Miami International Airport total freight volume increased by 8% year over year In the first quarter of 2022. Of the 687,675 tons handled, 552,371 tons came from international traffic which has grown 5.4% year to date, while domestic freight is up 20.5%. In 2021, MIA set a new annual record of 2.7 million tons of total freight and 2 million metric tonnes of international freight, strengthening its position as the busiest airport in the US and ninth in the world for international freight.
Air Canada freighter flies to Madrid
Air Canada Cargo has operated the first Boeing 767-300 freighter flight into Madrid following the addition of a second aircraft to its fleet.
The carrier is also offering all-cargo services to Frankfurt and three flights per week to Madrid, from Toronto and Halifax. The carrier has already announced the acquisition of two new 767-300F aircraft that will enter service in 2023.”
Air Canada and Air Canada Cargo also offer capacity to Madrid and Barcelona on passenger service with five weekly flights from Toronto.
New capacity fails to budge airfreight rates
Factors which curtailed the growth recovery of air cargo in March continued to impact the industry in April with volumes down 8% year-over-year, says Xeneta’s CLIVE Data Services
Rates remained high despite the addition of new capacity, as airlines launched their summer schedules, the analyst explained.
The conflict in Ukraine, Covid lockdowns measure in China and the high cost of living all contributed to the fall in demand, which is also likely exacerbated by the staff shortages jolting airport handling services and manufacturing. Volumes in April were down 5% compared to the same month of 2019, before the pandemic took hold.
Xeneta chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw, said: “The rationale behind lower load factors and higher rates is the bottleneck on the ground – which appears to be being caused now by not only the shortages of people handling cargo at airports around the world and the severe lack of truck drivers to move the goods, but also by a wider shortage of people for lower paid logistics jobs. We are now seeing this larger theme impacting the entire supply chain.”
Shortages of goods in stores or available online, longer lead times for some products, higher shipping costs, and flight delays and cancellations are all consequences of these market conditions, he added. The hike in living costs and lower disposable incomes for consumers are other undoubted contributors to the slowdown.
CLIVE’s dynamic load factor from Europe to North America averaged 70% in April 2022, a drop of 12% points in just one month, and the first time in two years it has fallen below 80it said. This was caused by a big jump in North Atlantic passenger capacity as airlines stepped up their summer schedules. It is also expected to “takes some of the heat out of the demand/supply market,” Niall van de Wouw said, and potentially lead to a downward pressure on rates.
“During the last week of March, capacity increased by 15% compared to the previous week. This significant increase in space reinforces our previously stated forecast that the North Atlantic market will most likely be the first to return to some kind of normal, because of the high share of belly capacity on this lane. In terms of the dynamic load factor, we are seeing this shift starting to happen as we move from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market for air cargo. However, the issues on the ground might delay the buyer’s market a bit longer,” he added.
Spot rates from Europe to North America remained relatively unchanged. The spot share – the amount of weight being sold against a short-term rate – decreased however by close to 5% points to 44% from 49% in March, again potentially indicating a softening of the market.
Awery appoints project manager
Awery Aviation Software (Awery) has appointed Phaedra Den Hertog as customer success project manager. She has spent over 30 years in air cargo including Polar Air Cargo, Cathay Pacific, and more recently AirBridgeCargo (ABC), where she oversaw the implementation of its new Cargo Management System. Initially focussed on Awery’s Netherlands client portfolio, Den Hertog will oversee and manage projects across Europe.
Qatar Airways Cargo launches kids’ collection drive
Qatar Airways Cargo has launched Chapter 3 of its Let’s Stand Together WeQare programme, with a major drive to gather donations in kind for children to 10 May.
It is collecting study materials such as books, school bags or pencils, clothes and sports items (socks, soccer balls, sneakers or jerseys) as well as toys, musical instruments and board games.
Any donation for children is welcome, as long as it is clean, in good condition and without batteries.
The collection is worldwide, and open to business partners, friends, families and others. Each Qatar Airways Cargo station has its own collection point and it has also opened six donation collection points for its employees, as well as a public collection point in Doha.
All donations will be sent to its hub in Doha where a massive sorting operation will take place on 17 May, following which the donations will be sent all over the world. Qatar Airways Cargo will also offset the CO2 emissions.
Chapter 1 of WeQare, launched in July 2020, provided free transport of 1 million kilos of humanitarian aid and medical equipment to charitable organisations.
Under Chapter 2, Rewild the Planet, Qatar Airways Cargo committed to preserve wildlife and endangered animals and to transport them back to their natural habitat free of charge.
For more information about the donation and collection points, visit https://www.qrcargo.com/weqare-chapter3 or contact askcargo@qatarairways.com.qa
You can also watch a video at WeQare Chapter 3: Let’s Stand Together on YouTube
Freighter business remains buoyant, says IBA
The global freighter market remains buoyant, with the recovery from the pandemic gathering pace, said industry consultant IBA in a webinar on 29 April.
It pointed out that the Boeing 737-800 freighter fleet has almost doubled in size to 113 from 59 a year ago, demonstrating its sustained appeal to passenger to freighter converters. The Boeing 767-300 freighter fleet has also continued to grow from 127 to 156, driven by the plentiful availability of passenger ‘feedstock’ aircraft suitable for conversion into freighters.
There is also a clear growth in Airbus converted freighter fleets, although numbers are smaller, says IBA. The A321 freighter fleet has doubled from four to eight aircraft over the past year, while A330s-200s and -300s have also increased from 10 to 16.
The market is being aided by the increasing number of conversion centres with at least nine facilities becoming active for the A321, six for the A330 and 15 for the Boeing 737-800.
The number of conversion lines for the Boeing 777-300ER is also growing as demand increases.
IBA added that there are 23 freighter aircraft on lease within Russia from non-Russian lessors.
Peli BioThermal opens in Baltimore
Thermal packaging specialist Peli BioThermal has opened a service centre in Baltimore, Maryland. It joins over 30 global network stations, service centres and drop points opened within the past three months.
Situated near the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the centre will offer Crēdo Cubereusable shippers and CoolGuard Advance single-use shippers. The site will also condition Peli BioThermal products with temperature ranges of 2-8°C and -20°C.
Maryland is part of the BioHealth Capital Region (cluster of 1,800 life sciences companies, more than 70 federal labs and world class academic and research institutions with a stated goal to be one of the top three biohealth regions in the United States by 2023.
Baltimore itself is home to a growing number of biotech and life sciences companies while Johns Hopkins University serves as an incubator for new ideas that generate spin off companies ready to advance to clinical trials.
B&H signs up for Earthly delights
Aerospace logistics provider, B&H Worldwide, has partnered with Earthly, a platform that connects businesses to nature-based solutions that remove carbon, restore biodiversity and support local communities. B&H says it will commit to long-term projects with measurable benefits rather than simply paying to offset its carbon emissions. From the beginning of April, as part of the Earthly partnership, B&H will plant a mangrove tree for every single air freight shipment its processes.
United plans transatlantic flight surge
United Airlines says it will launch or resume 30 transatlantic flights from mid-April through early June. The carrier will add new services to hubs including London, Milan, Zurich, Munich and Nice. It is also resuming 14 routes it has historically served and adding frequencies in six others.
Its transatlantic route network will be more than 25% larger than it was in 2019 and it says it will serve more transatlantic destinations than every other US carrier combined and will be the largest airline across the Atlantic for the first time in history.
New routes include: Washington/Amman, Jordan from May 5. three times weekly with a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner; it will become the only US carrier to fly to Norway with a three times a week 757-200 service between New York/Newark and Bergen; there are new daily flights between Boston and London Heathrow; daily flights between Denver and Munich; between Chicago and Zurich; between New York/Newark and Nice; Chicago and Milan.
Increased services include second daily flights between: New York/Newark and Dublin; between Denver and London Heathrow, beginning May 7; between New York/Newark and Frankfurt, beginning May 26; and between New York/Newark and Rome five times weekly, beginning May 27.
It is also adding a third daily flight between San Francisco and London Heathrow and increasing service between New York/Newark and London Heathrow to seven daily flights, beginning May 28.
It will also increase its service to daily between Washington/Dulles and Accra, Ghanaand extend its seasonal service to Cape Town to year-round from New York/Newark from June 5, subject to government approval.
((Pix – United transatlantic))
Forwarders get together to tackle airfreight issues
The Airforwarders Association (AfA) is driving an initiative to help tackle airport congestion in the US.
AfA’s Airport Congestion Committee (ACC) recently met and agreed to focus on developing solutions for: technology and automation; service standards; airport facilities and infrastructure; staffing and hours of operation; and regulatory and paperwork challenges.
The five critical issues were identified by a survey of airport cargo stakeholders by AfA, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) and the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA).
ACC members will now produce a Recommendation Paper with which to approach private, public, and government entities to highlight challenges and suggest solutions.
ACC chair and vice president of AfA member Kale Info Solutions, Donna Mullins, said that on completion, the association would invite the air cargo industry to come together to implement solutions for more efficient airports.
She said: “Our survey generated hundreds of responses from a broad cross-section of industry segments clearly articulating a number of problems that require remedial action.
“Our deliverable will not be a document that sits on a shelf, we will be presenting concerns as well as potential solutions to key industry leaders and appropriate members of Congress and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation.”
The industry’s efforts would also be key to obtaining public funds for a wide range of capital and technology improvements.
The ACC, which has recently been joined by Airlines for America (A4A) and the Airline Service Providers Association (ASPA), is seeking to drive improvements including enhanced electronic communications linking airport stakeholders, as well as improved access and on-airport landside infrastructure to accommodate trucks.
AfA executive director, Brandon Fried, added: “Truck congestion caused by cargo handling delays at major airport cargo facilities continues to cost our members significant financial resources and lost productivity. This initiative will help us identify causes while providing a foundational document to share with government officials in creating solutions to the challenge.”
Modernized airport cargo facilities with mechanized handling and cross-training to enhance communications and operating efficiency, are also identified as key areas for improvement.
ACC vice chair and vice president global air freight for SEKO Logistics, Shawn Richard added: Congestion at our airports is such an important issue, and by working together as a Committee, we are able to draw upon each member’s unique knowledge and diverse experience, to be able to execute a robust plan and achieve our collective goals of improved throughput and modernization of outdated infrastructure with an emphasis on environmental sustainability.”
ACC will meet at the end of May to review submissions and plan next steps and deliverables.