Home Blog Page 187

Lufthansa special handling goes digital

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Lufthansa Cargo is partnering with IBS Software to digitalize critical handling processes for special products and services like dangerous goods, pharmaceuticals and fresh produce. Part of the carrier’s Mobile Digital Handling initiative, it usess IBS Software’s iPartner Handling solution to provide a single access, easy to use set of mobile and web tools that ground handlers can use to carry out specialised workflows and tasks. The platform also offers digital connectivity options for handlers via APIs and has been designed with future industry initiatives such as IATA’s ONE Record in mind.

Under the first stage of the roll-out, over 30 Lufthansa Cargo stations in Europe, Asia and the Americas will go live, further stations and several new use-cases and enhancements being added to the solution. The first five stations have already successfully gone live.

AGI adds to JFK footprint

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Alliance Ground International (AGI) has expanded its operations at New York JFK. The handler has moved into Cargo Building 22, adding almost 12,000sq ft of office space and 82,000sq ft of warehouse space to its existing facilities at the airport.

Florida-headquartered AGI already offers services at JFK’s Building 77, Building 86, and at Building 21.

Operations from the new facility are due to begin on 1 December.

Vice president business development, Warren Jones, said the expansion would allow AGI to increase operations to existing clients as well as support new airline customers.

Last month, its opened a new 76,000sq ft off-airport import facility near Newark Airport and is relocating its on-airport activity to a 24,000sq ft building.

We’re back to normal after Covid, says Hactl

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Hong Kong handler Hactl says it has returned to full manning and normal operations, following the reported Covid case at its ramp handling team on 7 October, which led to quarantine rules being imposed by theCentre for Health Protection.

All quarantined staff subsequently tested negative, and have now been released from the quarantine centre.

The manpower shortage resulting from the quarantine affected around 20% of flights but – despite the additional impact on all airport operations of two typhoons on 9 and 13 October – the situation was progressively brought under control through increased overtime, re-scheduling of some flights, re-deployment of other ramp-trained Hactl staff and subcontracting of some duties to other operators.

Less than 5% of Hactl’s workforce were affected, and over 80% of flights were handled within normal timeframes. There is no truth in some reports of two-three day delays, it added.

The company has introduced further measures to increase resilience including installation of 120 sanitization devices with more on order, provision of two robots for disinfection of common areas, additional cleaning staff, more frequent cleansing and sanitisation of common areas and extra PPE to staff members handling inbound cargoes from high-risk areas.

Quicker connections at Air Canada

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Air Canada Cargo says its customers can now connect directly and more conveniently through its new Application Programming Interface (API) solution. API will streamline manual interactions such as quoting, booking, scheduling, and track and trace requests and connect different systems and processes to offer an enhanced booking flow. It will reduce the amount of time taken to complete a booking or AWB.

US carriers increase London links

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

American Airlines Cargo will offer services from London Heathrow to nine US cities from November in its winter schedule. It will operate double daily to New York JFK, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and daily to Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia Chicago and Charlotte .

There will also be a special limited-time service in November between Frankfurt and important production and consumption centers in the US South East.

Sales Director for the EMEA and  APAC regions Tim Isik, said capacity has proved to be very tight over the last eighteen months, adding: “We have really strong demand for all kinds of cargo including automotive parts, perishables like fresh salmon and flowers, and life science products like pharmaceuticals. Our European customers are continuing to take advantage of our extensive trucking network into the UK from where they can take advantage of our growing number of options for direct flights to our critical markets in the US.”

All routes will be operated using Boeing 777-200, Boeing 777-300 or Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

United Airlines has also announced plans to increase its London flights in the spring.

It will offer a total of 22 flights per day to London from March 2022, more than any other U. carrier, it said.

The expansion includes two more flights from New York/Newark, a resumption of daily flights from Denver, second daily flight operated by a Boeing 787-9, additional trips from Denver, an all-new direct 767-300ER flight from Boston.

United currently operates seven flights to Heathrow from the US; two daily from New York/Newark and Washington DC and one daily flight from Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco. In December, service will increase to 10 daily flights, with additional flights from New York/Newark and Chicago.

Vaccines for Uganda

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Ceva Logistics moved 700,000 doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine from Beijing to Entebbe International Airport for the Ugandan Ministry of Health under its Forpatients healthcare scheme. The product required a temperature of between 2 to 8°C throughout transport and storage. Ceva said its team responded quickly to provide a solution for the 21 pallets of vaccines in a challenging spot airfreight market.

Executive vice president of Ceva’s global healthcare sector, Niels Van Namen, said: “Our healthcare customers, like the Ugandan Ministry of Health, are looking for transport options that keep the end patient in mind. Individuals receiving Covid vaccinations should not have to worry about the reliability of their dose. That’s our job, which is why behind every shipment, we see a patient.”

WFS ditches plastic in landfill

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) says it has reduced the amount of plastic languishing in landfill by 616,885kg -the equivalent of 68 million disposable water bottles – in just 12 months after converting to using biodegradable stretch wrap for cargo shipments.

Regular plastic can take 1,000 years to biodegrade in a landfill. However, the BioNatur biodegradable plastics it is using will disappear from landfill in only 5-10 , it says.

WFS converted the majority of the plastic used in its North America cargo handling business over to the BioNatur products launched by M&G Packaging. BioNatur Plastic i products are manufactured with a small amount of organic, food-safe additive that allows anaerobic bacteria to digest the plastic in landfill. Outside landfill it has an indefinite shelf life and performs exactly like traditional plastic products.

Hermes offers easier access to flight data

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

Hermes Logistics Technologies (HLT) has re-engineered the user interface for its import flight planner to give customers a more streamlined view of their operational data.

HLT’s new Import Flight Handling Solution combines data and functionality from the previously separate Pre-Flight and Flight Monitors without having to open separate windows.

Users can simultaneously view air waybill (AWB) and unit load device (ULD) data, and access functions such as Service Management & Recovery, without the need to switch back and forth between screens.

Product manager, James Plested, said: “Our aim was to provide the user with as much detail as possible whilst reducing the number of interactions required to view and manage the data. The result is a drastically improved ability to prepare and monitor complex flight data, allowing users to work, review, and complete tasks far quicker than before.”

Five more months for carbon-free freighters

By
Chris Lewis
-
0

DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo will extend their weekly CO2-free freighter flights between Frankfurt and Shanghai through the winter schedule until March 2022 and has signed up phone maker Nokia to the initiative.

The partners say the flights are the only ones in the world that use Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) exclusively. The fuel is produced from renewable waste, such as used cooking oils.

Over the next five months, Nokia will ship 10 tons of communications network equipment a week from a production facility in Shanghai to its European hub in Tilburg in the Netherlands.

The CO2 released during combustion in the engine is only the CO2 which was removed from the atmosphere during the photosynthesis phase of the plants used to produce the oils. However, SAF is currently around three times more expensive than conventional fossil kerosene. In the future, other types of renewable fuels will also be available including power-to-liquid fuels (PtL) based on renewable electricity, water, and CO2.

The SAF used for the flights is produced by Finnish firm Neste which is will increase its production to 1.5 million tons a year by the end of 2023.

Air Partner moves 30 million vaccines in four months

By
Chris Lewis
-
0
An employee oversees a Sputnik V (Gam-Kovid-Vak) vaccine production line operated by a contractor, the pharmaceutical company Biocad, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. IMF Photo/Sergey Ponomarev 12 March 2021 Saint Petersburg, Russia Photo ref: SP2103012003.jpg

The freight team at Air Partner, say they have transported over 30 million Covid vaccines across the world since July. To date, the broker has arranged over 40 dedicated charter flights to 15 countries across four continents.

As well as moving finished vaccines and vaccine raw materials, the freight team has also flown large volumes of PPE from Asia to the UK, Europe and US.

Group chief executive Mark Briffa, said: “The value of our Freight offering has never been clearer than during the global pandemic, when we have been able to provide quick, reliable and effective support to customers needing to transport critical goods, such as PPE and vaccines, around the world. The Freight team continues to be exceptionally busy, and we are pleased that we can play this important role at such a pivotal time in the global recovery.”

1...186187188...204Page 187 of 204