German-owned global forwarder DB Schenker has set up an API (Application Programming Interface) connection with American Airlines Cargo to help digitalize and streamline booking processes.
DB Schenker Americas senior vice president of airfreight operations and procurement, Benno Forster, said the it would eliminate the need for external platform logins and enable direct access through DB Schenker’s system, not only simplifying the booking experience but ensuring speed and accuracy.
Head of global sales for American Airlines Cargo, Indy Bolina, added: “The API connection with DB Schenker offers a more personalized booking experience. It enables us to work closely with DB Schenker on their preferred platform, ensuring that our mutual customers benefit from the exclusive rates and efficient service that this partnership offers.”
German owned forwarding and logistics company Dachser has opened a new warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia, its second warehouse in the area and its fourth multi-user warehouse in the US – and, at 130,000sq ft, by far its largest contract logistics facility in the country.
It offers space for 16,500 pallets, 27 gates, and inventory management systems through Dachser’s own Mikado system. Dachser says that for US customers that already have a business relationship with Dachser in Europe, the software gives global consistency.
Hartsfield – Jackson Atlanta International Airport is less than five miles away and the seaports of Mobile, Charleston and Savannah within a five-hour driving radius.
As well as two warehouses in the Atlanta area Dachser also operate two in Chicago, offering services including customs clearance, CTPAT registration, cargo screening and road transport.
British-owned forwarder Woodland Group has attained Customs CFS status for its their New Jersey facility. The location has expanded its service offering to import air and ocean CFS freight handling alongside its existing international freight handling, air cargo screening and transfer services, transload, cross dock, air and ocean export consolidation and storage. The 70,000sq ft facility is ‘A’ classified close to the main airports and ocean terminals of New York and New Jersey, and is the forwarder’s largest US facility.
Director of Woodland Group USA, Dan Williams, commented: “Being able to offer complete deconsolidation for air and ocean imports to be customs cleared in our facility in New Jersey gives us full control and visibility of goods arriving into the ports of New York and New Jersey as part of our global consolidation services. Handling customs clearances in our own facility provides complete visibility to our own in-house Woodland Brokerage customs team as well as our customers through our one-stop digital supply chain management platform, Woodland Online.”
Dronamics has signed with Qatar Airways what it claims is the first interline agreement between an international airline and a cargo drone airline.
It allows the extension of the delivery networks of both partners, significantly increasing their reach as well as providing access to areas previously hard to reach by traditional air freight.
Dronamics will offer cargo services from any of its droneports, initially in Greece, to the wider Qatar Airways Cargo network – including destinations such as Singapore, China, including Hong Kong, and the New York JFK. Qatar Airways Cargo in turn will be able to access remote locations that Dronamics serves, such as the Greek islands.
Dronamics customers can make a single booking to transport goods from a Dronamics droneport to any destination that the interline joint network covers, and vice versa for goods including pharma, food, e-commerce, mail and parcels and spare parts.
Dronamics is expected to begin commercial operations in Greece early in 2024, focusing on establishing a same day service connecting Athens, the capital city, with the industrial north area of the country, as well as the islands in the south.
In November, it signed a letter of intent with Aramex to supply technology to the UAE forwarder for same-day middle-mile and long-range deliveries and, in October, a LoI with Emirates Post Group.
Earlier this year, it also became the first cargo drone airline to obtain IATA & ICAO designator codes, allowing it to issue air waybills.
Pictured: Svilen Rangelov, co-founder and chief executive of Dronamics with Elisabeth Oudkerk, senior vice-president cargo sales and network planning at Qatar Airways Cargo
Freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel loaded four tonnes of Scottish salmon on board Virgin Atlantic’s Flight 100 from Heathrow to New York on 28 November, the first operated by a commercial airline to operate on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The cargo, from sustainable producer Bakkafrost, was non-revenue but K+N, one of Virgin’s top cargo customers, purchased Scope 3 emissions credits for the flight.
The Boeing 787 flight was a one-off, carrying no passengers apart from observers. It was the culmination of a collaboration by Virgin Atlantic-led consortium, including Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Imperial College London, University of Sheffield, ICF and Rocky Mountain Institute, in partnership with the UK’s Department for Transport.
Virgin Atlantic believes that SAF has a significant role to play in the decarbonisation of long haul aviation. The fuel is made from waste products, and delivers CO2 lifecycle emissions savings of up to 70%, whilst performing like traditional jet fuel.
It says that SAF can be used now, while other technologies such as electric and hydrogen remain decades away. However, it currently accounts for less than 0.1% of global jet fuel volumes; currently, aviation regulations do allow for a 50% SAF blend in the fuel used in commercial jet engines.
Virgin says its Flight100 proves that the challenge of scaling up production is one of policy and investment, and is calling on industry and government to move quickly to create a thriving UK SAF industry.
The SAF used on Flight100 was a blend of 88% HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids) supplied by AirBP and made from waste fats and 12% SAK (Synthetic Aromatic Kerosene) supplied by Virent and made from plant sugars.
According to a Virgin factsheet, the aircraft would have its engines drained if remaining SAF, tested and refuelled with conventional aviation fuel before being returned to service.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Shai Weiss, said: “Flight100 proves that Sustainable Aviation Fuel can be used as a safe, drop-in replacement for fossil-derived jet fuel and it’s the only viable solution for decarbonising long haul aviation. It’s taken radical collaboration to get here and we’re proud to have reached this important milestone, but we need to push further. There’s simply not enough SAF and it’s clear that in order to reach production at scale, we need to see significantly more investment. This will only happen when regulatory certainty and price support mechanisms, backed by Government, are in place. Flight100 proves that if you make it, we’ll fly it.”
The airline’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, said: “The world will always assume something can’t be done, until you do it. The spirit of innovation is getting out there and trying to prove that we can do things better for everyone’s benefit.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Today’s historic flight, powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel, shows how we can both decarbonise transport and enable passengers to keep flying when and where they want.
“This Government has backed today’s flight to take-off and we will continue to support the UK’s emerging SAF industry as it creates jobs, grows the economy and gets us to Jet Zero.”
Swissport has launched air cargo handling operations in Australia with services at Sydney Airport starting during November. It follows the acquisition of the Australian airport ground handler Aerocare in 2018. Swissport’s first cargo customers in Australia – VietJet and Batik Air – will be able to expedite imports to and exports from Australia via their Ho Chi Minh City gateways to markets across Asia via Vietnam.
AP Moller-Maersk’s Maersk Air Cargo arm has chosen Bournemouth Airport as its UK gateway for a trial of a new weekly route from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Zhejiang, operated by a 45-tonne capacity Boeing 767-300 freighter.
It is part of Maersk’s growing air freighter network between mainland China, Southeast Asia, Europe and the US. In March it launched a service from Hangzhou to Billund in Denmark, and from Hangzhou to Chicago Rockford in the US in April.
The Bournemouth route will initially operate until the end of the year, helping to meet peak demand, with potential to continue thereafter.
Managing director of Maersk Area UK & Ireland, Gary Jeffreys,said: “It’s fantastic to see Maersk Air Cargo landing in the UK. This represents our integrator strategy and demonstrates our product offering and capabilities across all modes of transport.”
Earlier, Bournemouth Airport-based Cargo First air added a third Airbus A340 aircraft to its China route and is now operating up to nine flights a week. Capacity on the route has tripled in the six months since Shenzhen Sharing Express Logistic-Tech started the route between Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport in China and Bournemouth in April.
Menzies Aviation has gained IATA CEIV Pharma accreditation for its cargo facility at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The team of 250 employees at the 37,000sq m warehouse handles 300,000 tonnes of cargo each year. Prior to certification, Menzies implemented IT upgrades to ensure all relevant pharmaceutical checklists were digitized and correct handling was guaranteed. It is the fifth Menzies facility to be awarded the accreditation, joining London Heathrow , Sydney, Melbourne and Budapest.
Dachser has acquired the remaining 30% of shares in its Dachser South Africa arm and is now the sole owner of the Johannesburg-based country organization. The German-owned logistics provider entered a joint venture with the family-owned company Jonen Freight in 2011 and has now acquired the remaining shares from the founding Duve family. Detlev Duve, son of the company’s founder, will continue to lead Dachser South Africa as managing director.
The company offers air and sea freight transport as well as contract logistics services at three warehouse locations, along with road transport for industries such as chemicals, agriculture and mining.
The air freight market could see a return of “classic seasonality” in 2024, says Oslo-based analyst Xeneta in its 2024 Outlook.
Chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw, said the coming year “could be an opportunity for shippers to catch their breath after the volatility of the past few years. The rapid rate decline which started earlier this year has calmed down in recent months. It seems (that) the market has a new baseline, from which I expect classic seasonality patterns to emerge.”
Airfreight costs skyrocketed during Covid-19 before plummeting again during 2023, although they are still 32% up on pre-pandemic levels.
As with all rollercoasters, a wobbly feeling will remain for a good while after the ride has stopped and air freight continues to be a hugely challenging market, adds Xeneta. It remains as important as ever to understand supply chain data at both a global and regional level.
The Xeneta Air Freight Outlook 2024 highlights muted consumer spending as a key factor for the year ahead. Demand for air freight in 2023 remains down by -8% compared to the pre-pandemic figure and is only predicted to grow by 1-2% in 2024. At the same time, supply is expected grow by 2-4% in 2024.
Van de Wouw said: “The key indicators are not great from a demand point of view. It’s muted and there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world. People and companies are a bit more conscious how they are spending their money and we will likely not see demand pick up in any meaningful way in 2024.
“Yes, we will see a return of classic seasonality, but it will be muted seasonality.”
Xeneta data reveals an increasing trend for longer term contracts, but Van de Wouw believes this presents a potentially perilous situation for freight forwarders in 2024.
He said: “There is fierce competition and I understand why freight forwarders want 12 months contracts to secure volumes and shippers want to lock in for a longer period to reduce their workload.
“The problem is freight forwarders are selling long term contracts but buying the majority of volume from carriers on the short term spot market. If the rates go up, there is a serious issue.
“We saw it recently out of Vietnam where 70% of volume is bought on the spot market. Rates suddenly went crazy prior to Golden Week and freight forwarders told shippers they could not honor the contracted service.
“This could happen in any market and is a real risk for next year unless freight forwarders and airlines can find common ground on long term rates.”
The Xeneta Outlook 2024 also predicts that the continued recovery of capacity will put downward pressure on rates, along with environmental sustainability and improving schedule reliability in ocean freight shipping.
Has the rollercoaster really come to a halt or are there more twists and turns yet to come?
Van de Wouw said: “At Xeneta I have learned how incredibly important it is for the air freight industry to look towards the ocean.”
With 97% of global containerized goods transported by sea: “Given the volumes involved, if the ocean industry mess things up, even to a small degree, then there is always money to be made in the air.
“Reliability in ocean is improving, but it only takes one black swan event for the situation to change and rates to increase rapidly.
“No one has a crystal ball, but you only have to look at the drought in the Panama Canal, threat of volcanic eruptions in Iceland and conflict in the Middle East to understand how delicate and sensitive to world events the air freight industry is.
“If we do get a black swan event in 2024 then strap yourselves in for another ride on the rollercoaster.”
