Category Archives: International

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released April 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that air cargo demand continued to outperform pre-COVID levels (April 2019) with demand up 12%. As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons to follow are to April 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 12% compared to April 2019 and 7.8% compared to March 2021. Seasonally adjusted demand is now 5% higher than the pre-crisis August 2018 peak. The strong performance was led by North American carriers contributing 7.5 percentage points to the 12% growth rate in April. Airlines in all other regions except for Latin America also supported the growth. Capacity remains 9.7% below pre-COVID-19 levels (April 2019) due to the ongoing grounding of passenger aircraft. Airlines continue to use dedicated freighters to plug the lack of available belly capacity. International capacity from dedicated freighters rose 26.2% in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2019, while belly-cargo capacity dropped by 38.5%.

Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale), a UN award winner and a trusted global IT solution partner for several Fortune 500 companies worldwide for the Logistics Industry, has been chosen by dnata, to develop the next generation Airport Cargo Community e-Commerce platform in Dubai. With the two airports Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Center (DWC), handling over 3.5 Million tons of air freight in 2019, there has been several physical and digital infrastructure upgrades taking place in Dubai. dnata has been a pioneer in running one of the most comprehensive airport cargo community eCommerce platform under the brand name of CALOGI, way ahead of its times in the first decade of this millennium. The Calogi business has served the community for over a decade now. dnata has currently envisioned creating the next-generation community platform that would cater to the cargo community’s current and future needs and have the capability to support innovative services like Sea-Air Corridor, 3rd Party services and many more to accommodate end-to-end supply chain needs. The new Airport Cargo Community eCommerce Platform at DXB and DWC by dnata and Kale is the testimony that the region is slated to change gears for Air Cargo to the fast lane.

SAS Cargo has extended its unit load device (ULD) partnership with Unilode Aviation Solutions by five years, up to 2026. Unilode will also continue to supply SAS Cargo with containers and pallets from its pooled ULD fleet, as well as enabling the carrier to use its track and trace solutions. Additionally, SAS Cargo will trial SAS Cargo’s Connect service package, which monitors and and gives notifications about ULDs’ temperature, humidity, shock and light data. Max Knagge, president and chief executive of SAS Cargo Group, said: “We have built a strong relationship with Unilode over the years. Unilode’s pooled fleet significantly increases month-to-month ULD flexibility, enabling us to pay only for the ULDs we need, which is critically important in volatile market situations and during a pandemic. This will also help us reduce our ULD-related spend. In the years ahead we see great opportunity for growth and continued success through our partnership with Unilode.” Babak Yazdani, managing director of ULD Solutions at Unilode, added: “We are proud to have been a long-term trusted partner for SAS Cargo over the past 10 years. This is the second renewal of our ULD management agreement, which is a testament to the mutually beneficial collaborative relationships we build with our customers.

Blue Dart, South Asia’s premier express air and integrated transportation & distribution company, part of the Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), announces paperless transactions on their new Digital Portal for all its Vendor Partners this World Environment Day on 5th June 2021. The United Nations has proclaimed 2021- 2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Blue Dart recognises the importance to fight climate change and is integrating robust ESG mechanisms into this decade of ecosystem restoration. Blue Dart has executed over 50% of its customer invoices online and is working towards achieving a 100% transition. Manufacturing paper is energy-intensive; one A4 sheet requires approximately 50 watt-hours. Going paperless will help conserve energy, reduce CO2 emissions, avoid deforestation, protect the natural habitat and strengthen forest-based livelihood opportunities for the surrounding communities. Through this initiative, Blue Dart will not only protect the environment but also commits to planting a significant number of trees every year. Currently, Blue Dart plants 111,000 trees every year, in order to offset 22,20,000 kg carbon per year on maturity.

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, has announced it will donate $50,000 USD each to sustainability-focused projects in India and Africa. As part of the FedEx Priority Earth Global Grant Program, thousands of FedEx team members selected 12 nonprofits from across the six international regions in which FedEx operates. Each be awarded a $50,000 USD grant, for a total FedEx investment of $600,000 USD toward green solutions: “FedEx has set ambitious goals to reduce our footprint where we have the greatest environmental impact. Working alongside nonprofits and investing in their efforts is a critical part of the company’s strategy to drive the action and innovation needed to make a difference in our world,” said Jack Muhs, regional president for the Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Africa.

France saw the birth of a new port complex from a grouping of the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris. All three port authorities have now merged to become the “Seine Axis Major River & Sea Port”. They now form a single port ranking no. 1 in France and fifth among Northern European ports; a port with global outreach. HAROPA PORT benefits from unique geographical advantages. A maritime coastline open to the whole world and a Seine corridor that serves via natural routes a consumer catchment area (Paris and its surrounding region) with a population of 25 million – the largest in France and the second largest in Europe. France’s central government has provided this new port complex with massive financial underpinning of €1.45 billion for the years 2021-2027 to allow the funding of numerous ambitious projects for development and redevelopment of port facilities. New-generation projects focused on local regions and protective in all cases of the environment and shared resource use.

Tasman Cargo Airlines has launched a new freighter service between Changi Airport and Australia, becoming the first freighter operator based in the country to offer services to the Singapore hub. The five-times-per-week services utilisises a B767-300 freighter and operates on a loop of Melbourne-Darwin-Singapore (bi-directional). The flight is chartered by DHL Express and will carry cross-border e-commerce volumes from across the express firm’s global and Southwest Pacific network. Sean Wall, executive vice president, network operations & aviation, DHL Express Asia Pacific, said: “Australia is growing as an important market for DHL as local businesses continue to adapt, innovate and adopt e-commerce practices for their business needs. “To cope with rising shipment volume and ensure we continue to provide timely deliveries to our customers, we have swiftly responded by adding flights connecting Australia to the rest of the world.”

Menzies Aviation’s cargo operations in Sydney have received the Center of Excellence of Independent Validators for Pharmaceutical Logistics accreditation (“CEIV Pharma”) from IATA. Menzies Cargo Sydney is the first handling agent in the Oceania region to achieve CEIV Pharma accreditation, the company said. The company added that its Sydney operation had been working towards the certification for more than two years. Alistair Reid, executive vice president, Oceania at Menzies Aviation said: “It has been a very thorough and rewarding process for our team in Sydney who have spent almost two years working to understand the criteria, develop processes, invest in infrastructure and train the staff which resulted in us being able to be assessed and validated for the CEIV Pharma accreditation.”

project44, the leading supply chain visibility solutions provider, has closed a Series E investment of $202 million led by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) and Emergence Capital, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. To date, project44 has raised $442.5 million to improve supply chain trust and predictability. Goldman Sachs has a deep history of supporting the global expansion of growth-stage technology companies and guiding them through multiple stages of growth. This financing will accelerate the company’s expanded multimodal carrier network, make significant inroads into Asian markets, expand artificial intelligence (AI) and data science capabilities, accelerate new product innovation, and bolster sales and marketing reach globally. “We’re grateful for the confidence Goldman Sachs and our existing investors have placed in our team as we continue to solve some of the most critical supply chain execution challenges across the globe,” said Jett McCandless, CEO and founder of project44.

Lufthansa Cargo which is in the midst of fleet renewal has ordered another production Boeing 777F, a 103 tonne capacity freighter aircraft, to increase its capacity. The freighter will be delivered by the end of the year and when delivered will be the airline’s eleventh of the model, the airline informed. The aircraft announced by the airline in March is to be stationed at Frankfurt after its arrival in autumn 2021. While the airline is adding freighters and securing its cargo capacity, on the passenger front it has announced non-stop flights between Germany and India, making the travel more seamless. Adds Dorothea Von Boxberg, CEO, Lufthansa Cargo, “We are very pleased that we will be able to offer our customers additional freighter capacity in the future. Another brand-new Boeing 777F aircraft is being added to Lufthansa Cargo‘s highly efficient freighter fleet. Delivery of the aircraft is expected before the end of this year. A total of fifteen full-freighters will then be in service for Lufthansa Cargo’s customers. The Corona crisis has impressively underlined how important these aircraft are for global supply.”