Emirates SkyCargo is to provide direct access to its flights for its cargo customers through the CargoWise platform. They can now make cargo bookings direct on the platform for most of their requirements after completing a short registration process. With the roll out of under way, by the end of September, most customers will be able to make bookings on through the platform by the end of September.
Thominet moves to exec chair role at ECS
Current chief executive Adrien Thominet has been appointed executive chairman of global GSSA ECS Group, succeeding Bertrand Schmoll. He has been with ECS Group for more than 25 years, becoming its chief operating officer in 2011 and then chief executive in 2017. In his four years as chief executive, ECS Group has seen rapid growth in its network and client base and has developed the Total Cargo Management. It represents over airlines of all sizes across the globe, and provides capacity support to around 10,000 freight forwarders, transporting a record 1.1 million tons of cargo in 2020.
Leipzig leaps ahead
Annual freight volume at Leipzig/Halle has already exceeded the 1 million tonne mark in August, according to the airport authority, Mitteldeutsche Flughafen.
Volume at Europe’s fourth-largest air cargo hub reached 1,025,187 tonnes, an increase of 18.4% compared to the same period in the previous year. The 125,050 tonnes processed in August alone represented an increase of 15.1% compared with the same month in the previous year.
The total amount of freight handled in the previous year set a new record at more than 1.38 million tonnes.
The airport is serving as a transhipment centre for medical relief supplies and protective equipment in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic. Freight charter flights have transported millions of Covid-19 tests, for example.
The airport is also DHL’s largest hub in the world and the first regional air freight centre for Amazon Air in Europe.
SriLankan is first customer for WFS CenterPoint
SriLankan Airlines has become the first new customer at Worldwide Flight Services’ (WFS) CenterPoint cargo terminal at London Heathrow. The airline has awarded WFS with a 32-month contract, from September, to provide cargo handling and airside transport for its Airbus A330-300 flights connecting London and Colombo. SriLankan currently operates a weekly flight on the route but is expected to increase frequencies as schedules are restored after Covid. Prior to the pandemic, SriLankan Airlines carried some 9,500 tonnes of cargo annually between the two countries.
WFS now operates over 350,000 sq. ft. of cargo facilities at Heathrow. In the last 12 months, the UK operation has also won a new contract with Gulf Air and extended its existing agreement with Vietnam Airlines.
CenterPoint, which opened this summer, enables WFS to provide offers an off-airport location to complement its longstanding presence at Heathrow’s World Cargocentre. The building also provides the capacity needed to grow its portfolio, which currently consists of 14 international airlines.
The building incorporates a mezzanine floor suitable for handling ecommerce, mail and courier shipments in addition to 30,000sq ft of ground floor space.
Ceva opens Singapore pharma site
Ceva Logistics has opened a temperature-controlled airfreight station next to Singapore’s Changi International Airport. It offers areas with 15-25°C Celsius and 2 to 8°C and forms part of the forwarder’s Temperature Sensitive Solution pharmaceutical logistics offering. Ceva remains committed to operating a network of more than 40 similar stations by the end of 2021 with Atlanta, Chicago, Frankfurt, Madrid, Budapest and Mumbai scheduled to open in the coming months.
Geodis offers greener airfreight option
Freight forwarder Geodis is now offering its customers alternative fuels for air and seafreight, in addition to the road transport option it already offers. The fuels are produced using food and agricultural waste (mainly cooking oil) and their use allows for a massive reduction in CO2 emissions of at least 80% for air and 90% for sea transport, along with a reduction in other pollutants.
It’s not just vaccines that are vital
Volga-Dnepr Group’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines arm has completed five Boeing 747F charter flights with packaging machines for Covid-associated materials from Frankfurt in Germany) to Atlanta.
Over 200 tons of machinery was delivered under the National Healthcare Association project in cooperation with Geis Air + Sea.
Global healthcare director at Volga-Dnepr Group, Yulia Celetaria, said: “The success of our joint battle against COVID-19 spread lies not only in the scale of vaccine production facilities but also in the well-timed logistics of the so-called peripheral cargo – packaging, vials, injection syringe, PPE for medical personal and other associated items.”
UPS opens UK mega-hub
UPS has officially opened its expanded air hub at East Midlands Airport. The36,000sq m operation can now sort up to 22,500 packages per hour – more than twice the capacity of the previous facility and scale up more easily during peak periods. There are six daily flights to key markets, including Germany and the US.
The facility features automated scanning and sortation systems and it is served in part by liquefied natural gas UPS vehicles that refuel at the nearby ground hub in Tamworth.
Don’t pay us – donate, Cool Chain Association tells delegates
The Cool Chain Association is asking delegates to its virtual Perishables Conference on 15 September to donate to children’s charity Every Infant Matters instead of paying a registration fee.
Every Infant Matters serves poverty-stricken communities in India, Nigeria, and the Dominican Republic with last mile healthcare solutions.
The conference will provide a platform for delegates to learn about new ways to drive quality and efficiency in the temperature-controlled supply chain. It takes place on Wednesday 15 September from 15:30 to 18:00 CET.
Indian airport hits monthly record
Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru has reached its highest monthly cargo throughput since starting operations in 2008. It processed 37,319 tonnes in August – the highest ever since the Airport commenced operations in 2008. International cargo – imports and exports – accounted for 24,304t also the highest ever. The airport is the third busiest airport in India and has the highest cargo processing capacity.