Airfreight trucker Sterling Transportation has appointed Lance Small as chief strategy officer. He spent the first 20 years of his career in operations at some of the biggest companies in the industry followed by two decades on the sales side of the business.
As CSO of Sterling Transportation, Small will be responsible for leading its growth initiatives and executive leadership development, leveraging his skills and experience to guide future expansion, refine internal processes, and spearhead the company’s commercial strategy.
Sterling chief executive Keith Davis said: “Over the past year, we added a number of heavy hitters. Lance is the next critical piece of this dream team. His track record of success and extensive experience in the transportation industry will be invaluable to our company.”
Saudia Cargo has signed a 12-month space and service commitment with Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, until March 2024 that reserves exclusive freighter flights from Hong Kong to Riyadh and Liege. Saudia Cargo said it was also exploring new lanes from Hong Kong and China to the Middle East, Africa, and possibly Latin America in the long term.
Cargo manager system provider Hermes Logistics Technologies (HLT) and Awery Aviation Software have gone into partnership to provide a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for airlines.
They describe H2A as the only comprehensive platform to manage all processes across the entire shipment lifecycle, from warehousing to flight management and commercial activities, as well as all HR and business processes behind the scenes.
The Cloud-based, end-to-end solution will enable airlines to manage, monitor, and automate all aviation business processes and cargo operations on an integrated IT platform.
It digitises key processes across flight scheduling, fleet management, track and trace, imports and exports, ULD control, and invoicing and accounts, whilst offering flexibility to suit the specific needs of its users.
CharterSync is offering a fully integrated digital end-to-end booking process and management system for freight forwarders, due to be rolled out to customers in June 2023.
Fully integrated into CharterSync’s existing web and mobile booking platform, the new process captures and consolidates all data and documentation associated with a charter booking, aggregating it into a central ‘hub’ which can be accessed in real time by all parties.
The process provides a central repository for key documentation such as airway bills, permits, air cargo manifests, customs declarations, load plans, technical drawings as well as emails and other correspondence formerly conducted off-platform.
Another significant efficiency will be the ability to automate and expedite the contract phase thanks to integration with PandaDoc, an electronic signature software tool which populates a contract template with data and client information extracted during the booking process.
Etihad Cargo is using Descartes’ Bluetooth Low Energy solution, integrated with Jettainer’s unit load device (ULD) management services, to improve ground processes and to gain insights into the transport and ambient conditions of air cargo in transit.
The carrier expects to reduce the number of lost ULDs and tell exactly where they were last seen. It also expects to simplify ground processes, for example, by reducing the time and effort spent on stock take.”
Descartes’ ULD tracking uses Bluetooth tags fixed to containers or pallets, mobile applications and mesh networks to automate end-to-end tracking of assets. Tags also give easy access to real-time location information, shipment-level condition data, such as temperature, light, humidity and movement, and chain of custody detail. Tags can also be added to any ground service equipment, like dollies, for full control over equipment.
American Airlines has approved the Envirotainer Releye RLP and RAP containers for use on its fleet of aircraft. It will allow the carrier to meet the increasing demand to deliver life-saving medicines that need to be temperature-controlled in transit.
The carrier’s head of customer experience, Eric Mathieu, said: “The Releye RLP and RAP containers are reliably designed for transporting critical life sciences and pharmaceutical shipments, making it a perfect addition to our current cold-chain network.”
Envirotainer has meanwhile appointed Delphine Perridy Boile as its new chief sales officer (CSO). As a member of the executive management team, she will lead all sales and marketing activity, taking responsibility for meeting growth targets.
Narrow-body ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) and Charter operator Avion Express – a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group – is planning to expand in South America by establishing an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) under Brazilian regulations. Chief executive Darius Kajokas said the new airline will operate a fleet of Airbus A320 family aircraft for cargo and passenger operations, including Airbus A321F freighters. It is expected to commence operations in late 2023 or early 2024.
Supply chain visibility company FourKites has introduced a number of new air freight features.
.The include a Carrier Events View allowing shippers to compare data from carrier websites against FourKites’ milestones, events and ETAs making use of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Easy Load Creation enables shippers to generate air shipments with limited information, thereby accelerating the process.
New Transit Time, On-time Performance,, Milestone, Customer Health and Lane dashboard s allow for more strategic decision-making through insights on carrier and lane performance.
Split Shipments let customers track shipments that have been split onto different flights or routes, and monitor quantity and weight at flight level.
Booking Details — including flight number, status, origin/destination, arrival/departure time, quantity, weight and volume — provide clear visibility into the flight expectations compared to the tracking updates happening in real time.
Over the last 12 months, FourKites has experienced 150% growth in air volume, and now tracks across more than 100 airlines and 17,000 airports,
It adds that its Dynamic ETA for Air tracks nearly 100% of air freight with highly accurate and automated ETAs within 9 hours of arrival.
The air cargo market may have to wait until October for a recovery after a flood of summer bellyhold capacity on major lanes and a -4% drop in demand in April, according to the latest weekly analysis from CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta.
Airfreight spot rates dropped -41% versus April 2022 as a 7% rise in cargo capacity reduced load factors and led to a 14th consecutive month of falling volumes year-over-year. CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor, measuring global volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available, dropped -5% pts versus 2022 to 57% in April, continuing a more than year-long decline.
Summer capacity had its traditionally profound impact on the air cargo market from Europe to North America, with capacity up 26% in comparison to March 2023. Data showed a 10% pts decrease in load factor across the North Atlantic to 57% last month, compared to the 67% level recorded to major North American airports in March. This pushed the general airfreight spot rate on this westbound lane down to US$2.29 for April.
While air cargo market performance in April is normally affected by seasonality, it was particularly affected as the Easter, Eid, Pesach, and Ramadan public holidays all came together closely. However, this didn’t disguise the softening market conditions, says Xeneta chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw.
“This is a market that will test companies. If you look at Europe-North America, what other industries see supply increase from one month to the next by 26%, very much outside of their control. This is a tremendous jump in capacity and, consequently, we saw a corresponding -12% fall in spot rates on these routes.
“Shippers will be happy, freight forwarders less so, while the strong return of the leisure passenger market, and signs of improving corporate travel and lower fuel prices, is making passenger airlines upbeat and providing the long-awaited boost they needed.
“Of course, we should not forget that freight rates are still elevated but the influx of belly capacity this summer means the air cargo market may have to hang on until October, when winter schedules begin and capacity is reduced, for the next signs of an upturn in volumes and yield,” he stated.
But any rise in demand in Q4 remains increasingly uncertain. “If you listen to their earnings calls, you’ll hear shippers pushing back on expectations of a big inventory replenishment later in the year. So, these are really tough times for air cargo.
“The market is in the doldrums we do not currently see this changing until much later in the year or early 2024. The air cargo market is readjusting and this will also open up new opportunities, but we see a difficult few months ahead. Right now, we don’t see any ‘ripples on the water’ to indicate more wind to give the market an uptick in volumes in the near future, ” van de Wouw added.
Emirates SkyCargo has added two leased Boeing 747-400Fs to its freighter fleet, the first instalment of a plan to double its capacity in next decade.
The Dubai carrier is expecting 15 more freighters to join its fleet from announced orders and its freighter conversion program, plus a boost in belly-hold capacity from new passenger aircraft deliveries starting with Airbus A350s in late summer 2024, followed by 777-Xs the year after.
It also expects to add over 20 new destinations to its freighter network.
Divisional senior vice president, Nabil Sultan, said: “While the current market volatility may cause others to hesitate, Emirates SkyCargo is pushing full steam ahead with our plans. The medium to long term projections for global air cargo show an upward trajectory of between 3-5%. Combine that Dubai’s strategy to double its foreign trade where multi-modal logistics will play a big role, and the economic activity happening in markets around the Gulf, West Asia, and Africa, and the opportunity for Emirates SkyCargo is clear.
“The two new 747-Fs which we have leased will give us immediate capacity, while we wait for delivery of five new 777Fs in 2024 and 2025, and 10 777-300ERs to roll out of our conversion program over the next five years.
Secured on a long-term wet-lease basis, the two Boeing 747-Fs complement Emirates SkyCargo’s existing fleet of 11 Boeing 777 freighters, and are currently being deployed to Chicago three times weekly and to Hong Kong nine times weekly.
Emirates SkyCargo has also launched two new tailor-made solutions for the global healthcare industry.
Emirates Vital will be used to transport clinical trials, human organs and tissues, cell and gene therapy, with a ‘control tower’ team monitoring every shipment and with speeded up connection times in Dubai for shipments of under four hours by utilising the bulk hold of the aircraft and dedicated vans on the ramp to move the shipments to the connecting flights.
Emirates Medical Devices transports everything from ventilators and test kits, to X-ray machines and MRIs. It ensures all cargo moved follows Medical Device Regulations and Good Distribution Practice.
