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SEKO takes the direct approach to E-commerce

Logistics

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January 17, 2022

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.

WFS extends Polar handling to Los Angeles

Ground Handling

Chris Lewis

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January 13, 2022

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WFS extends Polar handling to Los Angeles

Joint Atlas Air-DHL Express freighter operator Polar Air Cargo has expanded its cargo handling partnership with WFS in North America with a new long-term contract at Los Angeles International Airport.

WFS is providing full warehouse handling services for over 5m kilos a month for Polar out of LA, out of an all-airline total off 22m kilos. WFS already handles Atlas Air’s scheduled and ad-hoc freighter service from the airport.

Polar has grown its footprint at with a second warehouse totalling more than 230,000sq ft. WFS already provides handling services to Polar Air Cargo at its hub in Cincinnati, as well as in Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York JFK, Seattle and Toronto airports.

Vice president of sales for WFS in North America, Guido DiGiandomenico, commented: “In Los Angeles, thanks to the hard work of our local WFS team, we have earned a solid reputation for providing quality cargo handling services in what is a challenging marketplace. We look forward to supporting Polar’s continued growth at this very important west coast gateway.”

Air Canada adds four to cargo team

Airlines

Chris Lewis

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January 11, 2022

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Air Canada Cargo has made four appointments to key leadership positions. Peter Laub has been appointed senior director, cargo – USA & Latin America; Janet Wallace is now senior director, cargo transformation; Milt Fenske becomes director, cargo sales – USA; and Barb Johnston has been named director, cargo operations Canada.

Janet Wallace has 28 years of experience with Air Canada with experience in call centres, airports, inflight and cargo. She will focus on strengthening areas related to engineering, quality management systems, learning and development, procurement and eCommerce.

Peter Laub brings with him more than 30 years of cargo sales and operations experience from the passenger and freighter markets and his vast experience in freighter operations will be beneficial to Air Canada Cargo’s launch of all-cargo operations. In a previous role as vice president of business development at Aloha Air, he oversaw the introduction of Aloha Air Cargo’s Boeing 767-300 freighters.

Milt Fenske has been at Air Canada Cargo for almost 20 years and has been responsible for USA cargo sales, operations and global accounts, during which time he and his team have increased Air Canada Cargo’s market share and significantly increased export revenue.

Barbara Johnston also has more than 30 years of experience in cargo and has held key positions in roles including process and procedures, regulatory affairs, cargo technology, eCommerce, safety and cargo sales. Her role will be to elevate the customer experience and employee engagement while driving safe, dedicated, and reliable operational teams.

Rock-It takes off at Heathrow

Forwarding

Chris Lewis

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January 11, 2022

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Events logistics operator Rock-It Global has opened a dedicated 15,000sq ft facility at London Heathrow Airport. It offers 13,314 cu ft of caged secure storage space, as well as rack space for 300 pallet positions for long-term storage and tour merchandise.

The forwarder has also invested in an X-ray machine for onsite screening and installed an Explosive Trace Detector machine for cargo too dense to X-ray, avoiding the need to rely on a third-party off-site provider.

It says that huge volumes of e-commerce cargo, reduced scheduled flights and staff shortages at handlers and hauliers has caused screening bottlenecks at Heathrow.

Rock-It Global provides logistics and freight forwarding services for live entertainment, music touring, fine arts, sports and broadcasting, corporate events, film and television, power projects, and humanitarian relief.

Delta adopts Releye RLP

Ground Handling

Chris Lewis

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January 11, 2022

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Delta Cargo has approved the Envirotainer Releye RLP temperature-controlled container for use on its fleet. Envirotainer says the Releye delivers up to 90% lower CO2 emissions compared to passive solutions. The container uses rechargeable batteries to power its electric heating and compressor cooling system and can power its system for over 170 hours on a single charge.

Laptops fly carbon-free

Airlines

Chris Lewis

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January 11, 2022

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Computer firm Lenovo has become the latest customer to use DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo’s CO2-neutral flights. It is flying 20 tons of chargeable weight per week from Shanghai Pudong to Frankfurt using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced from renewable waste and materials such as used cooking oils.

Samskip adds air project expertise

Uncategorized

Chris Lewis

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January 5, 2022

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Samskip is adding airfreight expertise to its project forwarding arm, bringing together expertise from its Bremen business and its dedicated air freight team at Schiphol airport. The one-stop-shop service includes coordinated plane and ship chartering by Samskip. Mostly associated with multimodal transport, Samskip has identified project cargoes as a strong opportunity for growth, following the launch of Samskip Air in May 2021.

Airfreight volumes droop in December but rates remain high

Data & analysis

Chris Lewis

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January 5, 2022

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Airfreight volumes droop in December but rates remain high

The prolonged rise in the airfreight market finally came to an end in December, according to industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services.

Continuing supply chain issues, congestion on the ground, and concerns over the new Omicron virus suppressed any end-of-year uptick, it said in its latest report, published on 5 January.

CLIVE’s latest weekly market intelligence shows a -5% fall in chargeable weight in December 2021, compared to the pre-Covid level of December 2019, making it one of the weaker months of the year. Compared with December 2020, volumes rose by +1%.

It said that its data for the fourth quarter of 2021 reflected its earlier statement that the air cargo market was being driven by supply chain challenges, and less so by soaring volumes. In October, CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor’ – which measures both the volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to produce a true indicator of airline performance – reported a lower load factor for the time of year than expected, followed in November by a -1.2% drop in volumes.

Cargo capacity has remained slow to return to the pre-Covid level. In December 2021, it remained at -12% to December 2019. The ‘dynamic load factor’ for this December of 65% was +2% pts up versus two years ago.

However, the fourth quarter of 2021 did see major growth in airfreight rates, which in December climbed to 168% ahead of December 2019 (+42% versus December 2020), following earlier monthly gains compared to 2019 of 155% and 159% in October and November 2021 respectively.

CLIVE managing director, Niall van de Wouw, said: “It was certainly more complex to ship goods in 2021 by all modes of transport, which has continued to increase rates. In the general air cargo market, we’ve seen airlines focus more on managing margins than on filling aircraft. From a volume perspective, compared to 2019, November and December did not produce ‘the peak of all peaks’. The capacity and ‘dynamic load factor’ trends were more or less in line with earlier months, but rates kept on climbing.”

He suggests that the December data amplifies what at trend manifested in November, with issues on the ground hitting efficiency. “The rapid increase of Omicron and its impact on staff availability, hard lockdowns and their impact on business and consumer confidence are likely at play here.”

He added: “Looking at 2021 overall, after a very strong start to the year and pretty solid middle months, we witnessed a not-so-strong ending of the year. The wear and tear of close to 20 months of Covid started to really impact the efficiency of the value chain towards the end of 2021, and there are still no fundamental changes expected in the short-term that would change the current dynamics of supply chain shortages and elevated rates.”