Category Archives: International

Envisioning Bharat@100, ASSOCHAM organised conference and awards to focus on various issues including ey issues related to cargo. The 13th Annual International Conference-cum-Awards on Civil Aviation & Cargo was held on the theme ‘Driving Post-COVID Growth’ on 28th February 2022. The conference aims to outline the prominent pain points that the industry is facing – pre or post pandemic – and find specific solutions to relieve stress from Civil Aviation Sector, make it self-sustainable and economically viable. Eminent participants included: Piyush Shrivastava, Sr. Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, GoI, Vipin Vohra, Chairman, Continental Carriers Pvt. Ltd., Vijay Sharma, Head Cargo (Commercial Aero), GMR Group, Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Co. and President, Air Cargo Forum of India (ACFI), Keku Bomi Gazder, Chief Executive Officer, AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Company Ltd., Sanat Kaul, Chairman, International Foundation for Aviation Aerospace and Drones (IFAAD), Rajesh Singh, AVP Cargo, Spice Jet Express Ltd. Key Issues discussed in the session were: • Ease of doing business in Cargo • Providing industry status to Cargo • Addressing challenges faced by cargo industry

The unmatched expertise and a strong, global service network are what distinguish ECS Group. With Just Fly It, one of ten individually purchasable New Abilities, the Augmented GSA offers a pure and comprehensive, international charter service. What makes this particular product unique, is that it is designed to support two different customer groups: those seeking capacity, and those with capacity to offer. Freight forwarding clients requiring urgent, additional capacity, can opt to delegate the search to ECS Group. Just Fly It takes care of sourcing the right-sized charter and all the considerations listed above. Yet, Just Fly It is also a unique service offer to airlines with aircraft of all sizes available for charter. They can rely on ECS Group to put these to good use. One such example, Amelia International, which is venturing into the world of cargo, having taken delivery of its first ATR-72 freighter in January of this year. The Ljubljana-based freighter recently set off on its first commercial charter flight when ECS Group matched an urgent customer request. Within a matter of hours, ECS Group agreed the contractual terms and conditions with the customer and supervised the operational preparations for the flight. Matija Krajnc, Managing Director at Amelia International declared: “We successfully operated our first charter flight from Gyor, Hungary, to Bremen Germany. The flight, on behalf of a customer in the automotive industry, took place on 10 February 2022, carrying a full payload of around 7.5 tonnes of automotive components. We are delighted that our ATR-72 Freighter has finally embarked on its first mission to provide much-needed air cargo capacity within Europe. With ECS Group’s support, we look forward to many more, similar flights, soon.”

Tata Steel,has shipped nearly 1,800 tonnes of finished steel products from Haldia Port in West Bengal to Pandu Port in Assam using the Indo-Bangaldesh Protocol (IBP) route via Brahmaputra River. This shipment of Tata Steel’s TMT bars – that arrived at Haldia on rail before being loaded on to river barges – marks the beginning of the use of multimodal logistics, a landmark effort to decarbonise the steel sector and the country. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal, said “that this maiden voyage showcases multimodal movement of cargo by harnessing the power of the river-sea combination for transportation.” The Minister urged other stakeholders to move in the same direction and commit to make it a grand national success. Says Peeyush Gupta, Vice President Supply Chain, Tata Steel, “The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route will help us service the growing North East market better. This route can also be explored for servicing other locations enroute this waterway to deliver steel in smaller lots and in better condition for the benefit of customers in the North-East. The initiative paves the way for seamless and robust integrated logistics solution towards utilising inland waterways for India and Bangladesh.” As Tata Steel became the first in Indian steel sector to transport products over inland waterways, the IBP route will also help them lower their scope 3 carbon footprint. In July 2021, the Company had also pioneered the use of electric vehicles to move finished goods in select locations.

With around 40% of annual global air cargo typically transported in the belly hold of passenger aircraft, the grounding of planes during the pandemic, created a huge gap between demand and supply. Innovations such as loading the cabins with cargo also fell short to fill up the gap and cater to the needs adequately, creating a need and market for all cargo aeroplanes. Looking at the decline of international passenger traffic and scarcity of belly-hold space, India’s freight-forwarding specialist Jet Freight Logistics sees an opportunity and needs to establish its in-house cargo airline. In addition to this, the Incentivization of the aviation industry by the government of India with plans like GatiShakti, and the push towards agri exports has further supported the freight forwarding companies’ ambition of its all-cargo airline. Jet Freight is handling the highest volume of export Agri produced by air in the country today and expects a drastic increase in terms of cargo export volume by air especially Agri export, creating the market for cargo airlines in the coming future. With its Indian all-cargo airline Jet freight aims to help ramp up capacity in the Indian international freight market.

CMA CGM Air Cargo has applied for a US foreign air carrier permit from the US Department of Transportation as CMA CGM looks set to launch its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC) airline in the first half of this year. The application document, which is dated 22 February, said: “CMA CGM AIR CARGO (“CMA CGM”) hereby applies for a foreign air carrier permit to transport property and mail pursuant to the Air Transport Agreement between the United States and the European Union and its Member States.” The document noted that CMA CGM has applied for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and operations specifications from the French Civil Aviation Authority…and “expects the application to be approved soon”. A certificate from the French Civil Aviation Authority would allow the company’s rapidly expanding freighter fleet to serve additional routes out of Paris CDG. This could mean a phased switch of A330-200 freighter services from its Liege hub in Belgium to Paris CDG. The US application document confirms that CMA CGM Air Cargo plans to begin operations in Spring 2022 with service between Paris, France and Chicago in Illinois, New York and Atlanta in Georgia.

Drip Capital, Inc., a leading cross-border digital trade finance platform, announced collaboration with CARGOES Finance By DP World, a platform that enables rapid and seamless access to working capital for emerging-market small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are one of the most integral components of the global supply chain but often face a working capital crunch to facilitate their cross-border transactions. Drip Capital offers collateral-free financing solutions for SMEs engaged in cross-border trade, thereby allowing them to manage their cash flow better and invest in business growth. The fintech firm collaborates with crucial global industry enablers across the value chain for making international trade seamless for SMEs. DP World’s CARGOES Finance Platform facilitates lender-borrower interactions and arranges an array of credit solutions from premier financial institutions worldwide. A partnership such as this will help cash-crunched SMEs avail fast and easy access to trade financing by connecting them to Drip. Elaborating on the collaboration, Pushkar Mukewar, Co-Founder and CEO of Drip Capital, said, “To be a part of DP World’s massive network and get access to a large number of SMEs is a great privilege, and we are excited to begin this journey with them. Besides this, the platform will provide Drip with vital trade data to improve its risk analysis and mitigation processes, thereby helping us procure more clients and lend more confidently. Overall, the partnership will assist us in our mission to make global trade easy and accessible to SMEs worldwide.” Sinan Ozcan, Senior Executive Officer, DP World Financial Services Limited, said: “DP World’s objective is to enable global trade. Access to trade finance is critical for the survival and growth of exporters, importers and logistics companies which are …

Shannon Group has plans to upgrade its cargo facilities at Shannon Airport in Ireland. It’s development, currently awaiting planning permission, is a “2,705 sq m distribution facility”. This facility will be located on a three-acre development site and will incorporate an additional 335 sq m of office accommodation. This facility will provide direct landside/airside access, said a Shannon Group spokesperson. “The upgrade of our cargo facilities is part of our overall plans to enhance the facilities Shannon has to offer to cargo operators using the airport,” added the spokesperson. The distribution facility forms part of Shannon Group’s development strategy, which has seen the Group invest over €150m in property since 2014. Over €5.3m in airfield rehabilitation works were recently completed at Shannon Airport. The rehabilitation works involved three separate areas of the airfield: the resurfacing of the executive jet and light aircraft park; the extension of a section the apron (which facilitates aircraft for the loading and unloading of cargo, passengers and for refuelling), and the resurfacing of the long-term aircraft parking area.

GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) is stepping up its investments to cater to higher cargo volumes by launching a dedicated International Courier Terminal (ICT) for handling express cargo this year. A ‘Cool Container Yard’, set to be South Asia’s largest on-airport base for temperature-controlled air cargo containers to facilitate transport of high-value life-saving medications globally, is also scheduled for opening. These two are part of a terminal expansion programme of scaling up the infrastructure, technology, and service offerings with additions to capacity across both domestic and international cargo terminals to meet the expected demand in the future. The entire export processing zone was recently converted into a temperature-controlled area, becoming the only cargo terminal in the country with such an offering. All these developments are likely to make GHAC the largest air cargo hub for south and central India. “Our cargo terminal has registered a positive growth momentum in a difficult year. With the expected return to normalcy in international air connectivity during 2022, we are very bullish about the future prospects. We will be making major investments into expansion and upgrade of our cargo terminal facilities,” said CEO-GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), Pradeep Panicker.

ECS Group’s U.S. subsidiary, Miami-based Globe Air Cargo is now responsible for all cargo sales and administrative services connected to Azul’s entire U.S. business and will assist Azul with flight operations. Azul operates an A330 passenger and passenger-to-freighter fleet out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), to Viracopos-Campina International Airport (VCP), Brazil, nine times a week, and is licenced to carry all commodity types. In addition to steering and growing Azul’s cargo business out of its online gateways, the GSSA has clear plans to also develop the airline’s business from offline U.S. destinations with dedicated Azul sales representatives. “We are thrilled to represent Azul which is a fast growing and very dynamic Brazilian carrier with a lot of ambition. We have established a dedicated team here at Globe Air Cargo, to support and develop Azul Cargo’s U.S business to Brazil and look forward to creating synergies with our ECS Group colleagues representing Azul in Argentina and Europe,” Danny OLYNICK, Regional VP North America for Globe Air Cargo, comments. “We aim to maximise Azul’s revenues and support it in accessing new destinations across the United States, both online and offline. What is particularly attractive about Azul, is its focus on e-commerce cargo deliveries all the way through to the last mile across Brazil: a fascinating expanded network challenge that we are more than happy to participate in.”

Sea freight rates have increased up to 800% in some routes — a 100% increase than in October last year (700%) — due to reduced available capacity on shipping lines and container shortage, based on recent feedback received by the Malaysian National Shippers’ Council (MNSC). MNSC chairman Datuk Dr Andy Seo said as an open trading nation like Malaysia, over 90% of the international trade volume is being carried through international sea transportation. He stressed that the skyrocketing sea freight rates coupled with the increasing commodity prices and labour shortages in both the manufacturing and logistics services sectors as a result of the pandemic has caused prices of imported business inputs and export costs to soar. “Shippers face difficult decisions daily on whether to ship and incur high export costs or not to ship and lose their export markets. Major shippers in Malaysia are now exporting on ‘Free on Board’ basis as they are no longer able to cover the high freight costs and now must rely on the freight services determined by the overseas buyer.” said Seo.