Middle East owned handling company dnata has promoted Phil McGrane to chief executive in Brazil. He has been with dnata for over 10 years and, since last July, has overseen dnata Brazil’s operations as acting chief executive. He was previouslychief commercial officer.
Dnata has significantly expanded its footprint in Brazil and currently operates at 29 airports in the country, serving more than 15 airlines, having in 2022 acquired the remaining 30% stake in dnata Brazil.
The company offers ground handling, cargo and other services at over 130 airports in more than 30 countries.
Virgin Atlantic Cargo is to launch a new framework for its freight products with a choice of Classic, Priority, and Express service levels.
Classic is the entry service level that delivers all the essentials at a competitive price.
Priority provides preferred access to space and guarantees delivery on time for.
Express offers the fastest solution, with the shortest close out times and highest priority for urgent or last-minute shipments.
Each product group will also come with a selection of core attributes that have been tailored toward the industry’s requirements, including General, Courier, Fresh, Pharma, Valuable, Vulnerable, Cars, Mail, and Custom.
Rhenus Group has opened a new air freight hub at London Heathrow. The Rhenus Gateway will bring all the German-owned forwarder’s handling, aviation screening, unit load device (ULD) build up and break operations in-house.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved Regulated Screening site is equipped with latest technology, cargo screening and handling equipment, allowing shipments to be handled without the need for third party screening or ULD build up.
The Gateway will also act as a consolidation hub, allowing Rhenus to increase consolidation services globally, working in partnership with the Rhegreen carbon reduction programme for air freight.
Airfreight trucking company Sterling Transportation has recruited Susan Morbit to its team. Based in Newark, New Jersey she will spearhead sales in the Northeast and Midwest, bringing ten years of experience in less than truckload transportation.
Morbit is well known throughout the freight forwarding community and her endearing personality has earned her the nickname Suzy Sunshine among her peers.
Executive vice president of sales, Scott Klever, said: “I am extremely excited to work with Susan again and look forward to the energy she brings. She is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and extremely dedicated. She is one of the few people that beats me to work in the mornings.”
Lufthansa Cargo says it achieved a record result for the third time in a row in the 2022 financial year. Revenue rose by 22% to €4.6 billion (previous year: €3.8bn), while adjusted EBIT amounted to €1.6bn euros (previous year: €1.5bn euros). Sales of 7.2bn freight ton kilometers were similar compared to the previous year (7.2bn) but average capacity utilization decreased by 9.9 percentage points year-on-year to 61.1%, while the supply of capacity increased by 17% to 11.8bn freight ton-km.
Chairperson of the executive board and chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo, Dorothea von Boxberg, said: “We again had significantly more capacity in the market due to the growth in long-haul passenger traffic. We notice that our customers continue to serve their global supply chains. With more freighters and more bellies, we will continue to be a strong and reliable partner for our customers.”
The belly segment now accounts for around half of capacity, with cargo transported on more than 7,000 flights a week in summer operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings Discover and SunExpress.
To supplement its existing fleet of 16 Boeing 777Fs and two Airbus A321Fs. Lufthansa Cargo has ordered three current-technology B777Fs and seven B777-8Fs of the next Boeing freighter generation. One B777F has already been delivered in the past fiscal year, enabling Lufthansa Cargo to increase frequencies to high-demand intercontinental destinations such as in China and India and to open a new freighter station in Hanoi, Vietnam. Alongside North and South America, the Asia-Pacific region is one of Lufthansa Cargo’s strongest markets. With the additional entry into service of two Airbus freighters of the type A321F in 2022, Lufthansa Cargo was able for the first time to offer fast transport solutions on short and medium-haul routes for customers from the rapidly growing eCommerce segment
Lufthansa Cargo also expanded digital sales channels and making handling processes more efficient thanks. All shipments were transported with an electronic air waybill for the first time last year.
Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines and broker Air Charter Service have moved an oversized solar turbine from San Bernandino, US to Avalon, Australia on board an AN-124-100 aircraft. Due to the size of the cargo – 67 tons, 11.3 metres long and m length and 3.63m high – the AN-124-100 aircraft type was the only option for transporting the unit by air. For loading and unloading the turbine on the stand the special ramp system for tall cargoes was used designed by Antonov’s in-house engineers. The external cranes for cargoes up to 100 tons were provided by Air Charter Service at both airports.
After successful delivery to the Avalon airport Air Charter Service took care of transporting the cargo to Winchelsea, Victoria where the solar turbine and additional equipment will be using at the gas compressor expansion plant.
The Cool Chain Association plans to draft a best practice handling procedure for perishables based on a series of trials tracking exports from farm to consumer by its partner, Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) in South Africa.
A PPECB pilot trial that monitored cut flower exports from South Africa to Europe last month highlighted the impact of temperature excursions on vase life, said CCA board member and PPECB general manager, Vijan Chetty. (Pictured).
The trial was conducted in collaboration with Arnelia Farms, a South African wholesale flower nursery and exporter, and tracked Sunshine Conebush flower consignments packed on-farm near Hopefield in the Western Cape province of South Africa to destinations in the Netherlands and Germany.
“Trials over the past few years have focused primarily on the final mile of a specific trade lane,” said Chetty, speaking at the Air Cargo Africa Event in Johannesburg, South Africa in late February. “We will be looking at farm to table or vase across a trade lane, and not only focusing on monitoring the temperature of the product, but also aiming to identify all areas where shelf life could be influenced, including, for example, post-harvest practices, packaging and palletisation, and the functionality of cold storage.”
CCA, which recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the PPECB, will review the research trials and identify possible risk areas, in order to draft the best practice procedure.
The PPECB pilot trial used air temperature loggers on two consignments sent two days apart to monitor variations in cold chain conditions. Results showed that mean temperatures reached up to 10.4°C, considerably higher than the 5°C recommended for cut flowers.
Although the flowers arrived in acceptable condition, vase life was affected by this temperature excursion.
PPECB will now run trials on other fast moving perishable items such as berries, and will move on to compare the cool chain, shelf life, and quality of commodities moved by air versus sea.
American Airlines Cargo has appointed Clément Fau, as its new country sales manager for france. Based at the airline’s French headquarters at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG), he will lead the carrier’s sales team activities across the country and report to Emma Oliver, Sales Director for EMEA & APAC.
Fau brings almost two decades of experience in the airline and cargo industry having previously worked for Air France KLM Martinair Cargo most recently as key accounts and pharma sales manager.
CDG is an important hub for American’s cargo activities in Europe, supporting both local and trucked freight from neighboring regions.
German-owned global forwarder Dachser is offering its airfreight customers a Sustainable Fuel booking option. Dachser says it has secured a large consignment of SAF for the launch of the new service, and it will be available to customers on all routes worldwide at an affordable price.
Customers can receive an emissions report on request as well as, in the following year, a certificate indicating the emissions saved, the amount of SAF liters used, the year of consumption and the exact SAF raw material base.
Durban’s air cargo business has recovered by 55% with the return of international and domestic airlines and a 67% rebound in network traffic at King Shaka International Airport.
Dube TradePort Cargo Terminal has processed 10,997 tonnes of cargo from April 2022 to date, an increase of 31% from the previous year.
Senior manager for cargo development and operations at Dube TradePort Cargo Terminal, Ricardo Isaac (pictured below), noted: “We have always maintained that once we have the airfreight capacity, freight forwarders and shippers will choose to fly cargo directly into Durban, this positive movement reaffirms our understanding of the KZN air cargo market.”
While local South African carrier Comair exited the market after entering voluntary business rescue proceedings (the equivalent of Chapter 11) the 38% capacity gap at King Shaka International Airport was filled by operators including FlySafair, Airlink, CemAir and Lift.
