UPS Healthcare has opened three new specialized cross-docking facilities in Mexico City, Milan, and Frankfurt for pharmaceutical shipments with a range of time and temperature control requirements.
The facilities in Mexico have CEIV Pharma Certification, and cover 10,700sq m. They support temperatures from ambient to frozen (2 to 8°C, 15 to 25°C and -15 to -25°C.
Spanning 28,500sq m, the Milan facility has over 20,000 pallet positions capable of storing shipments from 2 to 8°C and 15 to 25°C. Located next to the airport, it provides direct movement of shipments to outbound vehicles, bypassing storage and giving quicker delivery times.
The new facility in Frankfurt covers -15 to -25°C, 2 to 8°C and 15 to 25°C temperature ranges. It is close to Frankfurt airport, and UPS’s European air hub at Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany. This allows for short transit times, including next-day and two-day service, to global destinations.
The facilities follow the opening of a cross-docking facility in Hyderabad, India.
UPS’s facilities in Amsterdam, New York, Shanghai, and Miami have achieved CEIV Pharma Certification joining facilities across Asia in the company’s global network.
Swissport International has expanded its ‘Flower Corridor’ to key European air cargo destinations ahead of Valentine’s Day on 14 February. It gives a fully temperature-controlled, end-to-end process for the transport of fresh flowers from Kenya to Europe, extending shelf life by up to a week.
This Valentine’s season, Swissport expects to handle more than 250 million flowers at its air cargo center in Nairobi, Kenya, one of the key origins for fresh flowers . Flowers move from Kenyan farms via Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta Airport (NBO) to global destinations on 35 additional freighter flights.
Swissport is s investing in capacity and technology to handle perishable and sensitive freight within a pre-defined temperature range, which must be maintained throughout the entire ground handling process: from the arrival of from farms, through the high-speed vacuum cooling process during acceptance, to the loading of pallets onto the aircraft. This ‘Flower Corridor’ which Swissport first rolled out in Kenya two years ago, has now also been implemented at key European air cargo destinations in Amsterdam and Liège.
Qatar Airways Cargo meanwhile has transported 2,800 tonnes of flowers, the equivalent of 42 million fresh-cut red roses from Kenya and South America in time for Valentine’s Day. From Nairobi, the carrier transported almost 1,600 tonnes on its scheduled flights and charters and from Bogota and Quito, it carried close to 1,200 tonnes to key markets including Amsterdam, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
It operated nine additional Boeing 777 charters from Nairobi and ten from Quito in the fortnight leading up to Valentine’s Day, in addition to its regular scheduled flights.
Miami International Airport said meanwhile that it was expecting to handle 1,500 tons of cut flowers daily between January 1 and the end of February – a 3% increase over the airport’s record-breaking peak season in 2024. America’s largest gateway for flowers, which handles 91% of all imports by air to the US, expects to receive 90,154 tons of cut flowers valued at more than $400 million during this year’s Valentine’s Day rush.
Flowers continue to be MIA’s largest imported product by weight, accounting for almost 360,000 tons annually worth $1.65 billion. It has the nation’s most extensive air route network with Colombia and Ecuador, the two top flower-producing countries in the region
Glasgow Prestwick Airport has handled its longest-ever piece of freight, as part of a consignment for the oil and gas industry.
The cargo was flown from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, alongside two additional 40-foot components for on-carriage to Aberdeen.
The longest piece, 67 feet long and weighing 24 tonnes, was transported on three 20-foot connecting pallets, and required three main deck loaders and two cranes for safe offloading.
The entire operation was completed in 30 minutes.
The Scottish government-owned airport invested in new high loaders last year, with capacities of 20 and 35 tonnes, which were used to offload this consignment. Business development director, Nico Le Roux, said: “Last year, we decided to invest significantly in our infrastructure, and the success of this operation is a direct result of that commitment.” “We are dedicated to supporting our clients and the industries they operate in, particularly outsized cargo for the oil and gas sector, which has always been one of our strengths.”
Air Charter Service has opened its first Italian office in Milan. It will be headed by Leonardo D’Alessandro, who joined the broker in February 2015 at its London headquarters, before moving to the Geneva office in 2018. From there he has been focussing on predominantly Italian clients.
Canadian carrier WestJet Cargo’s capacity is now bookable on CargoAi for general cargo and perishable shipments to all destinations. WestJet Cargo’s rollout on CargoAi started in December 2024. Forwarders can book shipments to all destinations including Canada, the US, the Caribbean, France, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain and Latin America. In addition to real-time pricing and capacity information the platform gives customers tools giving visibility and insight into the environmental impact of their shipments.
São Paulo-based Modern Logistics (ML) has launched an Amazonas Conectado project to help drought stricken communities in the Amazon region.
It includes a Sea-Air service, whereby import cargo is transferred by sea to Manaus, through its own network or through partners and then loaded onto its 737 aircraft or a chartered 747 for delivery to destination, via ML’s warehouse in Manaus.
The service is aimed at perishable and high-value goods including pharmaceuticals, and will reduce dependence on river-borne logistics, says ML.
ML also offers conventional airfreight services that and has also expanded its road operations which can move freight between said: “We use transportation management systems and warehousing systems. With this, our solutions ensure greater agility in operations, from planning to execution, optimizing the use of resources, reducing operating costs and minimizing deadlines.”.
ML also offers full compliance with data protection and cybersecurity standards.
Cathay Cargo says it has become the first carrier to adopt the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) ONE Record data protocol in day-to-day interactions with forwarders, one year ahead of the target date of January 2026.
In December 2024, three freight forwarders on the Chinese Mainland – Sinotrans Air Freight, Wecan International Freight Forwarding International Logistics and All-Link Logistics started exchanging electronic air waybill (eAWB) and shipment status information with Cathay Cargo using an application programme interface (API) designed to ONE Record data protocols.
In January, Sinotrans Hong Kong Air Transportation Development became the first Hong Kong forwarder to submit eAWB information and is now able to review shipment information from Cathay Cargo using ONE Record data protocols.
Cathay Cargo director Tom Owen said: “The technical ease of aligning our key customers’ systems using ONE Record protocols with APIs highlights that there is nothing to fear in making the change and lots to be gained from the operational efficiencies, enhanced security and greater transparency of the overall shipment process.”
IATA’s ONE Record initiative aims to create end-to-end transparency for consignments, logging progress as they pass through the links in the air-cargo chain from shipper to agent, airline, warehouse and statutory authorities such as customs, using IATA’s protocols for APIs.
United Airlines will restart New York Newark to Tel Aviv flights on March 15, with a second daily flight planned to begin March 29. It follows a detailed assessment of operational considerations for the region. The flights will be operated by Boeing 787-10s.
Twenty years on from the Tsunami that devastated communities in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004, UK-based broker Air Charter Service has released a short video on one of the longest, largest and most complex relief operations in its history.
The response involved virtually every person in the cargo division of the company at the time, along with other divisions, and many of those that played a part are now senior figures at ACS. Over the course of the relief effort, which lasted several months, it arranged over 100 charter flights, along with daily missions on cargo helicopters.
Some of the unique challenges that ACS, and other relief organisations faced, included a lacking of handling facilities at airports in the region and a badly damaged road network, making onward transport virtually impossible.
Early in the operation Dan Morgan-Evans, now group cargo director, was seconded to work in the British Government’s Whitehall headquarters to help coordinate aid efforts. From there he coordinated an extensive response, including transporting a highloader to open Medan airport to larger freighters, and transporting Super Puma helicopters from Europe to operate daily missions for the UN to deliver aid to the badly hit coastal towns, that were inaccessible by road.
James Leach, now chief marketing officer, was on the ground in the region and was instrumental in finding a base for the helicopters on an island just north of Banda Aceh. Elsewhere in the region, Richard Thompson, now president of ACS Americas, flew to the Maldives on a flight carrying nothing but 40 tons of water. Other aid flown in included medical supplies, shelter equipment and offroad vehicles. Ben Dinsdale, who was part of the ACS effort 20 years ago, and is now ACS’s director of government and humanitarian services, said: “We’re extremely proud of being able to respond to humanitarian disasters in this way – this work makes up a huge part of ACS’s history.” Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 | ACS Humanitarian Response Retrospective
This year – 2025 – began with lower-than-expected growth in global air cargo demand in January of just +2% year-on-year compared to the double-digit monthly increases throughout last year but fears of a trade war over tariffs impacting volumes and growth forecasts for the year are premature, say industry analysts Xeneta.
January’s data was impacted by the earlier Lunar New Year reducing volumes out of China, but the big drop in demand was still as a surprise, says Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw.
However, he sees no immediate reason to change Xeneta’s +4-6% growth forecast for global air cargo in 2025 despite the market’s nervousness over new tariffs introduced by the US – particularly on China -and their subsequent retaliation.
“The lower growth in air cargo demand in January was not down to President Trump, nor, entirely, the earlier Lunar New Year. It also compares to an unusually high comparison in January 2024,” van de Wouw said. “Nonetheless, the air cargo market in entering a period of uncertainty, which makes planning extremely challenging.
He says that implementation of tariffs by the US and the response of China, Canada, and Mexico are just the start of a negotiation. “We could end up in a global trade war, but in the case of President Trump, we have someone who’s ready to negotiate everything and the rest of the world can influence the outcome, as we have already seen. The consistency here is he’s looking for a deal,” van de Wouw said.
“We don’t know what will happen, but we do understand that uncertainty is not good for trade confidence, and it doesn’t help investment. People like to see some kind of stability before they put their money down. If I was a shipper, I would not be rushing to make too many plans or take any drastic measures. I’d have my team ready to do things differently, but I’d wait to see what actually happens because, right now, there’s a lot of sabre rattling and noise but little clarity.”
E-commerce volumes
Cross-border e-commerce demand was one of the main pillars fuelling global growth in air cargo volumes since Q3 2023. Is this now at risk?
In 2024, China cross-border e-commerce shipments to the US accounted for 25% of its total global sales – and filled over 50% of cargo capacity from China to the US. Suspension of the de minimis exemption could, therefore, have a profound impact on air freight capacity between China and the US and beyond by prohibiting import shipments, increasing costs, and adding time-consuming entry filing requirements and potential customs delays.
Van de Wouw said: “E-commerce volumes out of China grew +20-30% last year, following similar growth in 2023, so it’s going to take a sledgehammer to crack that level of consumer demand and I’m not sure blocking de minimis alone is enough. China e-commerce was not set up to take advantage of de minimis loopholes – it has taken advantage of consumer demand for cheap, fast goods.
“E-commerce products may be slightly more expensive if de minimis is removed, but they will still be cheaper than buying through retailers in the US – but delays in receiving the goods due to operational disruptions could have a bigger impact than price because it takes away the attractiveness for consumers,” he added.
China’s e-commerce giants also knew this day would come and will not allow a business model on this scale to collapse due to de minimis, van de Wouw argued. “Even if de minimis is being blocked, the e-commerce retailers will still keep selling and shipping the goods. There may not be a significant impact on air freight rates in the short term in this scenario, even if it causes chaos at the receiving airport in the US.”
In the longer term, demand for e-commerce – and therefore freight rates – will only be impacted if the consumer feels the cheap price is not worth it if they face a longer wait to receive their goods. “In this scenario, we’d expect to see a major downward impact on freight rates at a global level – but to predict this now would be to ‘cry wolf’. Let’s wait and see. Maybe nothing changes,” he said.
Van de Wouw says the winners of any muted growth in e-commerce volumes will be general freight shippers globally as capacity is deployed elsewhere, placing a downward pressure on rates in these new markets. But, general air freight demand has recorded no real growth in recent years and there’s little expectation of any significant upturn in its fortunes in 2025, he cautioned.
January performance
Global air cargo chargeable weight in the first month of the year grew just +2% year-on-year, influenced also by the diminishing impact of ocean shipping disruptions.
As anticipated, global air cargo capacity showed a similarly modest growth of +2% in January, lowering the dynamic load factor to 57% in January, on par with a year ago. Dynamic load factor is Xeneta’s measurement of capacity utilisation based on volume and weight of cargo flown alongside available capacity.
Nevertheless, global air cargo spot rates in January remained +17% higher than a year ago, reaching USD 2.65 per kg and +56% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. These elevated rates can be attributed to the e-commerce boom, limited air cargo capacity from slow aircraft production, flight rerouting due to Russian airspace closures, and the delayed adjustment of freight rates to supply-demand changes.
Month-on-month, January’s global air cargo spot rate fell -11%, a slower decline compared to the same period a year ago (-13%).
In terms of corridor trends, major global corridors continued to rise year-on-year in January. The largest increase was seen in trade from the Middle East and Central Asia to Europe, with the air cargo spot rate surging +63% from a year ago to US$2.59 per kg, driven by ongoing Red Sea disruptions. This was followed by the Europe to North America corridor, where the spot rate grew +24% year-on-year to $2.36 per kg.
A strategic shift in freighter capacity towards Asia-related trades contributed to moderate rate growth from North East Asia. Spot rates from North East Asia to Europe increased +19% to $4.40 per kg, while rates to North America rose +14% to $4.38 per kg.
In contrast, backhaul trades on these corridors saw spot rate decline due to growing trade imbalances: ranging from -22% on the North America to North East Asia corridor to -2% on the North America to Europe corridor. The only corridor where air cargo spot rates grew in both directions was between Europe and Latin America, with high single-digit year-over-year increases.
