Category Archives: International

In order to expand its fleet to meet growing demand for cargo transportation, Silk Way West Airlines has signed a purchase agreement with Boeing. According to the agreement, Silk Way West Airlines will purchase five state-of-the-art Boeing 777 Freighter aircraft, with delivery planned over 2023-2027. The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Baku on April 28, 2021 attended by Rashad Nabiyev, Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Zaur Akhundov, President of Silk Way Group, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Azerbaijan Earle D. Litzenberger, Stan Deal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. This is the first order for Boeing 777 Freighters in the Central Asia and Caspian region. The Boeing 777F is the largest twin-engine freighter on the market, with a range of 9,200 km and a maximum payload of 102,000 kg. As the world’s most efficient and environmentally friendly freighter, the latest additions to the Silk Way West fleet will contribute to the airline’s sustainability goals, as well as being a particularly cost-effective option in terms of maintenance and operating expenses. “We envision an integrated transport network in Azerbaijan, and airline transportation plays a critical role in this. I believe this contract will help solidify Azerbaijan’s position as a regional transportation hub and a reliable airline partner in international trade and commerce,” said Nabiyev. “The signing of this agreement is a new milestone in the growth of our company. I am confident that the acquisition of these new aircraft and the start of this project will further strengthen the company’s leading position in the global air freight market for the next …

APM Terminals Pipavav has announced that the terminal has secured CI1 (China-India Express) service, operated by Cosco/OOCL. The weekly service to the Port Pipavav will carry freights of all kind for import and export to the Far East region that has a significant share in the world trade. The first vessel, MV Beijing with the capacity of 9,500 TEUs will start sailing from Shanghai in April end and will call the port by end of May. This service will connect the hinterlands of west & north India with Far Eastern countries and provide an important connectivity to the importers and exporters, thereby helping them expanding their presence in the far eastern countries. The service links Port Pipavav through port calls in Chinese ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Nansha as well as port of Singapore, Port Klang of Malaysia and Nhavasheva in Mumbai, India.

Cathay Pacific Cargo has taken a significant step towards the end-to-end digitisation of the global supply chain by taking the lead in its third pilot of IATA’s ONE Record initiative in Hong Kong. The success of this pilot marks a major milestone for Cathay Pacific Cargo, which has pioneered the implementation of this initiative. Tom Owen, Director – Cargo, Cathay Pacific, says, “ONE Record is a very important programme, which is going to set the future standard for air cargo.” IATA ONE Record creates a ‘virtual shipment record’ for all shipments; a single-record view of a shipment that will enable data to be shared by all stakeholders across the air cargo industry. The programme builds on paperless operations of the e-AWB (Electronic Air Waybill). Cathay Pacific Cargo was the first airline to implement 100 per cent e-AWB operations in its home market and the airline has been the leader in its implementation around the world for the past 10 years, contributing to Hong Kong’s reputation as the leading international air cargo hub. IATA’s ONE Record initiative enables end-to-end transparency of consignments as they pass through multiple links in the chain from shipper to agent, airline, warehouse and statutory authorities such as customs, all following IATA’s protocols for APIs – the interface that enables users to connect to the system – security and data sharing. Henk Mulder, Head of Digital Cargo, IATA, adds, “The ultimate aim of the ONE Record programme is to enable a data-led digitisation of the global supply chain in order to improve service, speed and reliability, through the standardisation of competing or overlapping systems of the different stakeholders in the air cargo industry into one of shared …

DB Schenker proclaims the ambitious goal of zero-emission deliveries for its city distribution operations in all major Norwegian cities by the end of 2021. This objective has already been achieved for Oslo with the establishment of the Oslo City Hub. It is the world’s first green distribution center of its kind, and 100 % of the local delivery vehicles have been changed from Diesel- to Electric drive. The company has invested in a new electric vehicle fleet and is rolling out 25 new additional electric trucks and vans throughout the country this spring. The electric fleet will then consist of a total of 42 electric trucks and five electric bicycles that will contribute to a significant Co2 reduction of 1,500 tons per year in Norway. The investment in sustainable urban distribution will continue throughout 2021 until DB Schenker reaches its target of 100 per cent electric distribution in all major Norwegian cities. The electric vehicle fleet is part of the DB Schenker Group’s global target of 100 per cent emission-free city distribution operations by 2030. DB Schenker is also following its own example from Norway by rolling out an increasing number of electric vehicles in many European cities.

DACHSER is expanding its Allgäu logistics center with high-bay storage for non-chilled food and food packaging. The company is investing some EUR 25 million in the project. Designed for sustainable operations, the new warehouse is due to open in summer 2022. “Now is the time for us to invest in the largest expansion of our Allgäu logistics center to date,” Thomas Henkel, Branch Manager said at the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony, in adding, “Our existing customers are growing at a rate of about 5 per cent a year and they need more storage space. We also want to create capacity for new customer business.” Covering an area of just 7,500 m2 but at 32 meters tall, the new high-bay storage facility will provide space for 52,000 pallets of non-chilled food and food packaging. The warehouse is fully automated and designed to store fast-moving products from different customers with a high percentage of full pallets. Around 5,000 pallets a day will be stored or withdrawn from stock via 22 loading and unloading gates for trucks and over a handling area of around 2,600 m2. Installed conveyor systems will, for the most part, automate this process. On the upper level above the loading area, 2,300 m2 will be available for manual picking and finishing operations. A total of 40 employees from the Memmingen branch will work in the new high-bay warehouse. “Intelligent automation technology relieves employees – our scarcest and most valuable resource – of much of the manual storage or withdrawal work, so they can concentrate on value-added services that are more demanding,” explains Stefan Hohm, DACHSER’s Chief Development Officer who is in charge of worldwide contract logistics at the company. Climate-friendly …

Kuehne+Nagel’s start to the 2021 business year was marked by a strong demand in transport services, especially for pharma and e-commerce fulfilment. Kuehne+Nagel achieved an excellent result in this environment; net turnover of over CHF 6 billion, EBIT of CHF 431 million and earnings for the period of CHF 318 million were all significantly higher year-on-year. Dr. Detlef Trefzger, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, says, “Exactly one year ago, when we were still at the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to commit to our proven strategy. Upon reflection, we are assured that we chose the correct path. In the first quarter of 2021, we were well-prepared to serve our customers’ robust demand for high quality logistics services despite the tense market environment. We expect this environment to remain challenging for the remainder of another atypical year.” Sea Logistics The positive profit trend reversal in Sea Logistics, already noted in the second half of 2020, continued in the first quarter of 2021. Kuehne+Nagel delivered intensified service to meet exceedingly high customer demands particularly in the US, in an environment of limited container capacities, reduced terminal productivity and increasing demand. Volume growth was particularly strong in the consumer goods segment. Container volumes in the first quarter of 2021 were up 2% year-on-year at 1.1 million TEU, despite a decline in recyclables demand. The unit’s net turnover was nearly CHF 2.4 billion and EBIT CHF 206 million. The conversion rate reached a record high of 42.7%. With a new alert feature in the online Seaexplorer platform, Sea Logistics customers are informed promptly about irregularities in container transport. This transparency proved particularly helpful to remedy disrupted supply chains during the Suez …

Responding to a boom in e-commerce and general cargo traffic, Australian airfreight consolidator Consol Alliance has increased its services from the UK to four Australian Airports. Consol Alliance now serves Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane a total of 20 times weekly, using premium carriers and a proven transhipment routing. All cargo is pre-palletised before presentation to carriers for added security, safer transits and faster handling. The company is offering both door-door and airport-airport options. A steady rise in demand throughout 2020 is seeing Consol Alliance now handling a record 300 tonnes of airfreight per month on the UK-Australia trade lane alone, and the company has already processed 500,000 inbound e-commerce parcels in the first quarter of 2021. Alana Raitt, National Airfreight Product Manager, says, “Having successfully maintained a totally reliable service throughout the last year, despite the considerable challenges, we are pleased to announce this increase in capacity and frequency to Australia, with over 20 consolidations per week from the UK. Capacity has not been an issue for us. We make bookings one month in advance, and have pre-allocations to all airports. Our consistent support for carriers and our excellent carrier relations have given us a strong edge in securing space for our customers.” Although the normal services do not allow for outsize or project shipments, these can be accommodated on a back-to-back (separate AWB) basis, still receiving attractive rates. Consol Alliance is also attracting dense cargo by offering discounts based on its ability to optimise pallet capacity by carefully combining dense and volume cargo. “For Dense cargo, we will always beat competitors’ pricing, and our local arrival charges are also discounted,” adds Alana. Consol Alliance says its service quality …

TAP Air Cargo has launched a new online booking portal which allows more autonomy in managing bookings and tracking shipments. The online booking portal has a more modern and intuitive design which allows remote accessibility anytime and anywhere with all the information about cargo bookings on different devices (computer, tablet or mobile). Through the new TAP Air Cargo portal, agents now have independence in managing their bookings and can consult flights and prices, space availability, print labels, update bookings and send AWB (Airwaybill) and HAWB (House Airwaybill). The handling of electronic waybills (eAWB) will also become possible autonomously (providing that IATA requirements are met). The new portal provides a fully digital booking process, combined with the concern of constantly improving the user experience. It is available at https://www.tapcargo.com/en/manage-booking, after registration (only for agents) in the user area.

Antonov Airlines has transported 14 pieces of mining equipment, weighing 216 tonnes in total, on two AN-124-100 flights from Istanbul, Turkey to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Monrovia, Liberia. The 113-tonne cargo for the second flight was safely loaded in minimal time to meet the tight deadline required by the mines, both in the process of expanding operations. “These two flights from Turkey to Africa were meticulously planned and both flights were completed with maximum payloads on each route,” said Eugene Kiva, commercial executive at Antonov Airlines. “Antonov Airlines provided the flexibility required by our partner Skyair Chartering to perform these air shipments within the customer’s deadlines.” The airline made a single technical stop in Algiers, Algeria for the 103 tonne Burkina Faso-bound cargo and two stops in Casablanca, Morocco, and Diass-Thies, Senegal for the journey to Liberia to refuel and provide crew rests. “As per our customer’s request for the delivery of large quantities of oversized drill machinery in a short timeframe, the two flights provided by Antonov Airlines made sure the needs of the expanding mining facilities were met,” said Tekin Ertemel, Director Business development at Skyair Chartering. “Antonov’s AN-124-100s are equipped with ramps, which are ideal to transport heavy and oversized loads safely and easily, contributing greatly to the delivery of a seamless operation.” Antonov Airlines has seen an increase in charters for mining projects since the beginning of the year and just last month completed three flights of equipment weighing 370 tonnes to Latin America from Australia.

Located adjacent to its existing operation within the ALPS Free Trade Zone at Changi Airport, B&H Worldwide has doubled the size of its operation in Singapore. The new facility will cater for business growth in one of the fastest growing aerospace markets in the world. The new unit will enable B&H Worldwide to continue serving customers with aero assets requiring strict quality and climate control storage in a Free Trade Zone setting. It will also provide significant additional space to store aircraft engines and other large specialist items requiring environmental controlled protection within the 28,000 sq foot facility. B&H’s extensive capabilities in the aerospace logistics field mean it operates 24/7/365 from the strategically located Singapore facility and has established a Control Tower Operation and additional Quality Monitoring Centre there from which it provides full connectivity to customers across the globe. Says B&H Worldwide’s Group CEO, Stuart Allen, who is based in Singapore, “State-of-the-art facilities under-pinned by cutting edge IT and this doubling in the size of our operation here will enable us to meet the strong demand we are now seeing from customers across the aerospace industry. It will also allow us to further extend the range of additional services we can offer customers including long and short-term storage, inventory management, neutralising and unit inspection, all in accordance with EN9120:2018 requirements.”