Category Archives: Aviation

In response to increased demand for pharma and technology goods, DHL Global Forwarding (GF) has announced an airfreight charter service connecting Asia Pacific to Europe and the US. DHL GF’s in-house charter team, the twice-weekly charter originates from Chongqing and flies to Amsterdam, Chicago and Incheon before returning to China. According to DHL GF, South Korea has seen its export of healthcare products rise year-on-year by 26.7 per cent in the first half of 2020; pharma goods meanwhile increased by 52.5 per cent. DHL GF added that China has exported 28.5% more medical devices in the first five months of the year, compared with a year ago. Thomas Mack, Global Head – Airfreight, DHL GF, says, “While some passenger airlines have resumed operations, the situation in the airfreight market remains volatile – especially as belly capacity is still tight. Our top priority is to provide our customers with sufficient and reliable airfreight capacity. Not only are the resilient, agile and reliable supply chains of highest importance for an economic recovery, but also in preparation for the availability of vaccines and other essential medical supplies during the pandemic.”

Bolloré Logistics partnered with Antonov Airlines to deliver Airbus Defence and Space’s newest satellite, ANASIS-II to the USA. It was carried from Airbus Defence and Space’s facility in Toulouse (France) by one of the airline’s seven Antonov-124-100. The aircraft landed at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space center from where the SpaceX teams took the lead for the next stage. The satellite container used to deliver ANASIS-II measured 11 meters in length and weighed 18 tonnes. The operation gave Bolloré Logistics and Antonov Airlines the opportunity to trial a new lightweight, low profile loading equipment specially designed and manufactured by Antonov Airlines to transport largest satellite container in near future.

To meet demands of customers for re-export & long-term storage of bonded cargo at minimal logistics cost, Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) has opened India’s first on-Airport Public Bonded Warehouse. Operated by Cargo Service Center (CSC), the 10,000 sq ft warehouse facility will be under the jurisdiction of the City Commissionerate, Bengaluru Customs. This facility will reduce supply chain costs and facilitate trade at India’s IT hub and surrounding regions. The Public Bonded Warehouse will help re-export of goods, long-term storage of bonded cargo, assist in partial clearances and allow value-added services such as labeling, packing and repacking services. “At BIAL, our vision is to make BLR Airport a cargo hub, equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and cutting-edge technology to deliver efficient operations. In order to simplify processes and meet customer demands with the help of key stakeholders, including the Bengaluru Customs, BIAL has taken this step to set up India’s first on-campus Public Bonded Warehouse. This demonstrates BIAL’s commitment to support the Airport cargo community, as well as bolster the growth of BLR Airport as a cargo hub,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy & Development Officer, BIAL.

In order to create a single digital access point for all stakeholders for information and seamless communications, Siemens India has integrated its systems with the Air Cargo Community System (ACS) framework at Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) called as GMAX. ACS is developed by Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale). It enables the agency to enter and view the data directly, thereby avoiding duplicate data entries and to receive updates on real-time cargo status. Manoj Singh, Sr. VP – Head of Cargo, MIAL said, “Technology plays a very crucial role in ensuring seamless processes at MIAL Air Cargo, and was the primary motivation behind the launch of GMAX in 2013. The ease of integration of the portal with Siemens speaks volumes about the relevance and future scope of GMAX towards air cargo operations. It also enables us to further extend this service to import consignees, regulators and global airports initially to start with CEIV certified partner airports in a phased manner.” Dr. Pramod Sant, VP- Head of Import, Export and Customs of Siemens India said, “Time criticality is an essential factor for Siemens. With ACS integration we made the right move to give our organization and stakeholders the immediate value needed during these uncertain times. We strongly believe Kale’s ACS will help us meet our long-term strategic business initiatives.” Amar More, CEO, Kale Logistics Solutions, said, “Logistics is all about speed, visibility and connecting different stakeholders for efficiency. This is probably another global first for the Mumbai air cargo community wherein the exporter/importer has connected directly with the ACS. We are proud to be part of this initiative and are committed to digitally transform the airport cargo community globally.”

London Heathrow Airport’s air cargo community has successfully completed its first trial of IATA’s ONE Record technologies, which aim to replace the legacy Cargo-Imp and XML standards. The vision for ONE Record is an end-to-end digital logistics and transport supply chain where data is easily and transparently exchanged in a digital ecosystem of air cargo stakeholders, communities and data platforms. Its objective is to address the main challenges of e-freight and unlock the possibilities of a full digital air cargo industry, creating opportunities for new value-added services and business models. Working on behalf of CCS-UK, the operator of the UK’s air cargo community system, US application development and data management specialist Nexshore built a ONE Record server based in the UK, to control the storage and transmission of the ONE Record data objects which form the core of the new concept. The server was built to the latest ONE Record standards, but was also designed to support earlier versions. In addition, security to the latest IATA specifications was built into the CCS-UK platform. “We are delighted at how well this initial pilot has gone, but we need additional participants in order to test the system on a larger scale, under everyday working conditions and with higher traffic levels,” says Malcolm Fowler, CCS-UK User Group. “ONE Record may not seem like the most important priority for the industry right now, but in fact there has never been a better time to adopt it. It delivers greater efficiency and potential cost savings, and low implementation costs. In addition, through the total transparency and uniformity it brings to the supply chain, it provides the kind of seamless data flows and visibility which shippers …

Commenting on what is stopping the industry from keeping pace with the government and who can take the responsibility to create more awareness on going contactless, Cyrus Katgara, President, ACFI, “Associations do need to take the responsibility and we will take the responsibility. It is the time for collaboration between all the associations, be it, ACFI, ACAAI, AMTOI, CHAA, etc. ACFI has already started training programmes on how we can go contactless. It’s all about the mind-set and will power of people to avoid contact and forget our old system of interacting with people for work. We need to have interaction for every other thing except for work. Today, also at the ground level we have examination and other queries where there is contact.

To help the air cargo industry in order to match the shipping needs with the availability of infrastructure capabilities and certifications of service providers across the value chain, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched IATA One Source. ONE Source lists the latest operational information on airlines, airports, cargo handling facilities, freight forwarders, ground handlers, shippers, and trucking companies. All critical information contained on ONE Source has been verified by IATA to help ensure its accuracy. IATA ONE Source is free for all service providers across the air cargo supply chain. The online programme is particularly timely amid the COVID-19 crisis when shippers of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals need accurate information for time- and temperature-sensitive shipments. “Air cargo has been essential in the global fight against COVID-19, transporting vital equipment and medicines to those who need them most. However, with over 3,500 differently sized cargo handling facilities worldwide, the industry until now has lacked visibility on the capacities and services these facilities can offer. The need for greater transparency is even more critical in the current context. ONE Source addresses this by providing a single reference point for up-to-date infrastructure and certification data, helping save time and keep air cargo moving,” said Glyn Hughes, Global Head of Cargo, IATA.

Kuehne+Nagel open airside pharma and healthcare hubs in Brussels, Belgium and Johannesburg, South Africa. With the opening of airside facilities, the company has added two strategic elements to its global GxP-certified network of temperature-controlled facilities for the distribution of vaccines and other pharma & healthcare products. As many of the temperature-sensitive products have very low to no stability outside of their stated temperature ranges, direct tarmac access at Kuehne+Nagel airside facilities even further minimises the risk of temperature excursions and ensures product integrity during the logistics journey. The new premises have dedicated areas for all ranges of temperature-sensitive products:

Logistics providers are challenged to rapidly establish medical supply chains to deliver serums of unparalleled amounts of more than 10 billion doses worldwide with first emergency use authorisations for COVID-19 vaccines expected to be effective in the last quarter of 2020. Currently, more than 250 vaccines across seven platforms are being developed and trialled. As COVID-19 vaccines have leapfrogged development phases, stringent temperature requirements (up to -80°C) are likely to be imposed for certain vaccines to ensure that their efficacy is maintained during transportation and warehousing. This poses novel logistics challenges to the existing medical supply chain that conventionally distributes vaccines at ~2–8°C. In the paper, DHL evaluates how the transport of vaccines as highly temperature-sensitive product can be managed effectively to combat the further spread of the virus

Under the Turant Customs programme, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC) have announced the roll out of faceless assessment at an all India level in all ports of import and for all imported goods by October 31. The pilot programme of Faceless Assessment was launched in Chennai on August 14 and was subsequently expanded to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mundra and Visakhapatnam for goods primarily falling under Chapters 39, 84, 86 to 92, 72 to 83 and 50 to 71 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The key elements of the Turant Customs programme are faceless, contactless and paperless customs clearance processes. This includes faceless or anonymised assessment, self-registration of goods by importers, automated clearances of bills of entry, digitisation of Customs documents. The phased launch of the Turant Customs programme in select ports of import was aimed at testing in a real-life environment, the IT capabilities as well as the responsiveness of the trade and Customs officers to the various initiatives. “The results have been reviewed and these have confirmed that the stated objectives are being met. The stage is now set for extending the Turant Customs programme across all Customs ports pan India and thereby ushering in a more modern, efficient, and professional Customs administration with resultant benefits for trade and industry”, CBIC noted.