Air Partner has appointed Kim Borgaard as head of business development for the Nordics region. The broker says it reflects growing demand cargo and passenger charters. He will be based just outside Copenhagen, and will leverage his wealth of expertise to drive the company’s growth across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. He joins Air Partner from Chapman Freeborn where he spent 13 years as Nordic sales manager and also worked for SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
Etihad launches secure high tech service
Etihad Cargo has launched a SecureTech service for consumer electronics. It is the ninth addition to the carrier’s suite of premium products and is dedicated to the safe and secure transportation of consumer electronics, including mobile phones, laptops, tablets and other lithium battery-powered devices.
Products are monitored during the build-up and break-down of palettes in secure and controlled storage areas at the origin, during transit and at the destination. Constant surveillance is provided by security personnel or CCTV systems, ensuring only authorised personnel have access to shipments during transportation.
Etihad Cargo recently became the third Middle Eastern airline toachieve IATA Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators Lithium Batteries (CEIV Li-batt) certification. It delivers training programmes to ensure teams are handling lithium batteries safely and securely and with the aid of a specifically designed acceptance checklist.
The carrier has seen a surge in demand for air cargo capacity for the transportation of consumer electronics, with a significant increase in the number of mobile phones from India.
SriLankan space available on Cargo.one this summer
SriLankan Cargo has signed a partnership with the Cargo.one platform, its first deal with a digital sales channel.
From summer 2024, freight forwarders can use Cargo.one to book SriLankan Cargo capacity, for both general cargo and perishables, across its entire network including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Chennai, Delhi, Singapore, Shanghai, Canton, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Sydney.
SriLankan Cargo has a network of 37 destinations in 21 countries across Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East and Australia and, with its road and partner networks, reaches over 200 destinations worldwide.
Head of cargo at SriLankan Cargo, Chaminda Perera, commented: “Our digital sales progression is now a key driver of our growth, and cargo.one is a logical expert to expedite our transition. We can have total confidence that every SriLankan Cargo customer will enjoy a top-class digital experience. It is excellent to see that our teams are already kick-starting smart initiatives to maximize our market opportunities.”
Founder and co-chief executive of Cargo.one, Moritz Claussen, added: “We are proud to play an important role in fueling the exciting growth of SriLankan Cargo, our first South Asian carrier. By entering the digital market strongly with a world class, customer centric sales channel, SriLankan Cargo is best placed to leverage its valuable strengths and deliver for many more forwarders globally.”
Schiphol launches upgraded community system
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (Schiphol) has launched the upgraded version of its port community system (PCS) following four years’ of development with its wholly-owned cargo information platform, Cargonaut.
The PCS is a single platform for information and data exchange between all cargo stakeholders at Schiphol and external authorities such as Customs.
The improvements deliver faster data processing, greater transparency and full compliance with latest IATA standards and guidelines.
Schiphol head of cargo, Joost van Doesburg (pictured), said: “By upgrading specific parts of the PCS, the system is more robust and future-proof. This means we can continue to safely ensure the smooth import and export of a large amount of cargo.”
He added that careful development means that the PCS is fully future proofed being able to integrate upcoming tech as it evolves. For example, later in 2024, a Secure Import System is scheduled for implementation. This informs forwarders when an import shipment is ready for collection by an air cargo handler, at the same time cross referencing data to improve security.
Work is also underway on the Truck Visited Management System to improve and streamline waiting times for cargo deliveries and collections.
Head of Cargonaut, Marco van Katwijk, added that new technologies, including API Connections (software), XML (data migration) and the OneRecord data model, allows air cargo partners to exchange data easily and transparently.
Say it with airfreight
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching handler Swissport says that 9,000 tons of blossoms travel safely through its Flower Corridor, from the Kenyan highlands to Europe.
Every week, 400 to 500 tons of cargo, 85% of which are fresh flowers, normally pass through Swissport’s 10,400 square meter cargo centre at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, but this volume increases by over 50% in the run-up to Valentine’s Day. The facility is IATA CEIV Fresh-certified.
Swissport says its Flower Corridor has transformed the handling of fresh-cut flowers connecting Nairobi with key locations in Europe such as Liege, Brussels, and Amsterdam, as well as markets in the Middle East and the Far East. Delivery trucks dock at the hermetically sealed gateway, which connects to the temperature-controlled perishables centre. After immediate unloading, flowers undergo temperature screening and are assembled into ULDs before transport to the cold room for aircraft loading.
American Airlines Cargo meanwhile said it had moved more than 1.2 million lbs of flowers ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Out of Europe, Amsterdam Schiphol remained the top origin for flowers this year. Top destinations for Dutch blooms include Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth New Yoerk JFK, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago O’Hare.
American also shipped significant volumes of flowers out of Latin America. Bogota had the highest volume, followed by Quito and Medellin heading to key destinations in the including Boston, Dallas and Phoenix.
Valentine’s Day is the first date in the year where American sees notable flower volumes, followed by the Emperor’s Birthday in Japan, Easter, Mother’s Day in the U.S. and Europe, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
And Dallas Forth Worth (DFW) airport said that the flowers and bouquets purchased across the North Texas region on Valentine’s Day will be a lot fresher thanks to the efforts of the gateway and Qatar Cargo.
DFW handles a special cargo flight that transports approximately 12 tons of fresh-cut flowers from South America to Texas every week on a Boeing 777-200F flight from Bogota, Colombia. The flight began last spring after DFW worked with Qatar Cargo to launch a special cargo operation that filled a need to supply the local market with flowers.
Vice president airline relations, Milton De La Paz, explained: “We saw a gap in the marketplace for delivery of fresh flowers to the North Texas area that was historically done by trucks that took far longer and resulted in products with significantly reduced shelf life. With our state-of-the-art cold chain facilities and strategic location, DFW is well-equipped to bring in-demand imports to the Metroplex and the state. Qatar Cargo seized the opportunity to supply the region with fresh flowers direct from Colombia.”
Direct delivery to DFW means approximately 2-3 days of additional shelf life.
Challenge Group adds 747 freighter
Challenge Group has acquired an additional Boeing 747-400F aircraft. It offers nose-loading capacity and a 120-tonne payload, and the group anticipates that it will be deployed between Europe and the Far East.
It recently diversified its fleet with the addition of a B767-300BDSF aircraft in August 2023 and is continuing a conversion program. The full fleet of four B767 converted freighters expected to be fully operational by the third quarter of the year.
Chief commercial officer, Or Zak, said the new 747 was “an ideal choice for transporting commodities such as heavy and oversize, horses, pharma, aircraft engines, dangerous goods, cars and other complex verticals and will enhance our capacity and flexibility, allowing us to tap into new markets as well.”
Challenge Group offers air freight industry solutions including handling, air and ground logistics and aviation services. It employs over 1,000 people across three airlines (Challenge Airlines IL in Israel, Challenge Airlines BE in Belgium, Challenge Airlines MT in Malta), a commercial division (Challenge Air Cargo), ground handling and a European road feeder services in Europe.
Trucks keep Dutch gateway busy
Maastricht Aachen Airport (MAA) reported a 270% year-on-year increase in trucked freight volumes for 2023, offsetting a drop in flown cargo following last year’s shutdown of its runway for improvement works. Trucked freight increased from 11,120 tonnes to 31,056 metric tonnes in January 2023 to December 2023, while flown freight was down from 108,218 metric tonnes to 32,275 tonnes for the same period. The second largest cargo hub in the Netherlands, invested €35.3 million as part of a plan to extend the runway’s operational length to 2,750 meters by end of 2025.
UPS opens Zaragoza hub
UPS has officially opened its new package sorting and delivery facility in Zaragoza, Spain. Occupying more than 4,000sq m, the new operation can sort 3,000 packages per hour, a 30% increase compared to the previous facility, thanks to updated processing technology. •
Some 70% of Spain’s GDP and 50% of its population are located within a 300km radius of the facility, which has strong connections to Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and the Basque provinces
Other recent investments by UPS in Spain include a €40 million hub in Barcelona. UPS’s subsidiary Bomi Group, also opened a new €18 million GMP- and GDPcompliant healthcare storage and distribution facility in Madrid
Pictured left to right: Romina Lorenzo, country manager, Iberia; Raquel Campos, director of strategic planning and logistics Aragón Government; and Margarita Sacristan, center supervisor, UPS.
DHL breaks ground on new Frankfurt site
DHL Global Forwarding has held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new air freight center at Frankfurt Airport. The air and ocean freight specialist of DHL Group is developing the 55,000sq m site at CargoCity which will take about twelve months to complete with an expected inauguration date in mid-2025. It will primarily handle air freight for its German and international customers and manage charter flights with its in-house service provider StarBroker. The new complex also includes 25 truck parking spaces and some 185 car parking spaces.
Gebrüder Weiss takes over Salt Lake City’s Cargo-Link
Austrian forwarding and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss is to take over Salt Lake City, Utah-based Cargo-Link. Cargo-Link was founded in 1976 and, with its 15 employees, is mainly active in sea and air freight as well as customs clearance s. It operates a 2,000sq m warehouse close to Salt Lake City International Airport.
The move follows establishment of new locations in Laredo, Texas, and Miami last year. Since setting up its own country organization since 2017, the logistics service provider has established 11 US locations including its Chicago headquarters, as well as Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, El Paso, Laredo, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.