Suraj Agrawal, Secretary, Domestic Air Cargo Agents Association of India (DACAAI), “The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has formed the rules without understanding the impact it will have on the trade. Trade should have been consulted before taking decision. Prior to Container Terminal Operators (CTOs), airlines were involved in doing cargo x-ray screenings and handling on their own at the terminals, airlines were forced to stop this work later, and now again, they want airlines to operate. It is difficult to shift business from one mode to another. If something was operational from years, what was the urgency to stop it? Trade should have been consulted, solution should have been taken out, businesses cant stop like this.”

BCAS decision to stop cargo movement has affected the whole air freight ecosystem drastically, says C K Govil, Vice President, ACAAI. This decision is due to airports non-compliance with BCAS RA3 Regulations. Transhipment cargo and domestic cargo both suffering hugely, International as well as domestic freighters are going back empty, air freight rates have gone up, dwell time has been increased, sensitive cargo such as perishables lying at the Tarmac unattended for days- all this has created immense pressure on the stakeholders and local exporters, farmers suffering huge losses. This is happening due to non availability of stringent facilities at airports to ensure cargo safety, but there should be a solution – MoCA, AAICLAS and trade should come up with a solution fast to resolve this issue, which is challenging EODB, and the growth of Indian air cargo industry. The trade is suffering huge losses, this is putting India In a bad light internationally.”

Eleven AAICLAS operated domestic Common User Terminals (CUTs) at T2 & T3 Airports, have been closed for the movement of Domestic and International Cargo due to non-compliance of BCAS-RA norms by AAICLAS, said Yashpal Sharma, President, Air Cargo Forum India. AAICLASS has sighted commercial loss on running of these facilities so have not done needful. He added, “With the sizeable market for international & domestic air cargo moving out of these airports this current deadlock of RA3 facility at all these airports must be resolved by AAICLAS & MoCA on top priority. This situation, which has caused a serious challenge for the growth of air cargo industry and needs to be relooked into favourably in the interest of shippers in the catchment area of these airports if the country has to move towards the targeted growth of air cargo i.e. 10 Million Mt by 2030-31 set by the Government(MoCA) itself.”

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is planning to set up at least five logistics hubs along the 172km Pune ring road, said reports. “Since Pune ring road connects eight national highways/expressways, the MSRDC is keen on setting up at least five logistics hubs along the stretch,” MSRDC officials told in reports. According to reports, logistics hubs would come up along the expressways across the state and this would benefit both the agriculture and manufacturing sector in a big way. “Multi-modal logistics parks in hub and spoke model are part of most highways across the country. They help in lowering overall freight cost by cutting warehousing cost, reducing vehicular pollution and congestion, improving tracking and traceability of consignments through infrastructural, procedural and information technology interventions.”

Kale Logistics Solutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NorthLink Aviation to build the next generation of digital cargo infrastructure at NorthLink’s express freight and e-commerce terminal at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC). NorthLink and Kale have jointly developed a multi-layered digital roadmap to create digital cargo infrastructure at ANC including process automation platforms for e-commerce and cargo handling, a stakeholder collaboration platform and other cross-border management tools, states an official release from Kale. “This infrastructure will help NorthLink create digital differentiation and support its vision of a revolutionary and vibrant logistics hub at Anchorage.” ANC was ranked third in activity among worldwide cargo airports in 2022, the release adds. “NorthLink intends to leverage this opportunity to unlock Anchorage’s unrealised potential as a global logistics hub with an emphasis on cross border e-commerce. To accomplish this goal, NorthLink Aviation is building essential airport infrastructure at ANC to serve air cargo carriers. NorthLink has entered into a 55-year concession for a 120-acre property on the airport’s South Park campus and is developing infrastructure for aircraft parking, fueling, de-icing, and related warehouse and office space.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for April 2023 global air cargo markets, showing capacity (measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers, ACTK) was up 13.4 per cent compared to April 2022 and 3.2 per cent compared to April 2019, marking the first time in three years that the capacity has surpassed pre-COVID levels. “The strong uptick is primarily driven by belly capacity as demand in the passenger business recovers. Adjusting for this, freighter capacity declined 2.3 per cent. Preighter operations ceased in March after 2.5 years of continuous activity,” states the release. Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, said, “The air cargo industry is adjusting itself to the implications of the recovery in passenger demand that brings with it an expansion of belly capacity. Preighter operations stopped in March and freighter services were scaled back by 2.3 per cent in April.” In April 2023 global air cargo markets also showed a continued, but slower, decline against the previous year’s demand performance. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs), fell 6.6 per cent compared to April 2022 (-7.0 per cent for international operations). This decline was an improvement over the previous month’s performance (-7.6 per cent).

Qatar Airways has signed a deal with Shell for 3,000 tonnes of neat (undiluted) Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at air cargo hub Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The deal falls under the airline’s existing jet fuel contract at the airport, but will now include at least 5% SAF over the contract period for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Qatar Airways’ bilateral agreement with Shell is part the Oneworld alliance’s wider target for SAF to form 10% of combined fuel volumes by 2030, said release. Qatar Airways says it will be the first carrier based in the Middle East and Africa to procure a significant amount of SAF in Europe, beyond government SAF mandates. The carrier expects to reduce its emissions on flights from Amsterdam by about 7,500 tonnes of CO2 during the fiscal year. Qatar Airways group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said, “We are strongly committed to supporting the industry’s effort to ramp-up the use of sustainable aviation fuel, as one of the key pillars to decarbonise the aviation industry.” “Last year, we signed our first offtake agreement in the US, and now we are placing a multi-million US dollar SAF deal in Amsterdam to illustrate our SAF commitment and reiterate our calls for a more robust SAF supply chain across our global network,” he added.

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM) in Alabama has begun construction of its first dedicated terminal for general cargo, part of a new focus on attracting cargo business that already includes new chartered freighter flights from Germany. The the $27 million facility, has 48,500 square feet of warehouse space plus administrative offices, 17 dock doors for trucks and five airside bays. According to the Birmingham Airport Authority, the $27 million facility, will serve as the Southeast air hub for Kuehne+Nagel, logistics service provider. The airport in April launched twice weekly flights from Stuttgart, Germany, to support demand from companies in the automotive, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries, including Mercedes-Benz. It is temporarily operating out of an existing hangar under a temporary lease agreement with another airport tenant. Atlas Air and Cargolux are flying Boeing 747 cargo jets, which return via Chicago O’Hare airport, on Kuehne+Nagel’s behalf. Alliance Ground International is providing the ramp services and cargo processing.

Due to challenging business environment amid rising uncertainty in global economic conditions, air cargo freight tonne kilometres (FTK) fell by 5.5% year on year in April, according to preliminary figures released on May 30 by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). With offered freight capacity continuing to increase by 10.4%, the average international freight load factor declined markedly by 10.1 percentage points to 59.8% for the month. AAPA director general, Subhas Menon, said: “Air cargo markets fell 11%, underlining the challenging business environment amid rising uncertainty in global economic conditions.” AAPA added that export activity remained relatively muted, held back by declines in new business orders and trade barriers due to geopolitical tensions. The easing of supply chain pressures also encouraged a shift to maritime shipping, it said. In contrast, the April figures showed continuing recovery in the passenger market. Collectively, Asia Pacific airlines recorded a 250% year-on-year increase in international travellers carried to a total of 20.3m.

IAG Cargo has launched a new cargo handling facility at London Heathrow Airport that enables it to more than double the amount of premium loose shipments it can handle daily. Measuring over 10,000 m2, the semi-automated New Premia facility will serve as IAG Cargo’s new home for handling premium loose shipments. To support the increase in cargo handling capacity, the facility features bespoke IT systems and systems integration to regulate freight movements and allocations. It has been designed to be as efficient as possible, with 11 new landside doors, meaning even faster engagement for drivers to collect or drop off cargo, said release. The temperature-controlled building includes a state-of-the-art Constant Climate Quality Centre (CCQC) for pharmaceuticals, with 29 dedicated cool cells and temperature facilities available from +2°C to +8°C (COL), +15°C to +25°C (CRT) and -20°C (FRO) ensuring sensitive shipments are held in a temperature-controlled environment at all times. Additionally, the +15°C to +25°C (CRT) chamber includes two dedicated break and build workstations. The new facility is certified under IAG Cargo’s Good Distribution Practice (GDP) WDA licence issued by the UK Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency. Operationally, four large ‘transfer vehicles’ have been introduced which service the 20 new break and build workstations. These vehicles pass through the 11 rapid-rise delivery doors allowing cargo to be moved autonomously through the facility and into storage in advance of collection and delivery to the aircraft for exports and similarly the process works in reverse for imports. This process uses ground-breaking technology as the system is fully integrated with IAG Cargo’s existing Warehouse Management System – which is the first time globally that this integration has been delivered.