a matter of hours. Truck drivers are again caught in the middle and paying a heavy price in simply doing their job to keep global supply chains functioning. They, and all of us who rely on their service, deserve much better.”

(Picture: Phil Konstantin)

A tall order for air broker

Chris Lewis
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A tall order for air broker

Air broker Chapman Freeborn and its Intradco Global specialist live animal arm worked together on a charter 747F flight to transport 18 giraffes from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport to Río de Janeiro Galeão in Brazil.

The animals were transported whist still young to ensure they had the legally required head clearance in the 9’8” high crates. Fully grown, they can reach 18’ 6” or more.

Intradco Global and Chapman Freeborn ensured the giraffes’ speedy loading to reduce the time spent on the ground at the airport. Two attendants travelled with them during their 10-hour direct flight, one of whom was a breeder who has known the giraffes their whole lives, continually monitoring their wellbeing and providing them with fresh food and water as required.

After arriving in Rio the giraffes started a mandatory 30-day quarantine, which they will finish on 11 December and then be transported to their new home.

Clogged airports hold back airfreight volumes

Chris Lewis
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Clogged airports hold back airfreight volumes

November’s global airfreight data showed some strange behaviour, says industry analyst, CLIVE Data Services. November’s flown volumes were down 1.2%, compared with October, an unusual trend in itself in the build-up to Christmas, but capacity remained the same while rates went up, said CLIVE’s managing director, Niall van de Wouw.

He put the paradox of rising rates and lower volumes down to airport congestion, which was preventing carriers from flying all the cargo presented to them. Anecdotal reports suggest that many of the world’s air gateways and handlers are currently grappling with congestions, shortages of equipment and staff. “The industry as a whole is less effective because of airport congestion,” he said, adding that many of the problems were deep-seated and due to a long term lack of investment in cargo handling facilities.

“The logistics chain is becoming fragile; the industry as a whole has had a lack of attention to ground handling,” he said. “This unexpected month-over-month shift is not due to a lack of demand, it is almost certainly because cargo cannot be pushed efficiently through the system. This is also what we’ve seen reported in the oceanfreight market at US west coast ports. Labour shortages are a factor in all sectors, but this is especially having an impact on such a labour-intensive industry as airfreight, especially on the ground.

“Airport congestion seems to be the price the industry has to pay for the lack of investment in, and appreciation of, cargo handling. The current inefficiencies on the ground must have opportunity costs for airlines, forwarders and shippers alike, because cargo will be missing flights. Two months ago, we described the air cargo market as ‘fragile’ heading into the traditional peak season, and this fragility is being visualised on social media through airport movies showing countless pallets and containers waiting on the tarmac.”

CLIVE’s Europe to North America market data for the last week of October versus the third week of November, prior to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, showed capacity down 7.3% and load factor up 4% pts to 86% and rates for this market consequently saw a 10% increase.

The analyst’s earlier hypothesis that any opening up of transatlantic passenger services be quickly eradicated by increased volumes of passenger baggage eating into the amount of bellyhold space available for cargo appeared to have been borne out.

Load factors on transatlantic routes went up from 81% in later October to 85% in early November. He added that concerns over the new Omicron virus variant could actually increase cargo capacity again. If fewer people travelled, it was unlikely that the number of flights would be significantly affected and fewer passengers per flight would mean less pressure on bellyhold space.

Romanian all-cargo carrier appoints Air One

Chris Lewis
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Romanian all-cargo carrier appoints Air One

Romania’ ROM Cargo has appointed Air One Aviation as its exclusive global sales and services partner, following the awarding of its Air Operators’ Certificate by the civil aviation authority to begin international Boeing 747-400 freighter services.

Air One Aviation expects ROM Cargo’s 747F fleet – which will be available for full charter services and capable of carrying a payload of up to 112 tonnes – to meet immediate demand for Asia-Europe cargo capacity.

The GSA says that combined with its existing airline client base, the new contract means Air One Aviation is now marketing its biggest-ever fleet of Boeing 747-400SF freighters globally.

Air One’s founder and chief executive Paul Bennett, stated: “With the support we are generating from our freight forwarding, logistics and charter broker customers for 747 all-cargo capacity, we are confident of quickly establishing ROM Cargo in the international market and developing a platform for the next stage of the airline’s expansion.”

(Picture: Kevin Cleynhens)

Bahrain’s MENA signs Unilode ULD deal

Chris Lewis
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Bahrain’s MENA signs Unilode ULD deal

Bahrain-based MENA Cargo Airlines has signed a five-year unit load device (ULD) supply, management and repair agreement with Unilode Aviation Solutions. MENA Cargo is in the midst of securing a fleet of dedicated and converted freighters as part of its expansion plans. Under the new agreement, Unilode will supply digital containers and pallets from its shared ULD pool to MENA Cargo’s scheduled cargo flights and ad-hoc charters, and provide repairs at the airline’s hub and other destinations.

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