Freight industry team brings cricket to the wider world

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April 4, 2022

Virgin Atlantic Cargo and forwarder Woodland Group are helping the Bat For A Chance charity bring the game of cricket to girls across Pakistan. Together with construction equipment manufacturer, Energy, it has gone into partnership with FemGames, a female empowerment initiative that is currently implementing an ambitious five-year plan to bring ‘empowerment’ through sport to a hundred girls’ schools across Pakistan.

Using cricket as a launchpad, FemGames hopes to eventually add other sports, including football and tennis, to upskill the next generation of Pakistani women with valuable life skills, through quality sports and life coaching, to complement the work of the schools in education.

FemGames is the brain-child of Ebba Qureshi, a recently appointed BFAC trustee and the wife of former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo transported a donation of cricket equipment to Lahore for Roshan Sitara Primary School.

Energy has sponsored the purchase of kit to be donated to projects in Barbados, Sri Lanka and India, as well as Pakistan.

Managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, Phil Wardlaw, said: “It is an honour to bring our expertise in transporting cargo to such a worthy project, and we’re grateful for the support of our freight forwarding partner, Woodland Group, in supporting this shipment.

“At Virgin Atlantic, our purpose is to empower everyone to take on the world and use our business as a force for good, through our communities, our people, and our partners. Partnering with Bat For A Chance means Virgin Atlantic Cargo can bring a real opportunity for children to participate in this wonderful sport and experience the joy of cricket, in both Pakistan and across the world.”

Air Canada expands freighter flights

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Chris Lewis

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March 31, 2022

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Air Canada Cargo is to expand its freighter network, with flights from Toronto to Halifax starting April 19 and services from Toronto to Frankfurt, Cologne, Istanbul, Madrid and St. John’s, from in May. It will follow the entry into service of the carrier’s second Boeing 767-300ER freighter aircraft.

The carrier put its first dedicated Boeing 767-300ER freighter aircraft into service on 9 December. The initial plan was to operate to Frankfurt but the new plane was pressed into service to move cargo from Toronto to Vancouver to relieve flood-hit British Columbia.

Cargo commercial managing director, Matthieu Casey, said: “The entry into service of our second freighter is yet another exciting milestone in the growth of our freighter network and provides more options and services to the cargo community.”

SWISS marks two decades of flying

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Chris Lewis

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March 31, 2022

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SWISS celebrated its 20th anniversary, marking its first-ever flight from Basel to Zurich on 31 March 2002. The Airline of Switzerland was formed from Crossair and of Swissair’s flight operations, after the former carriers went out of business in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The carrier says that its early years were marked by rigorous restructuring and uncertainty over its continued viability. An initially oversized aircraft fleet had to be substantially downscaled, together with the original workforce, before the new company could generate profits. The new SWISS also lacked the critical mass required to survive alone in the fiercely competitive air travel marketbut its future was secured in 2005 through the company’s integration into Germany’s Lufthansa Group.

SWISS today serves 92 destinations from its Zurich hub and 46 points from Geneva and carries more cargo and passengers than any Swiss airline has ever transported in the past.

During the Covid pandemic between March 2020 and February 2022, SWISS’s Swiss WorldCargo airfreight division performed 2,650 all-cargo flights that transported over 69,300 tonnes of cargo and provided Switzerland besides many with urgently-needed medical supplies such as facemasks and vaccines.

The High Chaparral

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Chris Lewis

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March 31, 2022

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FedEx Express is to test Elroy Air’s Chaparral autonomous air cargo system in its ‘middle-mile’ logistics operations, moving shipments between sorting sites from next year. California Bay-based Elroy Air is building the first end-to-end autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aerial cargo system in the US.

Elroy Air unveiled its Chaparral autonomous aircraft in January 2022. It can autonomously pick up 300-500lbs of cargo and deliver it up to 300 miles. The Chaparral is capable of longer-range flights without the need for additional infrastructure, such as airports or charging stations.

FedEx and Elroy Air will pursue certifications and begin flight testing in 2023.

KN-chartered Antonov brings aid to Ukraine

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Chris Lewis

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March 30, 2022

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Freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel chartered a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 freighter to fly 111 tonnes of aid from Sharjah airport to the aircraft’s home country, via Poland, on 29 March. The shipment was sourced from UNICEF’s warehouse in Dubai and landed in Poland the same evening for trucking to Ukraine. Kuehne+Nagel International chief executive Detlef Trefzger, said: “It is symbolic in itself that we can make one of the largest deliveries of aid to Ukraine with a Ukrainian Antonov airplane. The forwarder has pledged to offer emergency aid to Ukraine worth 10 million Swiss francs in the form of logistics services.

Forwarder Woodland finds room to grow in LA

By

Chris Lewis

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March 30, 2022

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Global forwarder Woodland Group has moved into a new and larger space in Los Angeles. Weekly export consolidations to Australia and Europe. It offers full omni channel logistics services covering import, export, domestic, FCL, LCL, air and warehousing services, along with in-house customs brokerage. Woodland, which opened its first US location in 1991, specializes in transatlantic air consolidation and in serving Australasia from the US.

DHL signs deal for six more freighters

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Chris Lewis

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March 29, 2022

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DHL Express has signed a deal with aircraft leasing company Cargojet for five additional B767 freighters in 2022-23.

Cargojet provide ACMI, CMI, charter, and aircraft dry lease services to support DHL’s international requirements for Europe and North, South, Central and Latin America, as well as Asia and currently operates 12 freighters to service its requirements.

DHL also intends to be Cargojet’s inaugural launch customer for the B777 wide body long-range converted cargo freighter, which are expected to be deployed in late 2023 or early 2024.

Qatar Airways offers eBooking on CargoWise

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Chris Lewis

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March 29, 2022

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Qatar Airways Cargo and software company WiseTech Global have launched a direct eBooking solution, building on the flight schedule and operational data exchange implemented last year. The eBooking connection between WiseTech’s CargoWise platform and Qatar Airways Cargo management system, CROAMIS, enables freight forwarders using CargoWise to choose their flight and confirm a booking in real-time, without having to leave the platform. Bookings made through the platform can also be modified.

Head of airline connectivity at WiseTech Global, Scott McCorquodale, said: “The air cargo industry has historically been very manually-based, which contributed to substantial inefficiencies. This has all changed in recent years, with many airlines now firmly prioritising their digital transformation projects. With the new eBooking connection now available to CargoWise users, forwarders are able to confirm their bookings without any input from airline staff – dramatically speeding up the process, and allowing forwarders to focus on providing value-added services to their customers.”

AGI unblocks Chicago congestion

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Chris Lewis

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March 28, 2022

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Cargo handler Alliance Ground International (AGI) says it has reversed “stifling” cargo congestion at Chicago O’Hare with new technology and a new 253,000sq. ft off-airport import center with new racking and cargo mobility systems.

Vice president business development, Warren Jones, said: “AGI is the largest ground handler in Chicago, and the digitisation of our handling processes has made us the most capable.

“It has enabled us to foster a culture change in communication that will benefit freight forwarders and our airline partners alike.

“The combination of the OCC’s Flight Tracker Radar System, integrated Cargo Sprint software, capacity optimization heat mapping, and the upcoming AGI online ‘real people’ chat center has meant that AGI can directly communicate with forwarders, airlines, and other service providers to deliver a new level of stakeholder communication.”

The cargo mobility system monitors where cargo is situated within the import center, enabling forwarders, through the AGI website, to check on the progress of their freight, he added.

The introduction of canine screening, in line with Transport Security Administration (TSA) regulations that came into effect on July 1, 2021 has also boosted efficiency.

Following a recent visit to the facility, executive director of the US Airforwarders Association, Brandon Fried, said: “AfA worked very hard with the TSA to get the third party privatized canine programme underway. It is fantastic to see it work in practice and know that it will significantly help with regard to the reduction of cargo congestion currently hampering the efforts of our membership today.”

Charter broker comes to refugees’ aid – in the air and on the ground

By

Chris Lewis

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March 23, 2022

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Air Charter Service has now arranged more than 20 relief flights to Poland and several more to Moldova carrying cargo such as tents and medical supplies, to aid Ukrainian refugees. Its team has not only been facilitating flight operations, but has also been purchasing and delivering supplies to various border camps and driving refugees to other destinations in Poland.

ACS’s director of government and humanitarian services, Ben Dinsdale, commented: “The stories are terrifying, and we are pulling out all the stops to make sure we do our part in the operation and get as many humanitarian flights into surrounding countries where Ukraine’s refugees have been arriving. We expect many more flights over the coming weeks and months, as the refugee numbers continue to grow. Generally the flights have been arriving into Poland, but we have also had several to Chisinau in Moldova, which is a short drive to the border.”

He added: “Beyond focussing on the charters we are also looking at what we can do to help the families that our team in Poland is meeting. Through our Charity Committee our employees raised more than £10,000 so far and we have put that to good use. The team in Poland hired a van and filled it with supplies including nappies, baby food, baby wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, sanitary products and snacks for children, and delivered it all directly to refugee camps. After finding out that a shortage of accommodation and onward transportation was becoming a problem, they then hired a minibus and have personally transported over 40 people from 12 families from the camps to major cities – some days they were driving for 15 hours.”

Head of the ACS Charity Committee, Katie Ivie added: “The team on the ground have done a great job so far, but we are trying to do more. We currently have a number of larger projects in the works to help families fleeing this conflict. ACS has a long history of working with Ukrainian airlines and customers, many of whom have family either fleeing the conflict or who are stuck in Ukraine, so we are reaching out to do what we can. We are also directing anyone who will listen to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee as no doubt there will be millions more refugees pouring into Europe to escape the fighting.”

View a video about the ACS team’s efforts here: here