Category Archives: International

IAG Cargo has launched a preighter service with carrier Iberia Airlines utilising A330 wide-body aircraft. The aircraft has been modified by IAG Cargo’s sister company Iberia, and comes ahead of the peak season for air cargo and as demand for cargo services grows. The A330 ‘preighter’ service – an Iberia wide-body passenger aircraft with all the seats removed – will be serviced by IAG Cargo, providing extra capacity to deliver the logistics programs for its customers across the world. The new service will commence four times a week between Los Angeles and Madrid and provides much needed capacity ahead of the peak season. It took the team just a week to remove the seats on the plane and just a few weeks to fully convert the aircraft. The operation has seen all Economy, Premium Economy seats and crew rest removed along with separation panels. Carpeting was reinstalled with lights indicating the 33 cargo positions. Cargo will be held in place with netting fastened to floor rails where the seats were anchored. The aircraft now has the capacity to carry over 200 cubic metres of cargo. “It’s been exciting to work with Iberia to provide this service, which will enable our customers to keep operating at optimum speed and efficiency. We are seeing increasing demand from customers and shippers for a more tailored service, which is increasingly important as we approach peak season. For distant markets, air freight makes a global logistics program possible,” said Fernando Terol Armas, Director of Spanish Hub and Operations at IAG Cargo.

With an aim to meet customer demands, Delta Cargo has launched cargo-only flights between the United State, Europe and India. There are daily cargo-only flights between New York-JFK and Madrid that operate using a Boeing 767-400 aircraft providing customers with capacity to ship fashion goods to the United States ahead of the holiday season. In addition, there is a three times weekly cargo-only flight between New York-JFK and Dublin that is operated by an Airbus A330-300, as well as cargo-only flights operating between New York-JFK and Atlanta to Mumbai, via Frankfurt, using Airbus A330-200/300 aircraft. These aircraft are used to carry essential pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical supplies and general cargo. “Given the travel constraints within Europe, we are strategically adding cargo capacity in Spain, Ireland and Germany to support overall passenger and cargo growth,” said Shawn Cole, Vice President – Cargo, Delta, in adding, “There is high demand for pharmaceutical shipments from India because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this cargo solution ensures we can keep vital supply chains moving to the United States.” Delta Cargo launched a cargo charter operation in March to provide safe and reliable transportation of goods around the globe by working primarily with Delta’s established world-leading logistics partners. Delta dispatched idled aircraft on cargo runs to transport millions of pounds of supplies quickly and safely. Delta has operated over 1,600 cargo charter flights since February and is now averaging more than 20 cargo-only flights globally each week, carrying medical and PPE equipment, pharmaceuticals, U.S. mail, home office supplies and food.

According to The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) September data for global air freight markets, the speed of recovery in air cargo has increased slightly, however, remains depressed compared to 2019 levels. Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for international air cargo fall 14.6% in September 2020 compared to the same month a year earlier. This was an improvement from the 16.4% fall in August 2020. Demand on routes between Asia–North America and Asia–Africa were strongest. International capacity remained constrained in the region, down 32%, despite airlines adding more capacity on many routes. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was 8% below previous-year levels in September (-9.9% for international operations). That is an improvement from the 12.1% year-on-year drop recorded in August. Month-on-month demand grew by 3.7% in September. Global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), shrank by 25.2% in September (28% for international operations) compared to the previous year. That is nearly three times larger than the contraction in demand, indicating a severe lack of capacity in the market. Strong regional variations are emerging with North American and African carriers reporting year-on-year gains in demand (+1.5% and +9.7% respectively), while all other regions remained in negative territory compared to a year earlier. Improving performance is aligned with improvements in key economic indicators; • The new export orders component of the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose above the 50-mark, indicating growth, for the first time since mid-2018; • The World Trade Organization revised their 2020 trade growth forecast from -12.9% to -9.2%; “Air cargo volumes are down on 2019, but they are a world apart from the extreme difficulties in the passenger business. For air cargo, 92% of the business …

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has achieved Envirotainer’s Qualified Envirotainer Provider Training and Quality Program (QEP) accreditation. QEP recognises carrier’s proficiency and capability in managing Envirotainer’s temperature-controlled container shipments in accordance with industry standards. SIA is the first airline to be accredited in South East Asia, and selected stations in the Airline’s network received their accreditation in the third quarter of this year. Envirotainer’s QEP accreditation provides additional reassurance to customers of SIA’s reliable and safe handling of pharmaceutical products. It also helps to position SIA to better serve the pharmaceutical sector, especially in the current Covid-19 climate. As of today, Europe and Asia-Pacific stations of SIA have received QEP accreditation: • Europe: Zurich (ZRH), Basel (BSL), Amsterdam (AMS), Brussels (BRU) • Asia-Pacific: Singapore (SIN), Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), Auckland (AKL), Osaka (KIX), Bangalore (BLR), Bombay (BOM) “The QEP program and its participants serve to ensure the quality of life of the patient”, said Chris Fore, Senior Cold Chain Advisor at Envirotainer, in adding, “QEP is both a benchmark and a means by which we engage our partners to provide consistent service and fulfill Good Distribution Practice requirements from pharmaceutical companies.” Chin Yau Seng, Senior Vice President – Cargo, SIA, says, “SIA is committed to continuous improvement of our capabilities in transporting pharmaceutical products. Getting Envirotainer’s QEP accreditation is an important validation of our capabilities, especially given the importance of getting pharmaceuticals, and eventually Covid-19 vaccines, safely and swiftly to customers during this pandemic. We will continue to ensure the quality and reliability of handling pharmaceutical cargo shipments across our network, while also looking for new ways to further enhance our THRUCOOL service.” Launched in September 2018, SIA’s THRUCOOL cold chain service …

Nippon Express has launched its ‘NEX-SPEED Super-Fast! Atlanta’ high-speed consolidated service for air cargo being shipped out of Haneda Airport in Japan to the southeastern US via Atlanta Airport. It is a direct service that transports airfreight on direct flights from Japan to the US — and cargo destined for delivery within 300km of Atlanta is delivered on the same day.‘NEX-SPEED Super-Fast! Atlanta’ achieves the fastest shipping time available by loading cargo conveyed to Haneda Airport in the morning onto a direct flight bound for Atlanta that same day; once the cargo arrives at Atlanta Airport, the Atlanta Branch of Nippon Express USA, Inc., promptly takes receipt of the cargo from the airline’s terminal. Nippon Express is the only forwarder with a work facility handling both domestic and international cargo inside Haneda Airport, allowing it to sort cargo arriving on domestic flights within the airport and then load the cargo aboard international flights. The company has its own facility（CFS） in close proximity to Atlanta Airport, and this, combined with the (optional) emergency delivery service offered by the Atlanta Branch, enables same-day delivery. With operations at both the departure and arrival points being handled in-house, lead time is about a day and a half less than that of Nippon Express’s conventional services. Cargo arriving at Atlanta Airport can be delivered that same day within a radius of approximately 300km from Atlanta, an area that covers most of Georgia and Alabama as well as portions of other neighboring states. Nippon Express will be continuing to develop services that meet emergency transport needs and endeavoring to optimize customers’ supply chains.

In a bid to include its new Pegasus passive container, AirBridgeCargo (ABC) Airlines has expanded its Master Lease Agreement with Sonoco ThermoSafe. The new ULD offers tracking and data capturing, recording everything from temperature to tilt, and can carry pharma shipments up to 998 kg. It maintains the temperature range from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. The airline said that because of a two-fold surge in healthcare shipments, which tipped over 40,000 tonnes, for the first eight months of 2020 and the industry prep for COVID-19 vaccines transportation, it has been strengthening its relations with container lease providers, expanding the number of passive and active container options for its customers across the globe. Yulia Celetaria, Global Pharma Director, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, says, “Sonoco ThermoSafe has been able to quickly adjust to the market demands and engineer the new Pegasus ULD, which will be highly appreciated by the Life Science and Healthcare community, especially for large volumes of pharmaceutical shipments.”

IAG Cargo has reported commercial revenues of €302 million  over the period from July 1 to September 30, 2020, an increase of  14.1  per cent on the same period in 2019 at constant currency. The carrier has announced its Q3 2020 results. Overall yields for the quarter  were up 113.4 per cent on the same time last year at constant currency, reflecting the extra costs of a flying programme that continues to retain a substantial cargo-only schedule. Lynne Embleton, CEO at IAG Cargo, commented, “The stark impact of COVID-19 on aviation continued throughout Q3. The overall market was weaker than pre-pandemic levels, but the continued squeeze on available air cargo capacity across the global market was the key dynamic in the quarter as carriers continued to ground aircraft. “The IAG Cargo team have been absolutely focused on creating solutions for customers so they can continue to move goods around the world. Q3 saw a significant ramp up in our network, with routes and frequencies added across the Atlantic, to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. By the end of Q3, we were operating more than 3,000 cargo flights per week and we will further develop our network into Q4. “This scheduled capacity continues to be supplemented by bespoke charter operations. Whilst the demand for dedicated charters peaked in Q2 – coinciding with the urgent movement of PPE – customers have continued to make use of our charter offering over the last three months.

The Bolloré Logistics team in India handled and transported oil well equipment including the wellhead and the x-mass tree running tools on behalf of the oil & gas exploration and production company Hindustan Oil Exploration (HOEC). The project involved ensuring the door-to-door delivery from HOEC’s yard in Mumbai Via port of Nhava Sheva to the port of Singapore. The development of the solution included a shipment survey, proposing and implementation of a waterproof packaging solution, safe transport to the container stuffing station, re-export customs formalities, sea freight and final delivery to contractor’s yard in Singapore. The team was confronted with challenges on coordination and safe execution of operations amid the Covid-19 pandemic and also overcome the weather conditions with Cyclone “Nisarga” and heavy rains associated with the monsoon period for successful execution of the shipment. HOEC thus expressed satisfaction for the realization of this end-to-end project while underlining our professionalism in terms of QHSE.

In reaction to the growing demand from various customers, the logistics provider has now extended its scheduled weekly charter services until the end of the year. The airfreight peak season is in full swing and industrial production is picking up again, especially in the automotive, high tech and retail industries. To help maintain customers’ supply chains, cargo-partner has been offering multiple weekly air charters from China and Hong Kong to Europe since March 2020. Stefan Krauter, CEO, cargo-partner, anticipates that the demand for charter services will remain high. He says, “Since the beginning of the year, we have received numerous requests for full- and part-charter transports of urgently needed goods, the majority of which came from the pharmaceutical, healthcare and PPE sectors. In recent months, we have also noticed a growing demand from the high tech and automotive industries. In view of the expected peaks in the coming months, we advise our customers to start planning early to secure their supply chains.”

Aramex has officially gone live with their rollout of WiseTech Global’s integrated logistics execution platform, CargoWise, across its global network. The CargoWise rollout represents an integral milestone in Aramex’s digital transformation journey that strategically leverages innovative solutions to satisfy evolving customer needs and allows the company to swiftly adapt to changing market conditions. The scope of the implementation will cover the freight forwarding product across Aramex’s global network. Aramex’s unique approach sees CargoWise implemented simultaneously across its worldwide network of 1,200 freight forwarding specialists, spanning Asia, Europe and the Middle East. CargoWise will support Aramex’s freight forwarding and customs operations and enhance the overall user experience for their employees and customers. “Through a single platform, CargoWise provides configurability, automation and real-time visibility across our global freight operations. The results will be a high ramp up of business benefits that will be felt across all the freight community of Aramex,” noted Mohammed Sleeq, Chief Digital Officer, Aramex. “The CargoWise rollout marks an exciting period of digital transformation for Aramex, and it supports their commitment to technological innovation enabling more efficient movement of goods globally,” observed Richard White, Founder & CEO, WiseTech Global.