Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has become the first cargo terminal and logistics corporation to have its training courses received accreditation under the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (HKQF). The courses covered are Hactl’s Certificate in Special and Temperature Controlled Cargo Handling For Supervisors (QF Level 3); its Certificate in Dangerous Goods Awareness Training For Handlers (QF Level 2); its Certificate in Conflict Resolution (QF Level 3); and its Certificate in Service Excellence (QF Level 3). The accreditations are valid for two years and subject to re-accreditation. HKQF was launched in 2008 by the HKSAR Government, covering qualifications in the academic, vocational and professional as well as continuing education sectors to promote lifelong learning and enhance the quality, professionalism and competitiveness of Hong Kong’s workforce.
WFS achieves IATA standard in North America
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has achieved IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) registration for its headquarters in North America.
ISAGO is an internationally recognised system for assessing the operational management and control systems of airline ground handlers. The ISAGO registration validates WFS’ Management System in North America, where WFS provides cargo and ground handling services for over 130 airlines at 114 airport stations.
The process includes a detailed headquarters audit as well as station audits to verify documented and operational conformance to over 800 standards across six different areas of discipline.
WFS reviewed its training programs, operational procedures manuals and management system processes.
The ISAGO registration covers ramp handling, aircraft ground movements, passenger services and baggage handling, cargo operations, load control, and quality and safety management.
DHL in African chimp rescue mission
It goes without saying, of course, that chimpanzees should not be pets or forced to live with humans. Unfortunately, many of chimpanzee orphans at the Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection (LCRP) sanctuary are victims of the illegal pet trade, their mothers killed by poachers and now requiring around the clock care.
Recently, DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa partnered with LCRP to safely transport four vulnerable chimpanzees from Guinea-Bissau to Liberia. They arrived in their new home on 9 July, just in time to celebrate World Chimpanzee Day on 14 July.
Guinea-Bissau has no sanctuary to safeguard the four chimpanzees, prompting negotiations with LCRP, which partnered with the Governments of Guinea-Bissau and Liberia, several animal protection partners, and DHL Express SSA to ensure the safe passage, rehabilitation, and reintegration of the chimpanzees into a community in Liberia.
LCRP was founded in 2016 to rescue chimpanzees who are victims of illegal bush meat and pet trades and it aims to make sure that these wild chimpanzees are indeed kept wild.
The four chimpanzees were transported in an ATR72 LCD (large cargo door) aircraft, which minimised impact of on and off loading of the animals. The aircraft was also modified to ensure first-class treatment throughout the 2hrs 20minutes flight from Osvaldo Vieira International Airport in Guinea-Bissau to Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia. They were accompanied by veterinarian Jim Desmond, co-founder of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection.
Billund flight to help Virgin tap into US e-commerce market
Virgin Atlantic Cargo is to introduce a thrice-weekly freighter flight between London Heathrow and Billund Airport in Denmark, operated by a Titan Airways Airbus A321F.
The flights, on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, will replace trucking links, and will have a capacity of 28 tonnes per flight says the carrier.
The new route will be aimed at Danish e-commerce exports to North America.
Head of cargo sales at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, Steve Buckerfield, commented: “We are very excited to bring this new dedicated all-cargo service, connecting our customers in Billund and the wider Scandinavian Region with Virgin Atlantic’s extensive route network via London Heathrow. We will be targeting urgent pharmaceutical, automotive and perishable cargoes destined for the US, Africa, Israel and the Indian Subcontinent.”
Billund Airport chief executive Jan Hessellund, added: “As a result of some good route development and great performance in our cargo centre, Billund Airport is once again chosen by an air freight operator. Virgin Atlantic Cargo is a large, recognized airline that will support the Danish e-commerce exports to the American market. We look forward to welcoming them.”
American Airlines puts US network on WebCargo
American Airlines Cargo is now offering customers full access to its US network through Freightos’ WebCargo and 7L Freight platforms. The carrier, which operates more than 5,000 daily departures from the US, says it now provides a larger network for flights in and out of the US on WebCargo than any other carrier.
DHL green tech is music to the ears for Music of the Spheres
DHL has teamed up with Coldplay as the official logistics partner Music Of The Spheres world tour – with a remit to minimise its carbon and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 50%.
DHL’s GoGreen Plus Service offers including use of advanced biofuels for ocean and air freight along with an extensive fleet of electric vehicles and trucks fueled with Bio-LNG liquified natural gas made from organic waste.
T rest of the supply chain is made climate neutral by full lifecycle emission compensation.
As for the shows themselves, every one will be powered by a mix of renewable energy (such as wind and solar energy) and certified renewable biodiesel. The band even harness fan energy through state-of-the-art kinetic floors and power bikes.
The band has also pledged to plant a tree for every ticket sold and to draw down significantly more CO2 than the tour produces through investment in a diverse range of carbon offsetting initiatives.
DHL and Coldplay’s shared hope is that the Music Of The Spheres Tour will provide lessons and best practices for other artists to build on and push the live music industry towards an ultra-low-carbon and sustainable future.
Kale to speed freight through Canadian gateway
Vancouver International is to adopt Kale’s Airport Cargo Community System. A proof of concept will take place ahead of full implementation of the solution, which aims to streamline cargo flows and address truck congestion, which continue to affect many North American airports as cargo volumes swell.
Kale’s system will enable advance shipment notifications to be sent from shippers, agents, and truckers to cargo handlers and airlines at the airport, bringing real-time updates on estimated arrival times, as well as details of cargo on board.
Advance truck slot booking capabilities will enable trucking companies and ground handlers to coordinate landside freight movements.
Kale’s mobile app allows slots to be booked dynamically and adjusted automatically, in line with peaks and troughs in truck arrivals at the airport.
Earlier this year, Kale successfully piloted the truck slot and dock management module of its Airport Cargo Community System with Worldwide Flight Services at New York JFK, reducing truck waiting times by up to 66% for exports and 48% for imports.
Transatlantic leads the way as airfreight rates droop
Extra summer airline capacity put downward pressure on freight rates, especially on the North Atlantic which has seen a 30% decline over the past three months, said CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta.
Global air cargo volumes fell again in June, down 8% year-on-year, added the industry analyst.
Demand in the general airfreight market in June was also down 7% compared to 2019 and follows the 8% drop in volumes reported by CLIVE for May 2022.
Available cargo capacity in June rose 6% over the same month of 2021 but remained -11% down on the 2019 level. CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor’ for the month was 59%, 9% lower than in 2021 and 2% adrift of June 2019.
However, general airfreight rates in June were 129% higher than in 2019 and 13% higher than in 2021. Although this continues the decline seen on a global level in recent months, the drop slowed relative to May.
Xeneta chief airfreight officer and CLIVE founder, Niall van de Wouw, said: “In our analysis of air cargo market performance in May, we said the North Atlantic market could provide ‘a test case for the direction of other markets once they also return to their pre-Covid levels.’ This is still true, and we may see the consequences sooner than we anticipated a month ago. General North Atlantic airfreight rates dropped by around 30% between the first week of April to the last week of June.
“This brings these rates very close to the 2020 levels. If we just look at the Spot market, the rates are already lower in the last two weeks of June 2022 compared to 2020 by around 5% and the market has yet to bottom out. This will be causing some interesting soul-searching for airlines and forwarders.”
He added that will flights from Asia to the US and Europe remain relatively full, there could be a knock-on effect from the softening air cargo market? Carriers could deploy their freighters to other markets in Asia Pacific, Africa, or South America.
Niall van de Wouw added: “It will also be interesting to see the reaction of forwarders that have secured air cargo capacity directly with airlines or through charter brokers or ACMI providers because, in a softening market, more options are available. They were willing to pay a price for reliability and their own control, but they may now be considering how much cheaper it could now be to use commercial airline capacity. And, has the ‘cost of living’ crisis even started to kick-in yet?”
Rising cases of Covid will be another market concern, he said, as is the continuing struggle to tackle the people drain in the aviation and logistics industries. He pointed to reports of restrictions on freighter operations at Frankfurt Airport due to labour shortages as well as the recent study by IRU, the international road transport, which shows 2.6 million truck driver vacancies went unfilled in 2021 and forecasts a worsening situation in 2022.
Relatively low wages and poor working conditions for some workers on the frontline of supply chains, van de Wouw said, means “we won’t see this struggle disappear anytime soon.”
Cargo iQ launches air trucking pilot
The Cargo iQ airfreight organisation has initiated a pilot study to enhance visibility in airfreight trucking with Emirates Airlines, logistics operator Jan de Rijk and software company CargoHub.
It will test new Cargo iQ road feeder services specifications, ensuring that message standards work in practice.
CargoHub is providing the collaborative decision making platform, which provides information on truck movements to handling agents and airlines and provides capacity and cargo availability information to trucking companies.
The partners are currently performing various air cargo shipment scenarios with live shipments, while a second pilot will include additional participants.
Cargo iQ executive director, Lothar Moehle, said: “Ultimately, the RFS specification will be integrated into the Cargo iQ Master Operating Plan and the potential IT service solutions will be standardized to fit the Cargo iQ requirements, allowing members to choose one of the potential providers.”
US forwarder buys Ukraine’s Concord-Trans
US-based Logistics Plus has acquired Ukrainian-based freight forwarding and logistics company Concord-Trans.
Located in Kyiv, with a second office in Odesa, the purchase includes nearly a dozen in-country logistics professionals specializing in road, sea, and air freight transportation, customs clearance capabilities, and project cargo management.
Logistics Plus chief operating officer Yuriy Ostapyak, who is a Ukraine-born US citizen, said: “Logistics Plus remains committed to supporting Ukraine, and the Ukrainian people whose lives have been ripped apart by this war.
“The activities needed to rebuild Ukraine after the war will be significant. The acquisition of Concord-Trans gives Logistics Plus the additional in-country expertise needed to play a major role in providing the logistics solutions needed to support the long-term rebuilding efforts.”
Oleksandr Korzun, general manager of the Ukrainian company, added: “We are very pleased to join the Logistics Plus team. It is especially nice to do this at such a difficult time for our country. I am very grateful to Logistics Plus for the outstretched hand of help to our company and Ukraine as a whole. I hope that together we will do a lot of good for both the company and Ukraine.”
Before the acquisition of Concord-Trans, Logistics Plus already had a significant presence in Ukraine, with an office with nearly 50 people in Ivano-Frankivsk in the west of the country. Earlier this year, Logistics Plus established lpukrainerelief.com, which has raised over $660,000 to help Ukrainian refugees. The company has also been working with local organizations to warehouse and transport multiple containers of relief goods to the region.