Category Archives: Aviation

Geodis has signed an agreement to acquire trans-o-flex, a leading company in the premium express sector in Germany specialized in temperature controlled transport for pharmaceutical products as well as in time definite delivery of products for cosmetics, automotive and high-tech industries. Since 2016 the company is owned by the families Schoeller and Amberger who have invested to scale it up to a leading specialized distribution player. Marie-Christine Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of GEODIS, said: “The acquisition of trans-o-flex is a key step forward enabling us to increase our footprint in Germany. It is consistent with our ambition to strengthen our global end-to-end logistics solutions to support our customers’ growth and geographic development. This acquisition will position GEODIS as a leading player in the healthcare market and will significantly enhance our delivery capabilities in Germany, a country at the heart of global trade. We have been impressed by the expertise and the commitment to the highest quality of service of trans-o-flex’s management team. We welcome the trans-o-flex team to GEODIS and together we believe we can further support our customers on both sides by combining our respective and complementary strengths in Germany, in Europe and globally. In order to achieve this, we have agreed with Christoph Schoeller, who is currently trans-o-flex’s Chairman of the Advisory Board, Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board and shareholder with Peter Amberger, that he will remain as Vice-Chairman of the new supervisory board presided by myself.”

CMA CGM Air Cargo will place its capacity on booking portal CargoAi as it looks to expand its reach with SME forwarders. CMA CGM is the 71st airline to place its capacity on the CargoAi portal and that the addition meant that forwarders can search from 195 origins to 447 destinations. The portal is also the first online marketplace to offer CMA CGM capacity for instant booking “in line with CMA CGM’s first own scheduled freighter service from Paris to Hong Kong SAR and vice versa”. Matt Petot, founder and chief executive of CargoAi, said: “We have been growing very fast thanks to our different approach and special focus on making it simple for our airlines to integrate and for our forwarders users to make bookings. “Our unique combination of tech and air cargo talents has helped to showcase that CargoAi can deliver modern tech solutions at a very fast pace to this industry. “We have still a lot of work to do and 2023 looks already very exciting as CargoAi will focus on delivering new solutions outside of our e-booking platform (CargoMART) and work on customized projects for our partners.” Magali Beauregard, chief commercial officer of CargoAi, added: “We’re thrilled that CargoMART becomes the first marketplace to sell CMA CGM’s freighter service. This is a great addition to our existing airline portfolio that users on www.CargoAi.co get benefit from.” CMA CGM Air Cargo is owned by shipping giant CMA CGM and launched operations in 2021.

Recently-launched Georgian Airlines has added a third freighter to its fleet as it looks to capitalise on cargo volumes travelling between Asia and Europe. The airline has added a third B737-800 converted freighter through a deal with Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings subsidiary Titan Aviation. The aircraft is being added through a long-term dry lease deal. Irakli Mezvrishvili, general director of Georgian Airlines, said: “As we expand in the airfreight market, we are honoured to partner with Titan Aircraft Investments to bring more air cargo capacity to the region with the addition of the 737-800 freighter. “We look forward to a strong partnership with Titan’s excellent team as they help us meet market demand and capitalise on cargo flows between Asia and Europe.” The cargo carrier commenced operations in February 2022 and offers cargo charter and regular flights across Europe, the Baltic region, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Region, the Middle East, eastern, and southern Asia. The airline said that the Black Sea region is a key transit and trade corridor for Eurasian countries and believes the Georgia has the potential to become an important hub for the aviation industry.

Aircraft operator ASL Aviation Holdings has partnered with Reliable Robotics to explore the possible use of autonomous freighter aircraft. The two companies will select a suitable aircraft for Reliable’s Remotely Operated Aircraft System with an initial focus on large twin-engine turboprop freighters. ASL and Reliable will jointly assess the demand for remotely operated aircraft in Europe and in addition to remotely piloted air cargo services, the companies will evaluate aircraft suitable for remotely piloted humanitarian operations. ASL Aviation Holdings director Hugh Flynn said: “This collaboration between ASL and Reliable is anchored on a common purpose to fully evaluate how remote and single pilot technologies can be developed and used to deliver safe, reliable and cost-effective cargo and passenger services. “At ASL we are looking at how new technologies will change and improve aviation, and how we can be at the forefront of that change to offer enhanced services to our customers.” Myles Goeller chief business officer of Reliable Robotics added: “ASL and Reliable see urgent market demand for automated systems that will enhance safety, increase utilisation of aircraft assets and support sustainability goals. ASL shares our commitment to investing in pioneering technology development to serve industry needs and improve how goods and people are transported.”

xpress has signed a non-binding MoU with Aramex India, to collaborate across multiple avenues, with the aim to offer reliable and service responsive international solutions to India-based B2B & B2C customers. Under this partnership, synergy benefits are set to accrue due to this global collaboration between the two parties, by focusing on joint product development, customised business solutions for specific regions and customer segments, leveraging physical infrastructure and Line-hauls, sharing transportation capacity and best practices. The partnership between DTDC Express and Aramex India will also explore business and operating synergies across several areas including Sales, Marketing, Technology, Network, Transportation and Customs Clearance. Both the entities believe that it will enable them to utilize each other’s physical operating infrastructure to promote and cross-sell their products, services and solutions. In addition to this, DTDC Express aims to cross-sell Aramex’s flagship product- Shop & Ship through the Company’s network of around 14,000 customer access points across India. Subhasish Chakraborty, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of DTDC Express Ltd, said, “DTDC Express is delighted to partner with Aramex. Our agreement recognizes the strength of DTDC’s Network and Express Delivery capabilities. India has seen a substantial growth in bilateral trade with several countries including the US, the European Union and the GCC. The United States is our largest trading partner, and it continues to show strong growth. India’s bilateral trade with the EU has increased 43.5% in FY22, and with the GCC it has increased 78% as per Commerce Ministry Data. The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is set to further boost bi-lateral trade between the two countries from $60 billion to $100 billion in the next five years. Considering this growth ahead with major …

ANA Cargo has partnered with WebCargo to provide thousands of forwarders across the world with real-time rates, capacity, and eBookings. ANA Cargo will leverage WebCargo’s uniquely global network of 10,000 forwarding offices to complement their in-house booking portal, as an integral part of their omnichannel strategy to deliver access to products and services. With the launch, scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, forwarders will gain access ANA Cargo’s fleet of over 200 aircraft across many of ANA Cargo’s 130+ routes that span five continents. Airlines representing over 50% of global air cargo capacity are available for booking on WebCargo, the largest capacity availability on any platform. Bookings will also be available via WebCargo’s embeddable portal, used by top forwarders by both API and embedded user interface. This delivers reliable booking efficiency for forwarders within their existing software tools. “ANA Cargo continues to improve customer experience with the implementation of digital technology. The expansion of our ebooking network through Webcargo’s platform is a large step that moves us forward to this goal. This is an exciting opportunity to use innovation to make an extraordinary, positive impact for our customers and the industry as a whole,” said Kenichi Wakiya, Executive Vice President of ANA Cargo.

Air cargo traffic is predicted to drop by a further 4% next year, while yields and revenues are also expected to weaken compared with this year’s levels, said IATA. The airline association’s head of policy analysis Andrew Matters, at IATA’s global media day suggested that cargo volumes are expected to fall 4.3% year on year to 57.7m tonnes, following on from an 8.1% fall this year to 60.3m tonnes. “This reflects the challenging global economic backdrop in terms of global economic growth but also in terms of international trade,” Matters said. He added that as a result of load factors returning to pre-Covid levels, yields are expected to decline by around 22% next year, following on from a 7% increase this year, a 24% increase in 2021 and a 50% increase in 2020. Matters said that current yield levels were unsustainable. “It (22%) sounds like a big number and quite dramatic but it isn’t too unreasonable given the very strong increases we have seen in recent years,” he explained. Airline cargo revenues are expected to fall around 25% next year around be $149.4bn, although Matters pointed out this was still around 50% higher than pre-Covid levels. “The exceptional period that we have had looks like it is coming to an end. We started to come back to levels across a number of these variables that we are more accustomed to.”

Teleport has raised new growth capital of $50m to build its freighter fleet and expand logistics operations in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, said release. The funds will also be used to further invest in technology that supports its operations across southeast Asia, said Teleport, the logistics venture of Capital A (formerly AirAsia Group Berhad). In September, the company announced it would be increasing its freighter aircraft from one to four, with the addition of three Airbus A321 freighters leased from BBAM. Teleport further said the three A321Fs would be operated by AirAsia and will be delivered in stages starting in the first quarter of 2023. Pete Chareonwongsak, chief executive of Teleport, said, “Our mission from day one is to deliver consistently better than anybody else in Southeast Asia. We believe if we guarantee next-day speed at a cost anyone can afford, everyone will choose to ‘Teleport It’. “Today we are profitable, larger, and growing faster than pre-COVID. We are battle-tested and believe a challenging environment is the perfect opportunity to build the leading cross-border logistics company in Southeast Asia,” he added.

To address the requirements of the global semiconductor supply chains, Kuehne+Nagel Logistics has launched a new offering for air freight shipments. With a robust air freight capacity, security solutions and the new quality standard, ‘SemiconChain’ will enable industry stakeholders to establish reliable and agile supply chains, said an official release. The increasing need for semiconductors and growing pressure on manufacturing require resilient supply chain to support continuous operations, the release added. “An outcome of Kuehne+Nagel’s close collaboration with customers and in-depth air cargo and semicon industry expertise, the new air logistics service supports customers with improved visibility, security, reduced risks and automated processes.” The offering is based on the SemiconChain quality standard that guarantees process standardisation, continuous improvement, and service excellence across the dedicated Semicon network. “SemiconChain is built on a quality foundation tailored explicitly to the Semicon industry and integrates ISO 9001-2015 and IATF 16949, ensuring that shipments are always transported in a standardised, robust manner providing complete tracking visibility. SemiconChain locations are staffed with industry experts that regularly undergo a comprehensive and continuous training programme,” the release added.

With an intent to bridge the gap of unemployment and employ more logistics professionals in India, Awign has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSSC), an organization set up by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) through National Skill Development Corporation of India. The collaboration aims to fulfill the demand-supply gap in the logistics sector and create a conducive ecosystem which aids employment for jobseekers, said reports. As part of the MOU, Logistics Sector Skill Council will facilitate sourcing of skilled candidates pan-India through its existing database, by organizing job fairs with the support of District Skill Committees, ASEEM job portal of NSDC and placement portal of Logistics Sector Skill Council. Awign will share the requirement of workforce across locations with Logistics Sector Skill Council and fulfill the gig workforce requirement for the fast-growing logistics sector in India. According to a report by NITI Ayog, India’s gig economy might witness $250 billion in transactions by the end of the next decade, or 1.25 percent of the GDP. In the future, opportunities in the gig economy are most likely to arise in the following four industry sectors: construction, manufacturing, retail, and transportation & logistics.