Rhenus UK has opened the doors to a new logistics centre near Heathrow Air port, a major investment designed to considerably strengthen its offer across life sciences and healthcare, full vehicle logistics and its air and ocean freight operations.
More than 80 customers, suppliers, partners and colleagues joined Rhenus UK to celebrate the opening of its new 58,000 square feet handling facility located in Ashford, just four miles from London Heathrow airport. The site will be the new home for the brand new specialist pharmaceutical, life sciences and healthcare centre, the expanding Full Vehicle Logistics team, which manages the global transport of vehicles, as well as a new air freight gateway.
“Our investment in this state-of-the-art facility and in our specialist teams has been designed to meet the future needs of our broad spectrum of customers to ensure the safe and secure handling of pharmaceutical and medical products. We are
proud to support our customers so they can help patients to the utmost with the launch of our new Heathrow site,” Spencer Davern, UK managing di rector at Rhenus Air & Ocean UK, said.
“The facility is temperature-controlled, which means it requires the installation of heating, ven tilation and air-conditioning pipes or dire-jet sock systems that run across the warehouse ceiling,” Davern continued.
The new life sciences and healthcare division will act as a one-stop-shop for all import and export logistics, offering a white glove service for tem perature-controlled storage and distribution from end to end.
The Full Vehicle Logistics team will provide a dedicated service using a mix of air, ocean and road transport to move finished vehicles around the world for individuals, dealerships and OEMs.
The new air freight gateway is fully equipped with the latest X-Ray screening equipment, and will promote more sustainable airfreight by con
solidating shipments, helping Rhenus and its customers to reduce their carbon footprint.
The centre was opened by Tobias König, global CEO Rhenus Air & Ocean. “This new-build project represents a significant investment for Rhenus, demonstrating both our commitment to this sec tor of the market and the further growth of our operations in the UK and across Europe, while re flecting our global expansion plans. As a result of strong customer demand, we will continue to in vest in and expand our life science and healthcare facilities worldwide, keeping pace with the needs of the market,” König added.
Alongside the launch, Rhenus UK announced an initiative in partnership with Cancer Research UK, pledging to donate a penny to the charity for every kilogram moved through the new facility. “Usually these ‘socks’ are blue, but our team has decided to make them pink to raise awareness among staff and visitors to the site or our commitment to rais ing money for the charity,” Davern said.
CARGO VOLUMES DECLINE ...
AS Brussels airport welcomed 2.2 million passengers through its doors, the hub saw cargo traffic continue its gradual de cline ...
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CAINIAO PARTNERS WITH ... CAINIAO Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, has announced a part nership with SHOPLINE ...
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WIREMIND CARGO’S REVENUE ... WIREMIND Cargo has launched a new module within its Car goStack CMS suite: Revenue Optimisation is a comprehen sive decision support tool ...
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PROTECTING PERISHABLES ...
While the air cargo industry prides itself on speed, some times there is an interval between the production, distri bution or delivery of goods
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IAG Cargo, the cargo division of Interna tional Airlines Group (IAG), has approved the latest product from Envirotainer, the Releye RLP & RAP containers are now available for customers transporting phar maceutical goods.
Using the latest technology, Envirotain er’s Releye RLP & RAP containers monitor the position, temperature, battery level and humidity, allowing IAG Cargo’s cus
IAG Cargo facilitated with the movement of COVID-19 vaccines and continues to do so on an almost weekly basis, for many years the business has partnered with organi sations to support global immunisation programmes.
“Temperature controlled air cargo is cru cial for getting life-saving medicines from one corner of the world to another. IAG Car go’s dedicated teams are always looking at
AS Brussels airport welcomed 2.2 million pas sengers through its doors, the hub saw cargo traffic continue its gradual decline.
2,154,380 passengers chose Brussels Airport in August, 82% of the number of passengers recorded in August 2019. As in July, this growth was primarily due to a strong recovery in the holiday market and visits to family and friends.
Brussels Airport has seen a positive effect from the increase in the number of Dutch trav ellers who have chosen to fly out of Brussels Airport to avoid the heavy rush at Dutch air ports. The good weather had a slightly negative influence on the passenger numbers, as some holidaymakers likely decided to stay in Belgium to take advantage of it.
The number of inbound passengers was high er than the number of outbound passengers, as usual in August. The share of outbound transfer passengers was 16%, only 1% percentage point lower than in 2019.
In August, cargo traffic at Brussels Airport fell by 11% compared to August 2021, which was still 19% up compared to 2019. Air freight vol umes were down 12% compared to last year. The full freighter segment declined by 19%. As expected, cargo-only passenger flights contin ue to decrease gradually, given the recovery of passenger flights. Last year, this segment rep resented a significant volume of the full freight market. At the same time, the number of full freight operations has gradually increased, par tially offsetting the volumes lost on passenger aircraft.
The integrator segment declined by 14%, while belly cargo grew by 16%, due to the in crease in passenger flights. In addition, trucked air cargo volumes were also down by 10%. These decreases can be accounted for by geopolitical and energy supply disruptions, blockages in China, the impending recession and its impact on e-commerce.
The total number of movements in August 2022 reached 17,882, an increase of 27% com pared to August 2021 but still down 17% on August 2019, before the crisis. The number of passenger flights represents 77% of the Au gust 2019 passenger flight count. The number of passengers per flight remains high with an average of 151 passengers, compared to 137 in 2019. Passenger load factors therefore continue to increase, as does the deployment of larger aircraft.As Brussels airport welcomed 2.2 mil lion passengers through its doors, the hub saw cargo traffic continue its gradual decline.
2,154,380 passengers chose Brussels Airport in August, 82% of the number of passengers recorded in August 2019. As in July, this growth was primarily due to a strong recovery in the holiday market and visits to family and friends.
Brussels Airport has seen a positive effect from the increase in the number of Dutch trav ellers who have chosen to fly out of Brussels Airport to avoid the heavy rush at Dutch air ports. The good weather had a slightly negative influence on the passenger numbers, as some holidaymakers likely decided to stay in Belgium to take advantage of it.
tomers to track their shipments and view the status of their cargo. With 170 hours of autonomy, running independently without needing to be recharged, these containers will maintain the temperature and protect the cargo longer than any other available solution.
Envirotainer’s solution is a welcome ad dition to IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate cold chain service. Throughout the pandemic,
ways to enhance our Constant Climate ser vice and so we are delighted to be able to offer our customers Envirotainer’s Releye containers. Envirotainer, is one of our longterm partners whose solution offers our customers a more effective mechanism to transport pharmaceuticals as well as com plete visibility from start to finish,” John Cheetham, chief commercial officer at IAG Cargo, said.
AIR Transat and Unilode Aviation Solutions have extended their Unit Load Device (ULD) manage ment partnership until 2026.
Air Transat operates scheduled and charter flights, currently serving 45 destinations in 27 countries with a fleet of 31 aircraft including 12 wide-body aircraft. Unilode has managed Air Transat’s ULDs since 2003. Unilode will contin ue to supply, manage, digitalise and repair Air Transat’s lightweight containers and pallets in a pooled ULD management model.
“We have built a strong partnership with Uni lode over the years. We value their flexibility, reliability and customer focus that enables us to concentrate on our core business of flying pas sengers. Unilode’s ULD pooling model efficiently
supports the changes to our schedule and net work while reducing our costs and contributing to our sustainability efforts,” Sergio Matos, vice president of air operations at Air Transat, said.
“Air Transat has been our valued customer for almost 20 years, and we are proud to be able to continue providing our ULD management solu tions to one of our most loyal customers. The renewal of our agreement demonstrates that both parties have been pleased with our part nership and are committed to further enhancing our relationship. Air Transat has an ambitious sustainability strategy and Unilode’s ULD pool ing benefits, lightweight containers and digital ULDs help achieve its goals,” Ross Marino, CEO of Unilode, said.
LUFTHANSA Cargo is launching a pilot in three countries, in preparation for going live worldwide on CargoAi. It will be the first Car goAi customer to make use of the instant rate offer and booking confirmation.
CAINIAO Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, has announced a part nership with SHOPLINE, Asia’s biggest smart commerce platform, to integrate its digital eCommerce logistics solution to provide endto-end cross-border logistics services.
Under this partnership, cross-border mer chants on SHOPLINE will enjoy customised, enterprise-level logistics solutions spanning over 130 countries and regions, including first mile pickup, international line haul, parcel track ing, one-stop after-sales support etc., and will encompass express, economy and other tiered logistics services. This is estimated to benefit over 350,000 merchants and 530 million con sumers globally with customizable, affordable, and efficient logistics services.
Using Cainiao International Express service, parcels from SHOPLINE’s merchants can be delivered to consumers in countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany, in as fast as seven working days from the point of collection. Merchants can increase their overall visibility, productivity, and efficiency to safeguard customer experience. The custo misable cross-border logistics service will also take into consideration the product category and merchant needs to provide services such as multi-channel logistics services, streamlin ing deliveries for greater time efficiencies and customer experience etc. To further improve merchants’ competitiveness, Cainiao will be in troducing logistics promotions and subsidies on the platform periodically.
Integrating Cainiao’s solution into SHOPLINE’s platform will help streamline merchants’ work flows and ease up bandwidth for merchants to focus on higher-value tasks, such as long-term business strategic planning, expansion and digitalisation efforts. In addition to using ERP
systems to engage Cainiao’s authorised logis tics partners for their logistics fulfilment needs, SHOPLINE’s merchants can also directly tap on Cainiao’s International Express service for their cross-border logistics needs. They simply need to authorise the use of Cainiao International Express service within the SHOPLINE app and Cainiao will be able to synchronise all orders placed within 30 days to enable goods despatch with just one click, thereby improving overall delivery efficiency.
“With the rise of social commerce that cul minated in more diverse retail channels and mediums, cross-border logistics has become more complex than before. Globally, we are seeing similar challenges faced by cross-border merchants such as differing logistics infrastruc ture, policies and regulations in local markets. This gave rise to the demand for higher quality logistics and supply chain services with a global coverage and a deeper understanding of local compliances,” Li Ya Ping, deputy general man ager of international export at Cainiao Network, said.
“This partnership will allow both Cainiao and SHOPLINE to develop greater synergies and achieve our fullest potential by capitalising on smart logistics to drive down costs, and increase stability and efficiencies of cross-border deliver ies. As we continue to streamline and optimise our global logistics network and processes, we aim to lower barriers and facilitate global trade with ease,” Li added.
This news comes after Cainiao’s announce ment in April to launch its digital end-to-end eCommerce logistics services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The pilot launch was done in partnership with Shoplazza to support its merchants with enterprise-level one-stop cross-border logistics services.
PELI BioThermal, the life science industry’s partner from discovery to distribution, has an nounced the opening of its new service center in Japan. The new facility, which is the latest lo cation to be added to the company’s growing network in Asia, is ideally situated near Tokyo’s international Narita Airport.
The latest location will also serve as an ad ditional network station for the company’s rapidly expanding Crēdo on Demand rental program, which offers a high-performance, flexible rental option for temperature con trolled pallet shippers, with worldwide reach.
“Japan continues to be one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world, which makes the launch of our latest service center a strong strategic solution. It is ideally placed within an area offering numerous transpor tation options, helping us to better meet the requirements of our global customers,” Benson Teo, Peli BioThermal’s senior director of sales in Asia, said.
“We are also delighted to announce our products will be shipped via airlines operating in the region including ANA and the JAL Group, which has the most comprehensive handling network in Japan providing ground handling services at numerous airports in Japan.”
Strategically located within Tokyo, Peli Bio Thermal’s latest facility is in close proximity to Narita Airport and will be able to support Japan’s thriving biotech sector. Tokyo is also home to a number of leading healthcare com panies including Takeda, Astellas Pharma, Pfizer Japan, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis Japan and Eisai.
To mark the official opening of the new fa cility a grand opening event was held on 7th September.
This latest location joins the expanding net work of Peli BioThermal facilities servicing key hubs for pharmaceutical manufacturing and transfer activities and is available to customers on a global scale.
Effective today, and just a few months since Lufthansa Cargo signed a Letter of Intent with CargoAi, marketplace users in The Nether
technical pilot run smoothly. Lufthansa will then benefit from an easy-to-use, customised e-booking system, allowing the carrier to op timise the efficiency of its forwarding process. It will also benefit from the promotion of its services to the more than 5,000 freight for warders across 103 countries who regularly use CargoAi’s marketplace.
lands, Italy, and Spain have access to routings and capacity information on all Lufthansa Group airlines serving those countries. Gener al and Express cargo can now be booked on Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels, Eurowings, or SunExpress.
This initial roll-out is a pilot that will run for the next two to three months, during which CargoAi and Lufthansa Cargo fine-tune their preparations for a global go-live, should the
“We want to give our customers a choice of booking channels. The impressive success that CargoAi has demonstrated in just the four years since it was founded, mirrors the inno vation that we strive for within our company and industry,” Ashwin Bhat, CCO of Lufthansa Cargo, explained.
Following a successful pilot, Lufthansa Cargo and CargoAi will begin to roll-out its CargoAi service across the network.
HONGKONG Post has chosen Hurricane Com merce as the data partner to support its global eCommerce operations.
Hurricane’s Zephyr solution ensures that shipments have the right data – including HS6 codes, product descriptions and 8- and 10- digit import and export codes – to pass smoothly through customs and on to the end consumer.
Meanwhile, Hurricane’s Aura product covers the three critical cross-border areas of duty and tax calculation, prohibited and restricted goods screening and denied parties screening.
The need for complete, accurate and compli ant data in cross-border eCommerce trade has been driven by a series of regulatory events.
They include the introduction of the European Union’s Import One-Stop Shop [IOSS] in July 2021 and the implementation of the EU’s Im port Control System 2 [ICS2].
The second release of ICS2 comes into effect in March 2023 and affects all parties involved in handling, shipping and transporting cargo, express or postal consignments to or via the EU by air with the requirement for minimum data sets.
Hongkong Post plans to make Hurricane’s enquiry functions available for all destinations to customers, enabling them to check all the customs related information to assist their shipments. This includes HS Code checking and tax and VAT calculation.
AMSAFE Bridport’s partnership with KLM/Air France, one of the world’s leading air cargo carriers, began in 2013 and immediately made KLM/Air France the first air cargo carrier in the world to fully convert its fleet to Pallet Net Zero.
Pallet Net Zero is one of the lightest nets available on the market being 59% lighter than traditional polyester nets. This provides KLM/Air France with considerable savings in both fuel and car bon emissions. By introducing Pallet Net Zero, KLM/Air France also benefits from improved ease of operation that only a light weight net provides – whilst still being durable, reliable and certified to TSO-C90D.
Pallet Net Zero, developed in partnership with KLM/Air France, is sustainably manufactured using biobased Dyneema which is manufactured from 100% renewable energy sources. AmSafe Bridport’s factory, where Pallet Net Zero is produced, uses solar power to generate over 2MW of power. This means Pallet Net Zero generates 79% less carbon emissions, from design to end of life, versus traditional polyester nets, making Pallet Net Zero the world’s strongest solution to greener cargo transport.
WIREMIND Cargo has launched a new module within its CargoStack CMS suite: Revenue Opti misation is a comprehensive decision support tool designed to help sales steerers and flight controllers in three key aspects of their job. For Revenue Management, the system rec ommends an Entry Condition, or “hurdle rate”, to help flight controllers to decide on which bookings to accept on the flight. For pricing, a rate recommendation for spot requests is provided. Lastly, for overbooking, the system provides advice based on the expected showup rate of booked cargo
As important as these recommendations based on AI models, are the flexibility that the system offers by allowing rules to be set by the user, especially in cases where there is
less data, such as on a newly launched route. Finally, one of the key differentiating features of CargoStack Revenue Optimisation is the display of key market insights to help for de cision making. For Revenue Management and Pricing in particular, those insights include live market data (capacity and demand) that are essential to take a decision for a flight controller. This “MRI” approach (Model, Rules and Insights) offers the right level of advice for each possible use case.
CargoStack is a competitive and highly cost-effective software as a service product enabling seamless interaction between air lines, GHAs, GSSAs, and forwarders, and offering visibility and control along the entire operational chain.
DB Schenker has moved into a new, sustain able cross-dock terminal in the greater Ulm area at the Herbrechtingen premise. DB Schenker serves numerous customers in the economic region, particularly from the food industry, the building materials industry and mechanical engineering.
The new terminal, which is located in the direct vicinity of the A7 autobahn as an im portant north-south link and the A8 in the Stuttgart-Munich connection, went into op eration at the end of June 2022. On a site area
ker in the Germany/Switzerland cluster, said. “Through modernisation, branch expansions and new buildings like the one here in Her brechtingen, we are increasing our capacity and performance within this network, po sitioning ourselves for further growth in Europe.”
“By doubling the terminal area to 7,000sqm, we have optimised our loading and unload ing processes. This ensures particularly fast and punctual handling and at the same time creates better conditions for employees
WORLDWIDE Flight Services (WFS) and Di agnose have pioneered the detection of undeclared shipments of lithium batteries fol lowing a six-month trial involving thousands of cargo consignments in France.
WFS and Diagnose partnered in March 2022 to carry out a feasibility study using dogs to detect the presence of lithium batteries in cargo ship ments, mail and baggage.
Currently, there are few means to physically check for undeclared lithium batteries, posing one of the biggest threats to flight safety due to their fire risk. At the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) AGM in June, Willie Walsh, director general, called on governments to de velop and implement research methods for lithium battery detected.
“Airlines, shippers, manufacturers, and gov ernments all want to ensure the safe transport of lithium batteries by air. It’s a joint responsibility... Stronger enforcement of existing regulations and the criminalisation of abuses will send a strong message to rogue shippers. The acceler ated development of standards for screening, information exchange, and fire containment will give the industry even more effective tools to work with,” Walsh said.
WFS and Diagnose hope the results of their extensive trial in France will provide a significant step forward towards realising this objective globally.
The test phase was conducted at WFS cargo terminal in Lyon and involved two dog detec tion teams, specially trained by Diagnose, and their trainers. Derived from the free-running explosives detection method which Diagnosed mastered over 20 years ago, the trial enabled the dogs to check large volumes of different types of cargoes and has produced remarkable results.
“Over the six months, the two dogs involved in the trial were very precise in their detection
of lithium batteries, with 100% accuracy. They located both lithium ion and lithium metal phone batteries in various cargo units whose volume sometimes exceeded 2 to 3 cubic me ters. More specifically, they were able to detect a single button battery (ion metal battery) within a 1 cubic meter shipment. In response to one of the biggest aviation safety challenges, WFS and Diagnose believe this can help to significantly strengthen safety measures,” David Clark, global head of health, safety, security & environment (HSSE) at WFS, said
The testing period also allowed for the devel opment of an operational protocol, a standard training programme, and an end-of-training and ongoing performance evaluation.
WFS and Diagnose, a subsidiary of the ICTS Europe group, will now make France the centre of excellence for the detection of lithium bat teries by dogs. In future phases, dogs could be deployed across EU airports or in response to customer requirements within five to six months as more dog detection teams are trained. Di agnose is currently present in nine countries, equipped with 400 teams of dog-handlers.
“The challenge presented by lithium batter ies is a major concern for aviation safety. Goods that are properly declared, correctly packed and, above all, in good condition present little risk, but it is clear that batteries, or devices containing batteries, are transported every day in passen ger luggage and in airfreight shipments without being declared. By working in partnership with WFS, we believe the results of our dog detection trial can be a very important breakthrough in en suring the highest standards of aviation safety, which are our shared priority. We will be pre senting the results of our trials in France to IATA and the regulatory authorities in the next stage of this initiative,” Oren Sapir, CEO at ICTS Europe group, added.
GLOBAL air cargo prices continued their gradual decline in the first two full weeks of September, while volumes increased slightly in the second week after a drop in the first full week, the latest figures from WorldACD Mar ket Data reveal.
Looking at week 37 (September 11 –18) alone, worldwide chargeable weight increased 1% compared with the previous week, based on the more than 350,000 week ly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data. But comparing weeks 36 and 37 with the pre ceding two weeks (2Wo2W), volumes in the last two weeks combined dropped 3% on a 2Wo2W basis, while average worldwide rates declined 1%, with a decrease in capacity of 2%.
Across that two-week period, tonnag es showed a declining trend from the main air cargo origin regions, except for flows ex-Europe, which showed an increase of 2%.
Notably, volumes ex-North America displayed a 10% drop that can also be seen on a laneby-lane basis, with significant decreases from North America to Asia Pacific (17%), to Europe (10%) and to Central & South America (9%).
Comparing the overall global market with this time last year, chargeable weight in weeks 36 and 37 was down 11% compared with the equivalent period in 2021, despite a capaci ty increase of 6%. Notably, volumes ex-Asia Pacific are 22% below their strong levels this time last year, and Middle East & South Asia origin tonnages are -16% below last year.
Meanwhile, after remaining above last year’s levels for the first seven months of 2022, worldwide rates are softening week over week, to currently 7% below their level this time last year at an average of $3.48 per kilo, despite the buoying effects of higher fuel sur charges compared with last year.
of 40,000 sqm, DB Schenker in Herbrechtin gen now has 7,000sqm of logistics space for transshipment and 74 truck ramps.
“We have achieved a very good density of our land transport network with our cur rent premises in Germany and Europe,” Ralf Többe, head of land transport at DB Schen
and, of course, our drivers. After just a few weeks of operation in the new terminal, we were able to achieve a significant increase in throughput. We are ideally prepared for up coming new customer business,” Iris Steiner, head of the land office at the Herbrechtingen premise, added.
HERMES Logistics Technologies’ (HLT) has inte grated tech partner SPEEDCARGO’s solutions into its Cargo Management System (CMS) for a ground handler at Singapore Changi Airport.
The integration between SPEEDCARGO’s CARGO EYE solution and HLT’s New Gener ation (NG) Ecosystem at the point of cargo acceptance will make enhanced digital infor mation of physical cargo available within the Hermes CMS.
“With this collaboration, the ground han dlers get two best-of-breed solutions enabling them to reap the full benefits of digitalisation, including 100 % coverage, processing speed, error prevention, and savings on costly la bour,” Yuval Baruch, CEO of HLT, said.
The enhanced workflow enables the ground
handler to digitalise physical cargo received at piece level and provide digital acceptance cer tificates of the cargo received.
It also enables easy re-recognition of cargo during the handling process and all this in formation can be made available to shippers, freight handlers, and airlines in real time.
A planned phase two of the Hermes and SPEEDCARGO integration project will enable the CARGO MIND system to work with the Hermes CMS to optimise cargo build-up even further.
“It is our belief that through collaboration such as this between tech companies, sharing data, and leveraging data, we can finally bene fit from real AI and deliver true value to the air cargo industry,” Baruch said.
Joloda Hydraroll has partnered with Georgi Han dling to install an air cargo material handling system in its new goods processing warehouse. The overall aim of the project is to make transfer ring cargo and freight in and out of trucks more efficient and safer.
Georgi Handling has recently extended its client services and opened a new warehouse
loading and unloading processes.
The rollerbed system is a prebuilt, modular system that can be installed on top of any flat sur face, such as a warehouse floor or a trailer. When safely docked in the loading bay, the rollerbed system can transfer goods from the trailer onto the rollerbed in the warehouse. Tyre guides and ramps help to level the trailer to the warehouse
at Leipzig airport to process inbound and out bound air cargo freight. The warehouse will act as a hub to distribute cargo further into its network, and to provide added services and support.
First, however, the warehouse needed to be equipped with the necessary facilities. It was originally fitted with a traditional-style loading dock with roller shutter doors; there were no facilities to safely and quickly load and unload unit load devices (ULDs) and PMC pallets from standard and mega air cargo (low floor height) trailers into the warehouse.
The air cargo logistics specialist required a safe, flexible, yet temporary solution to make the operations in the warehouse as efficient as possi ble. Joloda Hydraroll specified and supplied one of its pneumatic rise and fall rollerbed solutions – the Joloda Hydraroll Modular Rollerbed System – which is specifically designed for warehouse applications. The system enables the warehouse floor to be converted into an air cargo handling station. Operators can directly transfer the cargo by rolling it in and out, helping Georgi Handling to speed up its freight transfer and optimise the
floor so the rollerbed is continuous. The system also offers great flexibility during setup, as the modular rollerbed frames and wheel ramps are retro-fitted and secured to the concrete with heavy-duty bolts, which makes it possible to remove.
The pneumatic rise and fall rollerbed tech nology ensures the system is much safer than live-roller alternatives. Safety features include auto lowering of the rollers, pallet stops and quick exhaust valves, as well as a safety cage and safety fuse around the electric winch. The winch is used to pull out, load and unload the pallets, which keeps operators at a safe distance from the system during use.
All in all, the modular rollerbed system took just two days to fully install. Since then, the com pany has been able to easily and safely roll in and out ULDs and PMC pallets from its rollerbed trailers into the warehouse. By handling all cargo on rollers, the air cargo logistics specialist has im proved operational safety for both the workers and the cargo itself, while meeting the necessary safety requirements from their customers – the airline operators.
LIEGE Airport will soon welcome Frédéric Brun and Alexis Lapot, respectively as the new head of commercial cargo & logistics and new senior manager cargo sales.
Brun has a strong logistics background, with more than 15 years experience. He joins from global logistics provider DSV, where he worked for nine years. His last position was branch man ager Liege and he also previously worked for DB Schenker, Rhenus Logistics and Maersk.
Lapot has nearly 10 years of experience in both aviation and logistics. He joins from worldwide flight services (WFS), where his current position is Airline Key account manager. He previously worked for CAL Cargo Airlines.
“With these two senior manager appointents, Liege Airport will strengthen/expand its com mercial cargo team and further execute its cargo-only strategy,” Torsten Wefers, VP market ing & sales at Liege Airport, said.
While the air cargo industry prides itself on speed, sometimes there is an interval between the production, distribution or delivery of goods, meaning companies need to turn to cargo facili ties to protect their items. This is even more true for perishables or items that require specific temperature-con trolled environments to keep them fresh.
Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT) has long been prepared for han dling specialist cargo, with a wide variety of facilities, including a perishable centre, strong room, dangerous goods and radioac tive room, storage for live animals and a direct-to-airside facility to accept large animals and last-minute built-up units. Earlier this year it further enhanced its offering, adding the AAT COOLPORT –Hong Kong’s first on-airport temperature-controlled facility built to ensure cold chain integrity for perishable and pharmaceutical airfreight.
Planning for the COOLPORT started before the pandemic, with AAT looking at their existing facilities and exploring what market segments they wanted to really grow and target. “Perishables and pharmaceuticals were always the top priorities in our strate gic planning,” Kuah Boon Kiam, CEO of AAT, said. ‘Instead of just upgrading existing sites, AAT decided to build something new that wasn’t available anywhere in Hong Kong airport. “The timing turned out to be quite good because of the fact that, more than ever now, there is a focus on pharmaceuticals and vaccines.”
The COOLPORT stands out in the cargo space, not just because it’s a Hong Kong first but because it continues to represent AAT’s ongoing commitment to offer unique solutions to the growing de mand for safe transportation of time and temperature-sensitive air cargo. In a strategic location at the airport, the facility allows for the seamless movement of cargo through the facility in a speedy and effective manner that prevent potential disruptions to the cold chain.
“From the moment cargo is accepted at the air-conditioned truck docks, we have special dock shelters that allow the cargo to come right off the truck into a temperature-controlled environ ment. There is no exposure to outside temperatures and once it
comes into our facilities, it can be weighed, x-rayed, worked on under a specific temperature-controlled environment. That is the key differentiating factor between us and other CTOs. We are the only ones that can keep the cargo in this environment from start to finish.”
HKIA already has the illustrious title of being the world’s busiest airport, having unseated the previous hub after 10 years at the top. The COOLPORT’s launch is only likely to further bolster Hong Kong’s status on the global stage. Increasing AAT’s handling ca pacity for sensitive cargo by 50%, the COOLPORT shows the region is the world’s hub for perishables and pharmaceuticals.
For Hong Kong specifically, it is hugely beneficial to have added capacity, not just for status but to meet the needs of its own citi zens. While some regions are able to sustain themselves without outside support, Hong Kong doesn’t grow its own food and so it relies on importing perishables to feed its citizens. “At any point in time, you could find lobsters from Australia, meat from New Zea land and products from Africa in our hub awaiting delivery.”
The pandemic only increased the demand for the transpor tation of perishables, as countries diversified where they source their food, raising the number of imports coming in. Similarly, the movement of pharmaceutical goods increased with the need to ship vaccines and medical equipment during that time. “High value pharmaceuticals are needed in a place like Hong Kong. In sulin, fertility drugs, these are high value commodities. Demand is growing, so we are very happy that we made this investment.”
For any company moving goods in the current climate, monitoring their progress is now a key requirement, as they seek to reassure customers where their items are and that they are travelling with out disruption. This is even more important in the cold chain, where monitoring has to go beyond simply the location and in clude real time information on the temperature and treatment of the goods.
“Every storage facility has a monitoring dashboard outside where it keeps track of its temperature and humidity. It’s not just
“They were very happy that Hong Kong now has a facility to promote itself as a perishables hub”
in terms of numbers, it is colour coded.” The high tech monitor ing data provided has sparked significant interest from airlines, who’ve looked at the facilities and been impressed by the tech nology on offer.
“We can say that if your cargo is handled by us, we can en sure that it is kept within the needed temperature range until you are ready to collect it or until the plane is ready to be load ed. From that perspective, there is a general peace of mind.”
The air cargo sector is a customer-focused industry, where lis tening and learning form a crucial part of any business, as it seeks to adapt to meet the needs of potential clients and get ahead of the curve. The market feedback for AAT’s COOLPORT has been “extremely positive” so far, with the hub inviting airlines, agents and shippers to offer their thoughts on the facilities.
“They were very happy that Hong Kong now has a facility to promote itself as a perishables hub. We’ve had a few compa nies who say that now they can talk to a customer with a lot more confidence, so it makes their life a little bit easier when they deal with a shipper or cargo agent.” Similarly, officials in Hong Kong have been supportive of the project, recognising the benefits it has in encouraging companies to move their cargo through the region.
While expanding and increasing cargo volumes, AAT is de termined to do so in a way that has a minimal impact on the environment, as it seeks to become a green air terminal. This is a key selling point when touting the service to the industry.
Within the COOLPORT, AAT uses environmentally friendly, non-ozone depleting refrigerants that provide high perfor mance with reduced carbon footprint. “The entire facility is designed with these features in mind to ensure that it remains as sustainable as possible.” All the materials that AAT use are sustainable and eco-friendly and the layout of the new facility has been designed in a way that means no energy is wasted.
AAT is fully certified with IATA CEIV Pharma, IATA CEIV Fresh and WHO GDP Pharma accreditations and meets world-class standards.
Awery Aviation Software, a software development company for the aviation industry, has its eyes set on highlighting digital innovations during air cargo forum (ACF) Miami in November.
Vitaly Smilianets, founder and CEO, Awery and Tristan Koch, CCO, who will be attending the event are looking forward to the return to face-to-face events, as it is “critical to fully understand client needs”, as well as building personal re lationships in a customer-focused industry. “Although we are an IT provider, we also help customers with the larger chal lenge of change management which requires being together.”
While securing deals takes longer than a two day confer ence, Awery is ready to make a contribution to the industry, as it looks to set the benchmark in the way that Skyscanner and Booking.com have done in their respective sectors. To do that
you need to engage with the sector and events like ACF pres ent a great opportunity to do that.
During and after the conference, Awery is working to “make sure every delegate is aware that Awery brings efficiencies of an online digital experience to existing processes but also new functionality to the traditional airfreight model.”
Their major message at the show is clear: The future in freight is digital. “More efficiency, better process control and the best customer experience - that is Awery.” With a rapidly changing sector that needs to respond swiftly to new developments, “Awery prides itself on its agility and ability to adapt to chang ing customer needs and market conditions.”
Taking the Covid pandemic, Awery highlights how “cus tomers had become inundated with email traffic for quotes, bookings, and other enquiries.” So, showing how the software
company seeks to adapt and streamline outdated processes, it provided customers with EMagic, which used AI to translate those emails and various texts and images across multiple lan guages into automated digital transactions.
That system saved a lot of manual processing, sped up re sponses and presented a roadmap going forward for a more efficient set up. “The future must be sustainable. The amount of wasted energy and effort in correcting mistakes is huge. By ensuring shipments are accurately booked, delivered and flown we are saving work time and physical resources.”
“We got back into meeting people as soon as we could – we were in Dublin last year at the WCS and have been at every major show since then. Air cargo is a global business but a relatively small community, so it has been like meet ing up with old friends.”
