Lithuanian-based international parcel delivery company Venipak Group has launched its own direct freighter flight between Hong Kong and Riga and says it aims to add services to Mainland China and the US, as well as adding a route between Hong Kong and the US West Coast.
With Covid restrictions severely affecting passenger flights and shipping backlogs forcing businesses to shift from ocean to airfreight, Venipak chief executive Justas Sabliskas says “existing options at the moment just do not work. Many businesses suffer from irregular and disrupted delivery times, and direct long-distance shipping flights are a rarity for the region. All of this adds to the heightened strain.”
The new route is operated by a Boeing 737-800 BCF aircraft which can carry a wider variety of cargo than passenger aircraft including dangerous goods and heavy or non-standard dimensional cargo. Regular weekly schedules and fixed prices during the high season allow easier planning of budgets. Venipak says the flight was completely sold out in two days.
Riga International Airport board member Artūrs Saveļjevs added: “We are pleased that Venipak has chosen Riga International Airport as its home for air cargo services, and we can also mark Hong Kong on our direct cargo flight destination map. This confirms that the ongoing work to develop and strengthen the Airport’s cargo segment is a step in the right direction and that our customers appreciate the potential of Riga Airport as a Baltic air hub.”
Riga parcels carrier launches own freighters – and has US in its sights
Qatar Airways joins green group
Qatar Airways has joined the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Global Coalition for Sustainable Aviation, the first Middle East carrier to do so.
It is committed to work with industry stakeholders, such as manufacturers, academia, governments and non-government organisations towards aviation decarbonisation and promoting sustainable air transport.
The Coalition is a forum through which stakeholders can develop new ideas and accelerate innovative solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Qatar Airways group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “It is innovation that will drive the industry forward for a sustainable future. I strongly believe that the ICAO Global Coalition for Sustainable Aviation will allow industry-leading partners to pursue collaborative creation and drive innovation together. Qatar Airways is looking forward to being a strategic collaborator in the coalition. We expect to work together with other members in developing ideas and strategies to facilitate a further acceleration of innovative green technologies, taking us a step closer towards net zero emissions.”
Qatar Airways Cargo operates freighters to over 60 destinations via Doha as well as freight in the belly-hold deck of passenger aircraft. Its fleet includes two Boeing 747-8 freighters, 24 Boeing 777 freighters and six B777-300ER mini freighters.
DHL moves a million vaccines – but many more to go
DHL moves a million vaccines – but many more to go
DHL says it has delivered over a billion Covid vaccine doses to more than 160 countries as part of the global roll-out. its DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Express arms have been tasked with transporting vaccines on multiple routes from Europe and other origins to countries across Asia Pacific, South America, and Europe and is also responsible storage and local distribution of the vaccines in several German states.
However, as outlined in its white paper “Revisiting Pandemic Resilience”, another 7-9 billion vaccine doses will be needed annually in the coming years to keep (re-)infection rates low and to slow down the pace of virus mutations as well as to contain seasonal fluctuations.
It is calling for the logistics infrastructure and capacity built up for the pandemic to be maintained.
Chief Commercial Officer DH, Katja Busch, commented: “Looking back at the state of emergency these past nine months, we are honored to be playing our part, seamlessly managing and executing multiple supply chain set-ups without cold chain interruptions or security incidents. We are working across multiple supply chain set-ups and managing direct distributions in certain countries. We implemented new, dedicated, and reliable services at an accelerated speed to ship the highly temperature-sensitive vaccines, as well as ancillary supplies and test kits.”
President of life sciences & healthcare at DHL Customer Solutions and Innovation, Claudia Roa, added: “Our advantage is that we already had a sophisticated network in place with the necessary healthcare expertise. This allowed us to react swiftly.”
Vice president of life sciences and healthcare, Thomas Ellmann, concluded: “The current Covid situation clearly demonstrates how collaboration across governments and NGOs, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, and logistics companies is the only way to beat pandemics, both now and in the future.”
To facilitate a speedy roll-out of medication governments and industries should maintain “ever-warm” manufacturing capacity, blueprint research, production, and procurement plans, and expand local deployment capabilities.
Cool Chain seeks new members
The Cool Chain Association (CCA) has launched a membership drive in its quest for a more quality-driven temperature-sensitive supply chain.
Welcoming over 60 delegates to its Seventh Global Perishables Conference held online on 15 September, it has created a new logo and website , the latter providing easy access to information about ongoing projects, as well as downloadable white papers and case studies.
CCA chairman Stavros Evangelakakis explained: “There has perhaps never been a more pressing time for our community to work together and drive quality in the temperature-sensitive supply chain. CCA provides a neutral platform to facilitate collaboration with the aim of reducing food loss and waste, as well as benefiting the pharma industry.
“Our new look is a reflection of our renewed vision to grow membership and drive quality-driven change in the industry.”
Secretary general and airline partner manager at SkyCell, Nicola Caristo added: “We welcome any suggestions for projects that will progress the ambition of the association to reduce waste and loss and improve the quality, efficiency, and value of the cool supply chain. It allows us to concentrate efforts and resources on specific topics and projects, whilst showcasing the benefits of joining the association.”
For more information on joining CCA or taking part in one of its programmes go to coolchain.org
To suggest a project for the Technical Committee, contact cca@meantime.global
New HQ for thermal packaging firm
Pharmaceutical thermal protection specialist Tower Cold Chain is opening a new global headquarters close to its existing premises in Theale, 30 minutes from London Heathrow Airport. The 26,000sq ft building will greatly expand Tower’s container conditioning and storage capacities and enhance its design, laboratory and testing including an Innovation Centre.
The UK headquarters will also support Tower’s growing global network in the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India and South Africa improving both proximity and availability of containers.
The company says it was one of the first to adopt phase-change materials to protect temperature-sensitive materials, as well as developing a patented built-in data logger for its products. More recently, it introduced a range ofbiotechnology deep frozen pack-out solutions. In its last 15,000 shipments, the company has recorded fewer than 0.1% temperature excursions.
Rapid logistics firm supports global stem cell efforts
Lufthansa’s time:matters rapid logistics arm is supporting the World Marrow Donor Day on 18 September, which this year again takes place online due to the Covid outbreak. The World Marrow Donor Association honors all stem cell donors worldwide.
Time:matters not only supports the World Marrow Donor Association as a partner but since 2009 has also dedicated a team of more than 300 qualified couriers across three continents specifically to stem cell logistics. Since the start of the Covid pandemic last year alone, it has delivered more than 8,000 life-saving donations to patients. Chief executive Alexander Kohnen, , explains: “We at time:matters are committed to the cause of World Marrow Donor Day and express a big thank you to all stem cell donors worldwide. And we encourage everyone to participate and save lives by signing up at their local registries. With our customized transport solutions for highly sensitive and urgent products, such as stem cell courier services or cell and gene therapies, we are proud to do our part to help patients gain a new perspective on life.”
Forwarder and airline take the green fuel pledge
French-Dutch carrier Air France KLM Martinair (AFKLMP) Cargo will use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on flights from Nairobi in Kenya to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, carrying Total Touch Cargo (TTC) Holland agricultural and horticultural products under its sustainable aviation fuel programme.
SAF is a jet fuel made from renewable sources such as cooking oil and serves as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel that reduces carbon emissions by at least 75% and develop a more viable market for SAF. The fuel is blended with conventional fossil fuel and can be used by all aircraft engines. The AFKLMP Cargo SAF programme enables different stakeholders in the airfreight industry to power a percentage of their flights with SAF. Customers determine their own level of engagement and the carrier ensures that their entire investment is used for sourcing SAF.
AFKLMP vice president Africa Bénédicte Duval (right) welcomed TTC owner Harry van der Plas (left) at the carrier’s headquarters at Schiphol to sign the agreement, which includes a fixed annual investment from Total Touch that will allow it to further expand development and procurement of SAF. TTC’s contribution will be used to cover the cost differential between conventional aircraft fuel and SAF.
TTC specialises in the air transport of fresh flowers, vegetables, herbs, fruit and fish and has been playing an instrumental role in developing the “cold chain” industry from Kenya. Ithas its own airside warehousing and cold storage facilities, in a joint venture with Kenya Airways, at the Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi. It ships around 350 tonnes a week from Kenya throughout the year.
Pier Luigi Vigada, director Eastern & Southern Africa at AFKLMP said: “We are delighted that a professional company like Total Touch Cargo and its visionary chief executive Harry van der Plas have teamed up with us. Total Touch Cargo is the first Freight Forwarding agent in Africa to commit to our SAF programme. Its vision on sustainability and enthusiasm about our programme form part of a clear path to make the airfreight industry for daily commodities, a cleaner and more sustainable one.”
Harry van der Plas added: “The SAF programme fits in perfectly with our vision and drive to be a first-mover in relation to innovative industry developments, as well as maintaining a focused strategy to be a distinguished service provider with top-quality airlines and long-term relationships to achieve optimal customer satisfaction.”
Multilingual legal eagle for air broker
UK-based broker Chapman Freeborn has appointed Zori Marshall as its new Chief Legal Officer (CLO).
Born in Bulgaria, growing up in Angola, Zori Marshall has a passion for languages, and a University of Toulouse degree in International, European and Comparative Law and two Masters degrees she speaks five languages
She will focus on the Group’s commercial delivery and will involve working on an integrated strategy aligned across parent company Avia Solutions Group.
She said: “Moving into the aviation industry is a new challenge and I am looking forward to learning and developing my knowledge…To anyone thinking about making the move to aviation, I’d say just go for it. The market is buoyant, things are looking up and there are lots of opportunities to grab hold of.”
Vienna-Montreal flights to resume
Austrian Airlines is to reintroduce a Vienna-Montreal service, suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. It will be served from 1 October year-round, three times a week by a Boeing 767. Since mid-July, Star Alliance partner Air Canada has been operating a codeshare flight with Austrian Airlines from Vienna to Toronto three times a week.
IAG goes live on CargoAi
IAG Cargo’s global capacity is now available on the www.CargoAi.co platform. It allows freight forwarders to obtain quotations and booking in over 60 countries for British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, and LEVEL services.