Kuehne+Nagel Ireland will open a temperature-controlled facility to meet the growing demands of the country’s thriving healthcare industry. The site, scheduled to open in late July 2022, is strategically located near the Dublin airport and Dublin port. Along with three existing healthcare warehouses, it expands Kuehne+Nagel’s healthcare footprint in Ireland to 40,000 sqm.  The new HPRA-approved facility has been optimised for all storage, distribution, and quality activities. The facility uses energy-efficient equipment to maintain the warehouse at a controlled temperature between 15-25 degrees Celsius, and will house 34,000 Euro-pallet positions with segregated loading and unloading gates. Pamela Quinn, Managing Director of Kuehne+Nagel Ireland, stated in an official statement, “Pharma & Healthcare companies in Ireland are at the forefront of the research and development of advanced treatments and therapies. This new facility enables Kuehne+Nagel to support the incredible progress and we are proud to be the partners for some of the largest multinationals and companies within this industry”.

AP Moller- Maersk has successfully completed the first India-Bangladesh cross-border logistics of containerised cargo using the inland waterways of the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route for Coca-Cola Bangladesh Beverages. By transporting 50 containers (TEUs or Twenty Feet Equivalent Units) from Kolkata in India to a river port near Dhaka in Bangladesh on a barge on the National Waterways 1 on the India side, said an official statement. “The Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route has created great trade opportunities for the two countries over the last decades. By advancing into containerised transport on this route, we are expanding  the opportunities for importers and exporters from the two countries with a faster, more reliable and safer option for their cargo,” said Vikash Agarwal, MD, Maersk South Asia. Soumyendu Sen Sarma, Director – Finance, Coca-Cola Bangladesh Beverages, also said, “The maiden barge voyage has been successfully executed where there has been a significant reduction of transit time. The delivery schedule of the cargo, which used to be routed through the transhipment hub and then arrive in Chittagong and further to the  destination, used to be impacted severely with delays. The speed of delivery with the new solution offered by Maersk over inland waterways is going to be extremely beneficial for us.”

According to Mobility Foresights, the global air freight market size is $197 Billion in 2022 growing at a CAGR of 1.3% over the forecast period 2022 to 2027. In 2021, available cargo tons – kilometers (ACTKs) fell by ~11% compared to 2019. Capacity did not come back slowly during the year due to improvements in international passenger traffic.The tight air cargo market in 2021 has been affected by high air cargo rates. Despite starting the year at elevated levels, the cargo rate moved upwards in H2- 2021, reaching new records in December, at almost 150% above December 2019 levels, contributing to the significant increase in air cargo revenues for airlines active in the sector. According to the reports, in 2021, rates were compounded by supply chain issues, which made air cargo relatively attractive compared to maritime shipping. There was a marked reduction in container shipping schedule reliability in 2021, and the relative cost of container shipping rose, though air remains overall more expensive for businesses. Supply chain issue in container shipping is expected to stabilize by 2022-23, which will soften the air freight demand and rates.Global air freight market is dominated by large scale operators like – DHL, FedEx, UPS, DB Schenker, Kuehne + Nagel and DSV Panalpina occupied 71% of the market in 2021.

The defence ministry has given over 1.76 acres to the Pune airport authority on which the current cargo facility is expected to shift in the next four months.  The land on BSO yard (barrack store office) is adjacent to the  apron area in front of multi-level car parking (MLCP) facility. “The decided land was handed over to the Pune airport three days ago. The cargo area will be shifted from airport premises as it is coming between the old terminal and a new terminal and affecting the work of new terminal building,” said Santosh Dhoke, director, Pune international airport in a statement. “We have started shifting cargo facilities to the new loaction. In the next four months, civil electrical-related work will be completed. We are expecting  to start operation from the new location in December,”he added. The airport authority will be getting 13 acres from the defence ministry. “The airport authority already had 0.74-acre land and now are given 1.76 acres more. Hence, the total land parcel is 2.5 acres,” said sources.

Saudi Arabia is seeking companies such as Amazon.com, Alibaba Group, and DHL Express to boost its air cargo and distribution operations, said Mohammed Fahad Alkhuraisi, vice president for strategy at the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation in an event. The country plans to stage a number of roadshows by the end of 2023 as it seeks to persuade the e-commerce and air freight giants to help ramp up its own operations and infrastructure. It will invite private companies from abroad to create local partnerships and set up freight-forwarding and warehousing activities, Alkhuraisi added. In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 framework to reduce its dependence on oil and diversify its economy, the advance into air cargo and logistics aims to accelerate the capacity of the kingdom’s air cargo sector to more than 4.5 million tonnes per year by the end of the decade as part of a USD100 billion plan to enlarge the aviation sector.

American Airlines has finalised an agreement with biofuel company Gevo, Inc. to purchase 500 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) over five years, the most significant SAF offtake commitment to date for the carrier. “The announcement is a historic step forward for American and our industry as we work to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Jill Blickstein, Vice President, Sustainability, American Airlines. “The use of SAF is a cornerstone of our strategy to decarbonise air travel. While this landmark investment represents meaningful action by American Airlines, driving progress at the scale and pace we need requires critical policy action in Washington and at the state level. Alongside our oneworld partners, we’re proud to lead the way in the shift to SAF and make progress toward our shared climate goals.” American’s Gevo agreement was developed alongside others in the oneworld alliance, said a statement from the airline. “In September 2020, oneworld became the first global airline alliance to announce a target of carbon neutrality by 2050, establishing its commitment to long-term sustainability for the industry. The alliance followed up the commitment with an intermediate goal to achieve 10 percent SAF use across member airlines by 2030.”

Maersk has ordered three new 767-300 freighters from Boeing and arranged with Miami-based cargo airline Amerijet to fly them on trans-Pacific routes as the company’s air cargo division moves to gain a strategic foothold in the U.S. market. During the past eight months, Maersk has poured resources from its hyper-profitable container line business into transforming the in-house airline into a full-service air logistics provider and expanding globally beyond its traditional sphere in Europe. Maersk will receive three 767 all-cargo jets from Boeing’s Everett, Washington, factory in 2022, and outsource their operation to Amerijet, said Maersk spokesman Povl Rasmussen. The freighters are expected to enter service this year between Asia and North America. “As previously announced, A.P. Moller – Maersk is both strengthening and expanding its air freight offering,” the company said in a statement. “Air freight is a crucial enabler of flexibility and agility in global supply chains as it allows our customers to tackle time-critical supply chain challenges and provides transport mode options for high value cargo. Maersk’s owned controlled capacity is designed to make supply chain journeys more resilient and intuitive.  When deployed later this year, the three new 767 aircraft will be based in the U.S. and operated by Amerijet exclusively for Maersk,” the statement added.

Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport is all set to increase its cargo handling capacity with the bigger domestic air cargo complex being built at the airport,  finalized by the Airport Authority of India’s Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited (AAICLAS). Construction work has also been started and the building is expected to be ready before the end of this year. This new cargo terminal will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs. 15 crore. A 2000 sq. meter land at the airport’s old terminal building area has been identified for this new domestic air cargo terminal. This new domestic cargo complex will also house a dedicated complex to be set up on a 300sq meter area for perishable cargo to allow handling of perishable items like fruits, vegetables, medicines etc. While the rest of the space will be used for handling domestic cargo, as per officials of AAICLAS, the new cargo terminal has been planned to handle a minimum of 73,000 metric tonnes of cargo annually as against existing capacity of the old domestic air-cargo terminal’s capacity of around 12,000- 15,000 metric tonnes annually.

The global cold chain logistics market size is expected to grow from US$ 207 billion in 2020 to US$ 496.5 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 15.7% from 2021 to 2027, says latest reports by Market Stats. “The changing global economy and substantial increasing demand for temperature-controlled industries, especially fresh agricultural products, manufactured food, and medical vaccines, has made the cold chain more important in supply chain solutions,” as per the report.  Other factors contributing to the market’s growth include rising awareness regarding health, reducing food wastage, and increasing government investment to upgrade the refrigerated warehouses to prevent corruption in food and other heat liable products. However, the higher cost associated with cold chain systems is one of the major challenging factors, added the report.  

Airports Authority of India (AAI) and airport operators have targeted an outlay of over Rs 90,000 crore from 2019-20 to 2024-25, for expansion and modification of existing airport terminals, construction new terminal buildings, expansion or strengthening of existing runways, aprons, upgrading airport navigation services (ANS), control towers, and technical blocks across several airports in the country. AAI has leased out six of its airports namely, Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (Lucknow), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Ahmedabad), Mangaluru International Airport, Jaipur International Airport, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (Guwahati) and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport for operation, management and development through PPP mode on long-term basis during the past three years.