Air Charter Service, has opened an office in Dublin, its first in Ireland. It is headed by Alex Sadler, who joined ACS more than 11 years ago at the company’s London headquarters and most recently opened and ran the office at Gatwick Airport.
ACS’s chief executive, Justin Bowman, commented: “Ireland has always been on our list of where we wanted an office. In fact, it was at a company conference in Ireland more than 20 years ago that our chairman, Chris Leach, first laid out his global expansion plans for ACS to the rest of the team. This move will help us to better serve our existing customers in the country and to grow our client base further.” The office is located in on St Stephen’s Green in central Dublin, which is home to several other aviation companies.
SATS Group handling arm Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has won a three-year contract from Turkish Airlines for ramp handling and cabin cleaning services at Denver International Airport in Colorado.
WFS will provide services including aircraft pushback, baggage handling, cargo loading/unloading and airside cargo transportation. It already provides ground handling services for Turkish Airlines in Chicago.
WFS has also won a five-year license to provide ramp handling for aircraft at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4 from 1 October. WFS is already an established provider of passenger services for airlines at JFK, serving 12 airlines across all terminals.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has opened a dedicated Lithium Batteries Storage Zone,equipped with CO2 fire suppression systems and fire-proof partitions to segregate battery cargo from other shipments. Increased provision of fire extinguishers will also help to contain any battery fire and reduce the risk of spread.
Hactl’s automated Box Storage System (BSS) has also been re-programmed to store all stillages containing lithium batteries in positions which are more accessible for fire-fighting, and isolated from other cargo types.
Hactl chief executive Wilson Kwong said: “Shipments containing lithium batteries are an important revenue stream for the air cargo industry, but the potential risks of handling lithium batteries are well known. This fact, coupled with the ever-increasing tonnages that we are required to handle, means that we must take every possible precaution.
“Hactl has already invested in an intelligent cargo thermal detection system in order to provide advance warning of any exceptional conditions that may indicate the impending risk of a battery fire. The new Zone takes this proactive approach still further, ensuring that any battery fire can be effectively contained and then quickly extinguished.”
Spanish carrier Air Europa has joined the Cargo.one platform. From late summer, forwarders in EMEA and Latin America can book capacity through the platform and more of the carrier’s130 destinations in North America, the Caribbean, Middle East and Africa will be added in coming weeks. Ultimately, Cargo.one will allow the airline to promote its air cargo services to 20,000 freight forwarders in 121 countries. The carrier operates a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 737 aircraft through its hubs in Madrid and Barcelona.
Kuehne+Nagel says Mercedes-Benz has been able to reduce around 11,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the past twelve months thanks to its use of Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The forwarder has been using SAF for the car maker’s shipments to the US for over a year, including to its plant in Alabama.
SAF has been used on charter flights with Kuehne+Nagel’s own Boeing 747-8F cargo aircraft on the route from Stuttgart in Germany to Birmingham, Alabama.
Mercedes-Benz Group board member for production, quality and supply chain management, Jörg Burzer, said: “Logistics is a key part of the automotive value chain. By using sustainable aviation fuel for air freight transport, we can reduce emissions along our value chain and take an important step towards net carbon neutrality. We are delighted to reach another milestone in sustainable logistics together with our partner Kuehne+Nagel.”
Brazil’s Modern Logistics is to extend its service to Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, followed by Mexico and the US within the next six to twelve months as part of a two-stage strategy for international expansion.
The carrier, which Modern Logistics is offers an integrated logistics capacity of 20 to 22 tons per leg.
It follows Modern Logistics’ acquisition of two 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCFs) over the past year, the first ever of their type in Brazil’s logistics industry. It is now looking to acquire two additional aircraft is 12 months to cater to underserved regional airports as part of its five-year plan.
Modern Logistics, founded in 2012, is an integrated logistics company based in São Paulo, Brazil and offers a one-stop-shop model using air freighters.
Both 737 NGs are leased through Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management (BBAM) and have a cargo capacity 10% larger than the previous generation of 737s.
Modern Logistics chief executive Cristiano Koga stated: “The additional capacity and efficiency of the new aircraft will assure the future success of the company by hastening entry into international makets and better responding to the needs and requirements of our clients.”
Currently, Modern Logistics has three classic 737s in its fleet and the company will operate both classic 737s and NGs over the near term.
Modern Logistics’ operates a 32,000sq ft cargo facility at Sao Paulo’s Viracopos airport able to accommodate several cargo aircraft simultaneously, is equipped to handle high-value cargo such as industrial, automotive, technology, clothing and electronics,. A special distribution center was opened at Viracopos exclusively serving the pharmaceutical sector. The company’s approved partners also operate over 6,000 road vehicles.
American Airlines is now making its entire domestic cargo capacity available on Cargo.one.
US-based freight forwarders using the platform to discover, quote and book confirmed capacity end-to-end across the entire US market including all American flights and trucks that can accept cargo bookings.
The carrier has also extended its partnership with CargoAi to enhance airfreight booking capabilities on its CargoMART platform. Following an initial launch in France, the carrier has now extended its network on CargoMART to include origins in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, UK, Spain, and Switzerland.
CargoMART provides a real-time capacity and rate visibility, quoting, e-Booking, and Track and Trace functionalities including the ability to compare flight options by carbon emissions, track CO2 emissions at a shipment level, and purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
July’s Crowdstrike IT outage produced no significant ongoing disruption to resurgent air cargo demand, with rates rising for a sixth consecutive month, says market analyst Xeneta.
Global average air cargo spot rates reached US$2.66 per kg in July, 20% higher year-on-year. This was again driven by strong global cargo demand growth. July volumes rose +13% year-on-year, thanks to buoyant e-commerce demand from Asia as well as the comparatively low demand base in the corresponding month in 2023. In contrast, global air cargo supply grew at only 2% year-on-year this July.
Demand growth alongside only a modest increase in capacity supply produced an expected boost to the global dynamic load factor. It exceeded last year’s level by five percentage points, reaching 59% in July.
With summer holidays starting in July, global air cargo demand slowed month-on-month. This was echoed by the ocean container shipping market, where container spaces in recent weeks became easier to book and spot rates on the major fronthaul trades from the Far East to Europe and the US either declined or flattened.
The global IT outage affecting Microsoft systems on 19 July brought widespread disruption, with flight delays and cancellations that lasted more than a week. The resulting cargo backlogs saw cargo load factors on some impacted airlines increase up to 4 percentage points compared to the previous week. But load factors had mostly recovered to pre-outage levels by 28 July.
As is often the case, short-term panic among shippers and forwarders pushed up the price of capacity, which rose to its highest level of the year in the last week of July to a global average air cargo spot rate of $2.70 per kg.
Looking ahead to the remainder of 2024
Strong year-on-year growth in air cargo demand is expected to extend into August and September, in part due to the low base set last year.
Heading to the second half of the year, disruptions in the Red Sea will likely continue to pose risks to supply chains due to container vessels’ longer sailing times and reduced schedule reliability. Despite the container market’s early peak season, the current situation may last until China’s Golden Week in October.
On top of this, potential sea port strikes in Hamburg and the US East and Gulf Coasts could coincide with the much-anticipated peak season for airfreight and apply further upward pressure on air cargo rates, as Xeneta highlighted last month.
Xeneta chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw, said: “For the air cargo market, it’s now all eyes on late August for the first signs of a proper peak season, which would be the cherry on top of the cake for airlines after such unexpected volumes and demand growth in the first seven months of the year.
“In July, had the IT outage taken longer to fix, we might have seen a slightly different outcome. However, once again, air cargo showed resilience, after seeming to have dodged another major disruption. Going into the peak time of the year, airlines might just be starting to think their tailwinds will hold out.”
Middle East and Central Asia to Europe continued to lead year-on-year growth in regional cargo spot rates in July. Its July average spot rate surged 126% year-on-year to $3.16 per kg. Ongoing Red Sea disruptions have helped to keep air cargo rates high, while recent unrest in Bangladesh, which led to port and airport backlogs that will take weeks to clear, could further raise cargo rates in the coming weeks.
Outbound Southeast Asia to North America and Europe lanes took second and third places in terms of growth. Surging cargo demand more than doubled cargo spot rates from a year ago to $5.78 per kg and $3.85 per kg respectively.
These lanes were followed by outbound Northeast Asia markets, supported by strong e-commerce demand and general cargo volumes recovery.
Cargo spot rates to North America and Europe grew around 30% year-on-year to $4.39 per kg and $4.17 per kg, partly due to a high base last year.
As expected, backhaul trades on the above-mentioned lanes and transatlantic trades experienced year-on-year declines in spot rates. This was due to adequate capacity on the return leg and increased belly capacity on passenger flights to meet summer holiday season demand.
Champ’s Traxon Global Customs solution will be embedded and integrated into the Mach cargo management system, reducing the risk of customs ‘holds’ and allowing Menzies to quickly respond and adapt to specific country customs requirements. It simplifies reporting requirements by using Champ as a single gateway for more than 65 customs authorities.
Following the launch of the Traxon solution at Menzies’ cargo operation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the solution is set to be deployed across its network and integrated into Mach by the end of 2024.
Senior vice-president of cargo technology at Menzies Aviation, Rory Fidler, said: “This upgrade will further streamline our cargo operations, providing customers with seamless and efficient customs and security processes. We are grateful to the team at CHAMP, who are working hard to support an ambitious roll-out programme over the coming months.”
Temperature controlled shipping solutions firm CSafe has launched a new reusable pallet shipper. The Silverpod MAX RE will save on disposal costs, meet sustainability targets and improve transparency, it says. It is based on its existing single-use Silverpod MAX passive pallet shipper but is made entirely of reusable components and uses recyclable PCM (phase change material) refrigerants. A new integrated device tracks GPS location, temperature, shock and tilt. The shipper offers over 120 hours of thermal protection, is made from durable exterior panels with extended edge and corner cap protection that can be used repeatedly. It is supplied through a rental model where CSafe fully manages the life cycle and return of the product and it is supplied flat-packed.
