Volga-Dnepr Group has delivered over 110 tons of essential cargo from Madrid and Liege to Porte-au-Prince following the earthquake in Haiti on 14 of August. It organized two charter flights on An-124-100 and Il-76TD-90VD aircraft to deliver cargo including tents, water purifiers and mobile kitchens.
Air Malta extends cargo management deal
Air Malta and Network Airline Services (NAS) have extended their Total Cargo Management (TCM) Agreement for a further two years.
The carrier says that NAS has vastly expanded its cargo business and helped it establish itself in the global market during the two years of the existing TCM. It has built a strong platform for cargo to become an important revenue contributor.
The TCM solution is increasingly popular by several global airlines, allowing them to generate new business opportunities while concentrating on their core passenger business.
Head of cargo sales and marketing, John Vella, said that Air Malta had grown its market share and is now a carrier of choice.
NAS sales director, John Gilfeather, added: “NAS looks forward to diversifying Air Malta’s product range and global coverage even further; the extension of this TCM agreement allows us to do so.”
Retailer demand and airport shut-downs keep airfreight under pressure
Resilient international demand for air cargo capacity in August versus a shortfall in supply pushed global rates up 112% of their pre-Covid level as a local lockdown in Vietnam and the closure of cargo terminals at Shanghai, said analyst Clive Data services.
Volumes were up 1% compared to the same month of 2019, before the pandemic took hold, and 19% versus August 2020. But the biggest challenge remained available cargo capacity at 16% below the level seen in August 2019.
Clive managing director, Niall van de Wouw, said even before the latest disruptions in Pudong and Vietnam, air cargo capacity was already tight due to fewer international passenger flights and demand is also being driven by retailers switching from shipping to air cargo to replenish stock levels in time for their peak season.
He explained: “The problem for the air cargo industry is not demand, it’s clearly capacity. The market is solid from a demand viewpoint, but it is currently based on a scarce and fragile infrastructure. As we saw in August, a small handful of Covid cases at Pudong airport led to the closure of air cargo terminal operations. When something like this happens at the world’s third largest cargo airport, it only reflects how fragile things are for global supply chains and the immediate impact on rates which were already high.
“Shippers want to see more cargo capacity from the return on airline passenger operations, but some signals suggest this may get pushed back again on intercontinental routes following the recent EU recommendation to pause on all non-essential travel from the US to Europe. For passenger airlines operating cargo-only flights, it’s all about the margin per flight and not about adding capacity to grab market share. Airlines want and need passengers back and I suspect airline cargo departments are anxious to see this too because of the pressure they are under to generate revenue – but even when cargo revenues double, if passenger revenues are down 80%, it’s not a sustainable situation for passenger airlines.”
Last three A380s for Emirates
Emirates says it will receive its final three A380 aircraft from Airbus this year with its last unit on order scheduled to join its fleet in November, bringing forward the original delivery timeline from June 2022. They will bring the Dubai carrier’s total fleet of A380s to 118.
Although impressive as a passenger aircraft, the A380’s bellyhold cargo capacity is restricted compared with smaller models such as Boeing’s 777.
DoKaSch sets up in India’s Pharma Central
Climate-controlled airfreight equipment firm DoKaSch Temperature Solutions has opened a new Indian service station at GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo terminal. Hyderabad city’s ‘Genome Valley’ is a hub for research and development as well as manufacturing for pharma and lifesaving medicines. and a vast amount of generic medicine and bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients are also produced. The upcoming Pharma City, an extensive industrial park for pharmaceuticals, will further increase the city’s importance.
Growth continues in July, says IATA
Global air cargo markets continued their strong growth in July, according to the latest figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs), was up 8.6% compared to July 2019. (Comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by Covid-19).
Overall growth remains strong compared to the long-term average growth trend of around 4.7%.
But the pace of growth slowed slightly compared to June which saw demand increase 9.2% (against pre-COVID-19 levels).
Capacity continues to recover but is still 10.3% down compared to July 2019.
North American carriers posted a 20.5% increase in international demand in July 2021 compared to July 2019. This was in line with June’s performance (19.8%) and the strongest of all regions. New export orders and demand for faster shipping times are underpinning the North American performance.
European carriers posted a 6.0% increase in demand in July 2021 compared to the same month in 2019. This was a marginal decrease compared to the previous month (6.8%). But manufacturing activity, orders and supplier delivery times are still favorable to air cargo.
Geodis freighter flies the flag
Geodis has upgraded its AirDirect services between Europe, the US and Asia with its own leased A330-300 full freighter aircraft in its own livery, becoming one of a very select number of forwarders to operate planes in their own colours. Operating between Amsterdam, London, Chicago and Hong Kong, the aircraft will also serve the China – Europe route in the peak season. The first flight will take off in September.
Geodis chief executive Marie-Christine Lombard, commented: “With the continued strain on airfreight capacity, we wish to ensure a more sustainable supply of air cargo space for our clients and are therefore investing in this, our own, first dedicated freighter. Our aim is to constantly find dependable solutions to secure our clients’ supply chains.”
The freighter, which Geodis is leasing for several years, will be integrated into the AirDirect global schedule. Initially, it will fly three times per week between Amsterdam/London Stansted and Chicago and on weekly rotations between Amsterdam and Hong Kong
It will also provide the opportunity for dedicated full capacity flights for its customers when required.
Executive vice president freight forwarding, Martin Neuville, added: “Our AirDirect service has operated more than 650 air charter flights so far across Asia, Europe, North and Latin America in order to secure capacity for our customer shipments worldwide. The experience gained from these operations has led to the decision to charter our own Geodis freighter.”
AGI goes off-airport in Newark
Cargo handler Alliance Ground International (AGI) has opened a new 76,000sq ft off-airport import facility near Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey. The handler is also relocating from existing facilities at Newark (EWR) to a 24,000-square-foot facility on airport at to handle export cargo.
Arriving import cargo will be trucked to the new off-airport facility by an AGI in-house shuttle service.
The off-airport facility will feature 19 cargo bay doors, active ULD charging stations, ULD storage and cold storage and pharma handling areas. It also features electronic flight boards, mobile technology for ramp operations, and truck queuing and management software.
AGI chief executive Jared Azcuy (pictured) said the dual facility solution had been tried and tested at other locations, and would speed up processing. He added: “Newark will shortly be taking back much of the warehousing on airport as leases expire. Our new facilities and digital solutions mean that AGI is more than ready to support customers in New Jersey.”
AGI has committed to long-term lease agreements for both facilities, which are in addition to the 120,000 square-foot Priority Mail facility in South Kearney, New Jersey, operated by sister company Cargo Force.
AGI is the largest independently owned ground handling company in the US, offering domestic and international operations, as well as priority products, special commodities, and USPS Postal Operations.
It will shortly be launching AGI U, a Cargo Learning Centre dedicated to team member training and development.
China Southern approves new temp-controlled container
China Southern Airlines has approved the Envirotainer Releye RLP temperature-controlled container for use on its aircraft. The RLP is a LD11-sized unit with air flow technology to maintain temperature stability and can take two US pallets or three Europallets. It fills a gap between the larger RAP-size and the smaller RKN-size allowing for increase efficiency by mixing and matching sizes. It has rechargeable batteries and can power its system for over 170 hours on a single charge.
Kerry profits healthy despite Covid
Hong Kong forwarder Kerry Logistics Network said its revenue increased by 68% year-on-year to HK$36,709 million while core operating profit rose 70% to HK$2,536 million (2020 1H: HK$1,489 million) in its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2021.Core net profit jumped by 81% year-on-year to HK$1,530 million (2020 1H: HK$845 million). Group managing director William Ma said that while the Delta variant had severely affected supply chains and disrupted business operations around the world, KLN Group capitalised on the opportunities in this new environment by providing highly customised logistics solutions.