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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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 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.”
The UN`s International Civil Aviation Headquarters also has its global head office here next to IATA.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA and its Cargo Network Services (CNS) subsidiary have deployed their modernized CASSLink invoicing system in the US. It will be rolled out to all other CASS markets later in 2022 and in 2023.
The new CASSLink offers an improved user interface, self-service functions for data processing, reports and user management, real-time reporting and on-line dispute resolution, accommodation of bilateral commercial arrangements as well as IATA resolutions requirements, a new tax calculation mechanism, a risk assessment tool and new payment options. CASSLink handles billings and payments between airlines and freight forwarders which are participating in the Cargo Accounts Settlement System (CASS) and is used by over 15,000 freight forwarders.
Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has formed a partnership with the Cargo.one digital marketplace. Through its partnership with cargo.one, AFKLMP Cargo intends to continue expanding its digital presence and offer customers an additional booking option alongside its own myCargo online booking portal.
The French-Dutch airline offers 295 destinations in 110 countries on its 500-strong aircraft fleet via hubs at Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
Implementation will proceed market-by-market, based on customer demand. The expanded offering will make progressively capacity available digitally to more freight forwarders.
The carrier’s senior vice-president sales and distribution, Gertjan Roelands, said: “We are investing significantly in our digital offering and expect to launch some unique new services soon in myCargo. Based on customer traction, we have decided to extend our cooperation with cargo.one by connecting our booking option. We believe this channel compliments our own online platform. We have been cooperating with third-party portals for some time now and we are delighted to add this new partnership. For us, it is key to be where our customers are.”
SEKO Logistics has signed an international partnership with US-based direct-to-consumer fulfillment platform, Airhouse.
Launched in June 2020, Airhouse software automates workflows and integrations through a customizable solution. Once connected with a brand’s ecommerce platform, Airhouse’s software evaluates store data to create a holistic view of the business and where its customers are. Brands are then matched with warehouses in Airhouse’s partner network to ensure inventory is shipped to the partner facility as quickly as possible, including the same day. From there, as new orders come in Airhouse manages the fulfillment process.
Airhouse co-founder, Kevin Gibbon, explained: “Over the past few years, a surge in ecommerce has brought us to a critical tipping point. While tools have emerged to run nearly every aspect of a consumer product business, how those products actually get to customers hasn’t kept pace.
“Partnering with a global 3PL like SEKO is exciting for us and the smaller, emerging brands we’re working with because SEKO is one of the best direct-to-consumer 3PLs in the world. Our customers will now benefit from access to modern warehouses across the globe that have historically been out of reach due to high order minimums. We’re leveling the playing field for these emerging brands to access such a high-quality partner.”
Ultimately, Airhouse clients will have access to SEKO’s millions of square feet of warehousing in Europe and Asia as well as in North America. “For small and fast-growing brands, working with traditional 3PLs is extremely time-consuming and takes up a lot of operational resources. Airhouse solves for the host of inefficiencies brands traditionally face: outdated and inefficient software, inconsistent and non-transparent pricing, poor and mismanaged quality control, and a fractured and unscalable fulfillment process.”
Airhouse will start its partnership with SEKO in the UK to be followed by other prime ecommerce markets in Europe and Asia.
Senior vice president of SEKO Ecommerce, “David Emerson, said: “The market potential is vast. Airhouse estimates that only 10-15% of the thousands of brands it is working with are shipping internationally. Together, we are going to empower them to grow globally. It will allow UK customers to buy from these predominantly US based brands as if they were based in the UK because their shipping prices will be significantly lower.”
Kevin Gibbon added: “Instead of smaller brands having to graduate to become a customer of a quality global logistics player like SEKO, they can start this relationship on day one through Airhouse. Brands will now be in a position to charge local shipping rates on international orders—bringing shipping costs down from as much as $40 to as little as $5. And their customers won’t be stuck waiting for an international item to cross customs. Working alongside SEKO means our brands’ products can be shipped locally and arrive in as soon as 1-2 days.”
General air freight spot rates fell 9% year-over-year in September, to below the 2021 level for the first time this year, according to CLIVE Data services in its weekly data published on 5 October.
The analyst, part of Xeneta, said that returning global cargo capacity continued to outpace air cargo volumes.
Spot rates have been falling gradually since the beginning of this year, pointing to a deteriorating air cargo market. In September, general cargo spot rates continued to plunge below seasonal rates, although continuing regional capacity constraints outbound from East Asia showed more resistance in comparison to the ocean spot market. In September, ocean spot rates from East Asia to Europe fell 49% from the January level, while air freight spot rates were 19% lower. The market, however, will be strongly influenced by returning air cargo capacity.
Taking Japan as an example, routes to Europe have been impaired by the Ukraine war, causing a 12% reduction from the first to the second quarter of the year. In June, Japan began easing part of its severe Covid travel restrictions and, since then, passenger aircraft belly capacity to Europe improved by 7% in Q3, recovering to 38% of pre-pandemic Q3 2019 levels. In line with this, Q3 air freight spot rates declined 28% compared to Q2. Looking ahead, the further removal of travel restrictions for individual tourists will further boost the capacity recovery from long-haul widebody flights.
Overall, global air cargo demand in September, measured in chargeable weight, remained a negative trend, falling 5% and 2% on the same months of 2021 and pre-pandemic 2019. The overall decline in general air freight volumes came as airlines reintroduced passenger and cargo capacity from East Asia, most notably at the end of the month ex Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan after their governments announced plans to lift coronavirus restrictions.
Global cargo capacity last month recovered by 5% versus September 2021 to now sit just 7% below the 2019 level, CLIVE reports.
Declining demand and increasing capacity had the expected impact with CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor’ dropping 7% pts over the same month last year to 59% and it was 2% pts adrift of the level recorded in September 2019.
Xeneta chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw explained: “What we see is a very ‘jumpy’ air cargo market which responds very quickly to global events, whether this is the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, rising inflation, the pressure on Sterling, or the stronger US dollar. It’s still early to judge how such events will be reflected in the air freight market over the rest of this year but we see no indications that demand will pick up from a macroeconomic perspective.
“We also see the ocean market changing very rapidly and we expect its reliability to go up, which will see certain volumes pushed to air cargo by necessity go back to ocean. We see a flat air cargo market in terms of demand, but the fall in general air freight rates and load factor are likely to be exacerbated by the continuing return of capacity, even as we head towards a winter season when, traditionally, we would expect to see cargo space in the prime Europe and North America markets cut back.
“Shippers who have held their nerve and not shipped their peak season goods early by air are likely to find themselves in a stronger buying position.”
