FedEx Express reopens enhanced Madrid gateway

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March 20, 2024

FedEx Express has opened a newly refettled facility in the cargo center of the Adolfo Suarez – Madrid Barajas Airport. The project included full refurbishment of the warehouse, external yard and office block, as well as the installation of a new sort system, castor deck equipment and photovoltaic system.

The main warehouse will be able to manage an inbound capacity of 3,600 packages per hour, plus an outbound X-ray sorting capacity of 450 packages per hour and 1,800 packages per hour for X-ray by-pass. For larger shipments, The site has up to 17 docks for trailers, trucks, and vans for loading and unloading shipments.

Managing director of ground operations for FedEx Spain and Portugal, Ian Silverton, said: “This new gateway will increase handling capacity, provide better reliability and improve the working environment for the team members working at the facility.”

The facility will benefit from the installation of solar panels which are already in place at some of FedEx Europe’s key facilities including Paris and Cologne Hub. The Madrid Gateway will feature 156 and produce about 95 megawatt hours of electricity annually or 17% of the needs of the premises.

Delta Cargo approves ‘Mini Opticooler’

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Chris Lewis

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March 19, 2024

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Delta Cargo has given technical approval for DoKaSch Temperature Solutions’ Opticooler RKN container. The Atlanta-based carrier has been using DoKaSch´s RAP container since 2020 but the addition of the Opticooler RKN offers a solution for more compact temperature-controlled pharma freight.

Delta Cargo operates a global pharma network of 46 approved stations, with recent expansions including Chicago (ORD), Philadelphia (PHL) and Raleigh (RDU). It was the first US passenger airline to receive IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Pharma Logistics Certification, and all Pharma stations adhere to Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards.

The airline’s managing director of global sales and product development, Alison Ricker, said: “The integration of the Opticooler RKN into our fleet represents our ongoing commitment to serving the complex needs of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. We continue to invest in our facilities, operations and staff, steadfastly upholding the most rigorous industry standards. Our commitment ensures customers have ample choices and world-class reliability for their pharmaceutical shipments.”

Managing director of DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, Andreas Seitz, added: “Our collaboration with Delta Cargo, a key player in the US market, highlights the reliability and quality of our Opticooler® RKN. This partnership not only expands our presence in the USA but also strengthens our global network.”

The German-based container maker says that its partnership with Delta Cargo is particularly significant as the US pharmaceutical market is a major component of the global industry. The sector is witnessing substantial growth, especially in the field of biosimilars, and is continually developing new products, creating an escalating need for specialized, temperature-controlled logistics solutions.

The Opticooler, available in RKN and RAP versions, are electrically powered, fully air-conditioned units that can maintain precise temperatures without relying on dry ice and are equipped with batteries for continuous operation.

Silk Way tops up freighter order

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Chris Lewis

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March 19, 2024

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Azerbaijan’s Silk Way West Airlines is to buy an additional Boeing 777 Freighter, scheduled for delivery in 2025. The carrier had already committed to purchasing five similar aircraft, two of which have already been received, with delivery of the remainder to take place by 2027.

The Boeing 777 Freighter offers reduced emissions and lower fuel consumption compared to other freighter aircraft with lightweight composite materials and advanced aerodynamics.

IAG launches Miami-Barcelona route

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Chris Lewis

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March 18, 2024

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IAG Cargo has launched a new three-times weekly bellyhold service between Barcelona and Miami, increasing to four services per week from June. It will be the carrier’s fifth direct connection to the US from the Spanish city and will be operated by IAG’s Level arm.

Barcelona is one of IAG Cargo’s four hubs, alongside London Heathrow, Madrid, and Dublin, and is home to two of the IAG Group’s airlines, LEVEL and Vueling.

IAG Cargo already operates from Barcelona to Boston, Los Angeles, New York JFK and San Francisco – the latter route restarts from 31 March, four times a week.

The carrier’s chief sales and marketing officer, Camilo Garcia Cervera, said: “The transatlantic corridor is an important part of our network and supports so many of our customers. Miami is a thriving logistics hub, strategic for air freight. With our already well-established network connecting major cities in the US with Europe, this new route will enhance our connectivity even more.”

Delta to restart Tel Aviv flights

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Chris Lewis

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March 15, 2024

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Delta is to resume daily services from New York-JFK to Tel Aviv, Israel from June 7. The route will be operated by an Airbus A330-900neo. The decision to resume the route temporarily suspended in October 2023, follows an extensive security risk assessment. Delta says it continues to closely monitor the situation in Israel.

Firms flock to sign IATA digital charter

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Chris Lewis

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March 14, 2024

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IATA has signed up Cathay Cargo, CHAMP Cargosystems, Global Logistics System, IAG Cargo, IBS Software, LATAM Cargo, and Lufthansa Cargo as inaugural members of its Digitalization Leadership Charter.

The charter, announced at IATA’s World Cargo Symposium in Hong Kong on 14 March, aims to boost innovation and efficiency while promoting sustainable and harmonized digital transformation with data sharing based on IATA’s ONE Record protocol.

The Digital Leadership members must commit to developing unified and collaborative digital strategies, interoperability and to use new technology ethically.

It also calls for resilience through robust infrastructure and safeguards against cybersecurity risks.

Munich on the up again

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Chris Lewis

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March 14, 2024

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Munich Airport was the only German major air hub to increase freight traffic in 2023 with an increase of 6.6% year on year, said the Bavarian gateway. Total airfreight volume in Germany as a whole fell by 7.1%, according to German Airports Association figures.

Munich’s freight totalled 284,000 tons, much of it belly cargo, which grew by 11%. January and February 2024 were up by 6.5% and 10.8% respectively on 2023 and freight is now back to almost 90% of the pre-pandemic level.

Munich now has direct connections to China, a new route to Bangalore and four weekly flights to Taipei. This year, it will gain new routes to Seattle, Johannesburg, and Vietnam, as well as additional flights to Beijing and Osaka.

DHL Express will open a new freight building in summer.

Awery to boost Etihad charters

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Chris Lewis

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March 14, 2024

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Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Cargo has implemented a customised version of Awery’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to manage its cargo chartering programme and help it meet a 35% surge in requests. It says the intelligent automation (IA)-based system will streamline operations, improve response times, and improve customer service. And allow Etihad Cargo to classify and prioritise charter queries, improve analytics and performance evaluation, as well as providing access to historical pricing data.

Emirates now on Cargo.one

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Chris Lewis

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March 13, 2024

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Emirates SkyCargo is now live on the Cargo.one digital airfreight platform. Customers can access schedules, tariff and contract rates, and gain real-time access to available capacity. During the initial launch phase, the partnership will roll out in select countries in Europe before expanding across the Americas, Africa, the Far East and Australasia. Emirates SkyCargo’s four core products are listed on cargo.one, including Fresh, Fresh Breathe Airfreight Priority and general cargo.

New era for airfreight quality scheme

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Chris Lewis

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March 13, 2024

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Marie Seco-Köppen is to take over from Lothar Moehle as Executive Director of the Cargo iQ. The airfreight quality organisation has also launched a new membership engagement scheme including a tiered membership program and scorecard for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Seco-Köppen brings over 20 years’ experience in delivering process improvements and digitalization, joining from the Im3pact AG transport consultancy. She is currently also Master Operating Plan (MOP) working group chair at Cargo iQ, said: “In our fragmented industry, quality standards and digitalization remain crucial to attain increased performance visibility, which is required to remove redundancies and jointly

drive-up service consistency for the shipper.”

Moehle is retiring in June after a 50-year career in air cargo and will formally step down in May. He commented: “Cargo iQ is taking the next step in driving quality in our industry by engaging members in two initiatives that put implementation transparency at the heart of the process, as well as ensuring all stakeholders have clear KPIs against which they can measure success and define improvements,” said Moehle.

“The scorecard system will be open for all air cargo stakeholders who engage with Cargo iQ members to use, to measure the quality of their partner’s service, but also their own performance.”

The scorecard is under development for forwarder-carrier and carrier-ground handling agent relationships, concentrates on measuring selected Cargo iQ milestones, including Notified for Delivery (NFD) performance and timely and complete information exchange.

The tier system scheme awards members Bronze, Silver, or Gold membership according to level of implementation and reporting conformance.