Emirates SkyCargo took delivery of its latest Boeing 777-F to boost its fleet capacity and cater to the growth in the industry. The carrier has seen significant increase in cargo loads across its products, including pharma and fresh produce. In 2021-22, annual tonnage carried crossed 2.1 million, an increase of 15%, with transport of perishables crossing 260,000 tonnes, and both pharma and valuable goods each growing by 17%. Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates SkyCargo said, “The new freighter will help increase our capacity and boost our ability to deliver vital goods and facilitate trade globally. Despite the challenging headwinds this year, the air cargo industry is booming, and we’ve been flat out since the pandemic began. Emirates SkyCargo will continue its journey as one of the world’s largest and best air cargo airlines by investing in our fleet, our global network, technology, and world-class logistics infrastructure at our Dubai hub and beyond.”

To outsource ULD management and customize logistics solutions, Western Global Airlines has confirmed a five-year ULD (Unit Load Device) agreement with ACL Airshop, a leading international service partner. Western Global Airlines and ACL Airshop are working together to measurably enhance the logistics efficiencies of Western Global’s ULD fleet, including the introduction of ULD Control™ for real-time tracking of ULDs. That, combined with ACL’s global Operations Center and the innovative “FindMyULD” mobile App all operate together for better utilization rates and cost efficiencies for client airlines that use ACL’s technology suite. Wes Tucker, COO-Western Hemisphere for ACL Airshop said, “We feel privileged to serve Western Global Airlines with our complete suite of equipment, technology, and logistics services. Our objective is to cost-effectively help Western Global keep growing as a market leader in air cargo.”

Skye Air Mobility has collaborated with Curefoods, a cloud kitchen startup founded by Cult.fit co-founder and former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori in 2020, to deliver frozen food in specially built temperature-controlled packaging via drones. From July 25 to July 31, a series of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) trials will be conducted, carrying about 5 kilos of frozen food per flight, covering a road distance of about 30 km from Curefoods’ warehouse in Jhund Sarai to the Curefoods kitchen outlet on Golf Course Road in Gurgaon, near Delhi. During the trials, the drone will complete an aerial distance of 20 km in less than 30 minutes. Once the drone is deployed for commercial use, Skye Air plans to carry about 50 kilos of frozen food in a single flight. “During the pilot, we are deploying drones that will complete around 8 trips daily and carry close to 40 kilos on average. In the future, when we consider how we might scale this, we will send out a drone to carry the payload of 50 kilos. Because this food is frozen, we are keeping the temperature at minus 20 degrees during the flight, and making sure that the food’s quality does not degrade during the journey. Another essential component of this project is giving the client feedback in real-time,” said Ankit Kumar, CEO, Skye Air Mobility in a statement.

MOVIN, a logistics brand launched through a joint venture between UPS and InterGlobe Enterprises, is expanding its reach by adding “Express End of Day” services from Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru to seven more cities. The newly added cities are Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata & Pune. With this expansion, MOVIN is adding more than 500 new PIN Codes to its existing network, now covering 1000+ PIN codes for guaranteed time-definite deliveries. This will further strengthen its offerings and help cater to customer demands in the ever-expanding B2B logistics space. Commenting on this announcement, JB Singh, Director InterGlobe Enterprises said, “MOVIN has received encouraging and positive feedback from its customers in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. By expanding its reach to these additional seven markets, MOVIN will now offer greater coverage to its customers along with the promise of time-definite delivery. We remain committed towards our mission of strengthening the network that lays a strong foundation for businesses and boosting opportunities for MSMEs and SMEs to sell and grow. Our focus is to provide best-in-class experience to B2B customers by bringing in higher levels of efficiencies, stronger distribution channels, advanced innovative technology, along with global best practices.”

Menzies Aviation has joined the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), an alliance of climate leaders focused on decarbonising the world’s highest-emitting industries. “Global aviation is currently responsible for about 3 per cent of total global, anthropogenic CO2 emissions—having seen an increase by over a third between 2010 and 2019 alone. If aviation were unmitigated, it could be responsible for an even greater proportion of global emissions by 2050,” said a statement from Menzies. MPP, in collaboration with the Clean Skies for Tomorrow coalition, has published a new Aviation Transition Strategy that has been endorsed by over 60 aviation leaders, setting out a global strategy to achieve net-zero aviation by 2050. The report, Making Net-Zero Aviation possible: An industry-backed, 1.5°C aligned Transition Strategy, provides a series of actionable steps to be taken over the next decade to secure a transition towards carbon-neutral flying and deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement, said the statement. Actions include drastically improving fuel efficiency gains of aircraft, the rapid roll out of sustainable aviation fuel and market entry of hydrogen, battery-electric or hybrid powered aircraft, the statement added.

Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale) has signed a contract to extend its partnership with longstanding customer CHI Aviation Handling (CHI) by a further five years. With Kale as CHI’s strategic tech partner, the Frankfurt-based air cargo services provider has boosted the efficiency and productivity of its ground handling operations using Kale’s cargo management system, GALAXY, to digitalize cargo handling. “We have chosen to continue partnering with Kale to help support our vision digital transformation; we need a reliable IT system that can be easily implemented at every airport station where we are operating and Kale’s GALAXY is the best fit solution,” said Dominik Misskampf, MD, CHI Aviation Handling. “We share a common desire with Kale to create digital channels that make a difference in serving all our customers, both businesses and consumers, by increasing accessibility to our service and improving our response times,” he added.

Turkish Airlines and Vietnam Airlines have signed a MoU to strengthen bilateral cooperation, focusing on cargo. This will open up new opportunities to develop business among Turkey, Vietnam, Europe, and Middle East in transporting cargo and passengers. “Under the agreement, the two carriers will cooperate more closely on cargo operations with a view to initially implementing a codeshare in 2023,” said an official statement. Levent Konukcu, Chief Investment and Technology Officer, Turkish Airlines said, “Recovering from the crisis the pandemic brought to aviation sector, we all became aware of the crucial need of cooperation. We attach importance to expanding our co-operation with Vietnam Airlines both in passenger and cargo.”

UPS has announced the expansion of its global smart logistics network with a new airport gateway facility in India at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR). With this added capacity, a new Boeing 747-8 flight will now be able to further connect our customers in India with more international trade opportunities in Asia, Europe and the Americas. “Customers are at the core of our strategy and we’re on a mission to deliver what matters for them,” said Deepak Shrivastava, UPS Managing Director for Indian Subcontinent. This is UPS’s second dedicated airport gateway facility in India after opening its Delhi airport gateway in 2020 and another example of how UPS is empowering local businesses to grow, expand to new markets and compete globally. The Bengaluru facility will provide in-house customs clearance and serve as a cross-border trade link for southern India, giving customers an extended pick-up time of up to two hours, while strengthening supply chains for cross-border trade.

To cater to the future requirement of the hinterland and further benefit the downstream industries around the Gujarat and allied states, Deendayal Port Authority, Kutch, Gujarat is set to develop two Mega Cargo Handling Terminals on a BOT basis under PPP Mode at an estimated cost of Rs. 5963 crores. The Authority has decided to develop a Container Terminal and a Multipurpose Cargo Berth at Tuna-Tekra in the Kutch District. The Container terminal plans to handle next-generation vessels/deeper draught vessels up to 6000 TEUs to 21000 TEUs with a draught of 14m to 18m, respectively. The Estimated Cost & Optimal handling Capacity of the Terminal is Rs. 4243.64 Crores and 2.19 million TEU, respectively. Once operational, the terminal will be well equipped to tap into the container market growth in the region with better infrastructure and a state-of-art world-class container facility. The proposed facility shall be used for handling multipurpose cargo, viz., food grains, fertilizers, coal, ores and minerals, steel cargo etc. Once fully operational, the port is envisaged to shift the existing handling of Coal from Kandla to Tuna Tekra and cater to the future growth in multipurpose cargo (other than container/liquid) traffic.

The Indian Institute of Freight Forwarders (IIFF), part of the Federation of Freight Forwarder’s Associations in India (FFFAI) launched its third online diploma in Shipping, Logistics and Freight Forwarding on 2 July 2022 for the aspiring logistics aspirants. The program will take place over 300 hours on weekdays from 7pm to 9pm. Chief Guest FFFAI Chairman, Shankar Shinde focused on the importance of training and skill development for enhancing domain knowledge concerning the logistics industry. He also encouraged the students to be updated with shipping news as currently there are numerous changes that the industry is going through. President of IIFF, Tej Contractor welcomed all dignitaries, faculties and participants who were present for the inauguration, followed by a speech from Secretary of IIFF Nirav Thakker who shared a background of the IIFF and its parent organization, FFFAI.