ACW 13th February 23

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals

No. 1,217 13 February 2023

Qatar Airways Cargo resumes passenger freighter ...

COLOGNE BONN AIRPORT FACILITATES EMERGENCY FLIGHTS TO EARTHQUAKE-HIT TURKEY

A50-strong team from Germany’s Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) took off from Cologne Bonn Airport to Turkey’s south-eastern province of Gaziantep on 7th February with 16 tonnes of recovery equipment.

The huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit south-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, in the early hours of 6th February, closely followed by numerous aftershocks, including a 7.5 magnitude quake - almost as devastating as the first.

The team is part of a rapid deployment unit, which specialises in locating and rescuing people who have been trapped by the natural disaster. Within a few hours of being alerted, the team was ready to take off, having packed their equipment in light metal crates that can be transported in conventional commercial aircraft.

The plane arrived at Gaziantep Airport, with four trained rescue dogs for biological detection

and tools, including acoustic detection devices and technical recovery equipment.

This will enable the team, including THW volunteers from Germany’s North RhineWestphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Bavaria regions, to quickly and effectively locate and rescue people who have been buried.

Alongside the THW team, during the night from 6th-7th February, a plane took off from Cologne to carry a group from International Search and Rescue Germany, which has been working in the affected areas since shortly after the disaster.

“Our emergency services are specially trained for earthquake operations like this one. The team has rescue equipment with them to free people who have been buried from the rubble,” THW President Gerd Friedsam explained.

The THW is preparing further deployment options for aid in the areas impacted by the earthquake.

“We are in the first phase after the disaster. At the moment, the focus is clearly on rescuing and providing first aid to the people affected, and that is exactly what our team is trained in,” Friedsam emphasised. “The main thing is to help the survivors. Especially with the low temperatures, things like tents, sleeping bags and generators are extremely important.”

The Rapid Deployment Unit for Water Abroad is also ready to support the region, providing the ability to supply clean water to up to 30,000 people a day through drinking water treatment plants.

For foreign assignments, the THW is part of the EU’s civil protection mechanism. With its experts, technology and experience, it is in demand worldwide on behalf of the federal government when emergencies require it. In addition to bilateral aid, this also includes technical and logistical tasks within the framework of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism and on behalf of UN organisations.

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INSIDE

STRIVING FOR SUCCESS IN THE ...

THE perishable cargo sector offers both unique opportunities and challenges for those companies operating in the space. Kerry Logistics ...

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MENZIES AVIATION EXPANDS ...

MENZIES Aviation has acquired a majority stake in Jamaicanbased AJAS Limited, a privately owned ground and cargo handling company ...

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SETTING THE STANDARD ...

These days customers around the world don’t want to wait long durations for products, demanding delivery as soon as possible. From the hospitality ...

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IAG CARGO TRANSPORTS

IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group, has safely delivered one of the largest dinosaurs to walk the Earth on a shipment ...

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Striving for success in the perishables sector

THE perishable cargo sector offers both unique opportunities and challenges for those companies operating in the space.

Kerry Logistics is one of those that sought to find the key to success in the perishables arena through developing a process that is as simple and streamlined as possible. It’s not something that can be done successfully within a silo, it needs strong partner airlines and carriers that can demonstrate and deliver flown as booked service.

David Mallinson, UK Airfreight Director of Kerry Logistics, oversees operations at the cargo handler, which predominantly transports foodstuffs. However, they are starting to see more demand for pharma and medical supplies, particularly a rise in the volume of health supplements and formulas.

Overcoming hurdles

Moving perishable goods requires a specialist

approach compared to traditional cargo transportation due to the need to deliver produce swiftly and without fail, or else risk spoiling the produce. That means those carrying perishables must have an effective and efficient business model to meet the needs of their customers, avoiding supply chain disruption.

This was particularly challenging during the Covid pandemic, when restrictions and closures caused headaches for those trying to move cargo around the globe. Over the past few years, Kerry Logistics, like others, has seen challenges on a daily basis. Although the world is opening back up, there are still issues, such as with capacity.

“Whilst carriers are returning, some very slowly, to a more “normalised” level of service, there is still, approximately, a 12% global lack of capacity,” Mallinson said. “Flights are not operating to pre-pandemic levels and quite

often those flights are operating with smaller aircraft meaning space can still be an issue.”

However, despite those hurdles, Mallinson stated that “the notion that rates are in freefall, isn’t necessarily true in what is a niche market where the product demands a high level of monitoring, organisation, and a high level of flown as booked performance.”

Even in the most difficult of circumstances, Kerry Logistics overcame hurdles, finding solutions that managed to ensure the supply chains of their clients were uninterrupted. “While carriers reduced capacity, or in fact cancelled services entirely, we found solutions with partners who managed to fine tune their services to our clients’ requirement,” Mallinson explained.

“These solutions included ensuring shorter close out times at origin, quick ramp transfers in the case of transhipment or even “tail to tail” transfers. With a little bit of creativity and communication we have been successful in keeping cargo moving quickly,” he added.

Reacting to a rapidly changing environment

If the last few years have taught logistics handlers anything, it’s that they need to have plans in place to swiftly respond to a situation as and when it happens. That’s how Kerry Logistics shone in tough circumstances, with Mallinson being able to confidently state that they “handled the situation without any major complications.”

This helped them to thrive in Asia amidst some of the toughest lockdown restrictions and supply chain disruptions. “As one of Asia’s major service providers, even in the middle of lockdowns, there was absolutely minimal disruption to our supply chain,” Mallinson said.

“The key to this is testimony to our extremely agile and nimble network through the Far East and Asia who worked tirelessly to ensure that workable solutions were always

close to hand,” he explained.

Trusted partners help in this mission to limit disruption to supply chains. As the EU is not Kerry UK’s biggest market, they haven’t been overly affected by Brexit and the issues that has posed for forwarders supplying to or via the EU. However, when they do work in the region, their partners help to ensure efficiency in their transit times through Liege, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam.

“It’s absolutely crucial, without the correct alignment of partners it is simply impossible to operate at the optimum level required to move the volumes that we do,” Mallinson stated.

Expected opportunities

Having opened a new facility at London Heathrow in 2020, as the logistics handler expands its network, Kerry UK is proudly open about its plans for the future. Although, the pandemic did force them to consider regional operations to alleviate the strain at Heathrow during the height of the pandemic, the facility has performed well with their demands.

“We have enjoyed success in the North of England too, where we now move perishable products directly to key European gateways to streamline processes and limit additional handling and expense,” Mallinson said.

With Asia being a key market for Kerry UK, the company is naturally focused on the expected growth in demand in China and the Far East through 2023 and beyond, as lockdown measures eventually start to ease.

In light of what could be a lack of capacity for larger movements of perishables and pharma, Kerry UK is looking to make use of freighter operators who can assist in the movement of charter volumes.

“Overall, we see China and the Far East as a whole, bouncing back after lockdown and are cautiously optimistic that Q2 2023 will be a springboard to our future success,” Mallinson added.

Menzies Aviation expands footprint to Jamaica with the acquisition of a majority stake in AJAS Limited

MENZIES Aviation has acquired a majority stake in Jamaican-based AJAS Limited, a privately owned ground and cargo handling company.

AJAS Limited, which has operated in Jamaica for over 82 years and employs almost 600 staff, provides ramp, passenger, and cargo handling services to several international airlines at the two leading airports in Jamaica: Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston (KIN), and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay (MBJ).

Following the acquisition, AJAS Limited will be rebranded as Menzies AJAS, bringing it in line with the other companies under the Menzies Group. The current AJAS Limited management team will remain in place to oversee the company’s strategic objectives of establishing Menzies AJAS as the handler of choice for all airlines operating in Jamaica.

“We have provided ground services in the Caribbean for over 20 years, and we are excited to be expanding our footprint to Jamaica at a time when its aviation industry is experiencing a post Covid-19 pandemic recovery. The Menzies AJAS combination brings together local knowledge, relationships and expertise, which will strengthen our position in this market,” John Redmond, Executive Vice President Americas, Menzies Aviation, said.

“Partnering with Menzies will add tremendous value to our business, which has gone from strength to strength over the past 82 years. AJAS has always been recognised as a good employer in Jamaica, and we are proud of our strong relationships with our hard working and long-standing employees,” Howard Mitchell, Chairman, AJAS, said.

Why are we a WACA Sponsor

FOR the first time in the history of ACW’s World Air Cargo Awards, our company is proud to sponsor the Air Cargo Handling Agent of the Year award category. We are highly honoured, not only to be a sponsor, but also finalists of the Air Cargo Industry Customer Care and Airport of the Year categories. We would like to dedicate our biggest gratitude to our stakeholders, integrators, clients, and our employees who have made and make our daily operations possible, even through these continuously challenging times within the global economies.

As Cologne Bonn Airport’s cargo division, we deliver 24/7 operations, moving goods, such as perishables, pharmaceuticals and animals to large cargo centres across Europe, North America, Middle East, Asia and Africa. We are happy to welcome different commodities and carriers, whether they are large international airlines, start-ups, or passenger flights carrying belly freight.

We value strong relations with our partners. Therefore, sponsoring this category is a way of appreciating everyone’s hard and excellent work the past year, especially our new cargo handling agent dnata, whose work is highly efficient, reliable, and collaborative.

At this year’s ACW World Air Cargo awards, our objective is to platform and raise awareness of Cologne Bonn as a smart, cargo friendly airport. We see the chance to get together with other cargo-handling partners as part of our business development. That said, without our present loyal partners and stakeholders, we would not be able to achieve yearly improvements.

We look forward to 2023 being a promising year full of new partners, clients and corporations but more importantly, a year filled with interesting cargo business.

JetBlue Cargo to offer real-time cargo pricing, eBooking and payment for US forwarders via WebCargo

JETBLUE Cargo, via AeroNex Cargo, has announced it will be gradually rolling out access to instant pricing, booking and payments for forwarders in the United States on WebCargo by Freightos (Nasdaq: CRGO), the cargo booking platform used by over 10,000 forwarding offices globally.

Domestic cargo plays a key role in US trade, reaching over 20 billion cargo revenue tonne miles in 2021. As air cargo expands across a range of sectors, freight forwarder demand for transparent, efficient pricing and booking is driving innovation at top airlines.

JetBlue leverages a fleet of Airbus A320 and A321s to offer one-day, two-day and three-day cargo service across over ten North American airports. With WebCargo, forwarders will be able to improve air cargo efficiency by accessing an industry-leading aggregation of carriers.

This partnership, which will roll out in early 2023, helps forwarders provide more efficient and competitive service for customers. Combined with WebCargo Pay, WebCargo’s integrated payment solution, forwarders

Turkish Cargo partners with CargoAi to expand its digital offering worldwide

TURKISH Airlines’ air cargo brand, Turkish Cargo, is now live on CargoAi’s marketplace solution (CargoMART), for users in four countries. In the pilot phase, CargoMART users in France, Spain, Netherlands and Singapore will have access to booking Turkish Cargo’s new services TK SMART (general cargo service), TK PREMIUM and TK URGENT (express cargo service) instantaneously on all Turkish Cargo routes.

In keeping with its philosophy to provide full visibility to its users for informed and actionable business decisions, CargoAi’s integration with Turkish Cargo is unique in that it displays nonbookable options to its users. Where other platforms filter out such options, forwarders on CargoMART are instantly in the know and can quickly make an offline booking (via call for example) for such shipments.

“We’re thrilled to be announcing the partnership between Turkish Cargo and CargoAi, as this will significantly increase Turkish Airlines’ cargo revenue opportunities from a 360 degree perspective. By providing full visibility throughout the airfreight procurement process, we continue our mission to bring the best digital booking experience that CargoMART offers to our joint customers,” Matt Petot, CEO of CargoAi, said.

Users of CargoMART benefit from searching for real-time schedules, bulk quoting, e-booking, the ability to track and trace each shipment, as well CargoAi’s Cargo2ZERO sustainable features to support the air cargo industry’s decarbonisation mission.

Following the successful pilot launch, Turkish Cargo will expand its offering on CargoAi worldwide. The worldwide rollout will allow the full visibility and booking of all its routes to more than 6,000 freight forwarders across 63 countries who regularly use CargoAi’s marketplace, CargoMART.

can further improve booking efficiency.

“With air cargo being the fastest growing business segment in the aviation industry during and after the pandemic, taking this step of joining the WebCargo platform will allow JetBlue Cargo customers to access their cargo bookings in a matter of seconds. I am confident that with a great partner like WebCargo it will allow us to better serve our customers. We are excited to participate in this technological tendency that is the beginning of the future of online cargo bookings,” Patricio Sepulveda, Founder and CEO of AeroNex Cargo, JetBlue’s exclusive cargo representative, said.

“Moving air cargo efficiently and competitively is critical for increasingly complex supply chains,” Camilo Garcia, VP Global Business Development at WebCargo, added. “We’re excited to partner with JetBlue and AeroNex Cargo to scale eBookings and payments across our network of over 10,000 forwarding offices, and especially to our 7LFreight users in North America.”

SETTING THE STANDARD ACROSS THE PERISHABLE CARGO SECTOR

These days customers around the world don’t want to wait long durations for products, demanding delivery as soon as possible. From the hospitality industry, using airfreight to rapidly acquire products to meet their everdemanding customer needs, to food distributors, who want the freshest goods, the perishable sector is booming.

As a non-profit organisation that works to bring together all parts of the temperature-sensitive supply chain, the Cool Chain Association (CCA) is at the forefront of the perishable cargo sector. Alongside its work to reduce wastage and improve the sector, the CCA understands the intricacies of the arena, the opportunities and the challenges within it.

With raising awareness at the heart of its mission, the CCA knows the secret to success within the sector: the speed in which companies can move perishable products from production to table around the globe. After all, speed is the most significant benefit of airfreight. This has been clearly seen in the rise of the e-commerce sector and online shopping, driving business to the airfreight industry. With the rise of technology, enabling consumers to procure items from any part of the world in a timely fashion, this space is only likely to grow in importance.

Good practices

For the supply chain to be strong, it requires all parts to work together effectively and efficiently. That’s why it’s crucial to have good practices in place for all logistics companies, especially those within the perishables sector. This has, at times, proved tricky with good practices not always understood by all stakeholders in this space, including some producers and manufacturers.

For example, perishable products that require refrigeration must always be under cooling at the optimum product temperature as soon as possible. Any deviations either in temperature control or handling will result in poor quality or loss and wastage, which cannot be allowed.

It’s not just the temperature element of the cool chain that needs to have a unified approach from all stakeholders. With an

increased focus on innovation, digitalisation across players in the sector has not occurred at the necessary pace, potentially further inhibiting business opportunities, according to the CCA.

“The main idea as mentioned earlier is to ensure a standardised approach to perishable handling and storage, where best practices are followed and a risk-based methodology is implemented across the supply chain. The use of data will be key to identify the black spots and allow us to analyse and put the required measures in place thereby avoiding food waste,” Miguel Rodriguez Moreno, CCA’s Treasurer said.

“Opportunities include the need for training, education, and data sharing amongst all stakeholders within the industry. The CCA is of the view that training and education of stakeholders within the airfreight sector is undervalued. Each sector within the value chain also works independently with little data sharing to improve efficiencies. Over the years CCA emphasised the theme of collaboration to avoid loss and waste of products. The drive towards technological advancements is becoming a key focus within most industries,” Vijan Chetty, the CCA’s director of the board, added.

Partners protect perishables

Unlike some other sectors, the airfreight industry managed to do relatively well out of the last few years, as flights were almost fully booked with cargo. This was fuelled, in part, by the increase in demand for space on cargo carriers for food and medicine. In order to meet the increasing demand for fresh products transported by air, many actors in the supply chain have worked to upgrade their infrastructure. Within that, they have ensured there is clear segregation for different products, enhanced visibility within the sector and booster investment in digitalisation, monitoring and data sharing.

Infrastructure and adequately well-trained resources are critical for the success of the cargo industry. Having the infrastructure and resources is one aspect, however proper maintenance and ensuring that equipment is optimally functional is critical. This is

“Infrastructure and adequately well-trained resources are critical for the success of the cargo industry”

the case for everything, from ground handling equipment to transportation and cold storage facilities.

What’s next

With the air cargo industry growing, there are a number of markets where there are potential opportunities for stakeholders to prosper. Latin America, Africa and Asia have all been identified by the CCA as having lots of potential to both send and receive perishable goods by air. However, as with the earlier point, for the sector to fully capitalise on these opportunities, adequate governmental support needs to be in place to provide the necessary local infrastructure and training. Digitalisation is becoming fundamentally important for the cargo industry. “There is a cry by the cargo industry for real time information in an electronic format that can be integrated into systems. Decisions regarding the product

can be made with speed if all the information is readily available,” Chetty said.

“The opportunity to reduce the paper intervention by allowing e-declarations and e-clearance can expedite the processes of acceptance and delivery, creating a positive impact in the product transported by reducing the exposure time,” Rodriguez added.

There is a growing focus on sustainability overall in the sector as well, particularly for the CCA, which has identified this as a key issue. “Avoiding food wastage is probably the best way to be sustainable in today’s world,” Rodriguez stated. To ensure more “democratic” access to food supplies for the population in different countries and areas, it’s important to make the best use of the resources. “The reduction in emissions is key to sustainability, but by eliminating the food waste we’re also contributing massively to reduce those same emissions as we maximise cargo operations.”

IAG CARGO TRANSPORTS WORLD’S LARGEST DINOSAUR TO THE UK FOR NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM EXHIBITION

Qatar Airways Cargo resumes passenger freighter service to Penang

Qatar Airways Cargo will recommence belly capacity services to Penang, Malaysia, effective 2nd February 2023. Qatar Airways Cargo will operate an A330 passenger freighter to Penang via Qatar Airways’ passenger flights to Phuket, four times a week. This adds more than 70 tonnes of available capacity each week, that will feed into Qatar Airways Cargo’s extensive international network via its state-of-the-art Doha hub.

The service complements the existing seven weekly bellyhold flights to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, providing customers with over 200 tonnes of cargo capacity from Malaysia.

“Qatar Airways Cargo is implementing its meticulous Next Generation approach throughout its network, aiming for optimum resource deployment in alignment with customer requirements,” Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo, said.

IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group, has safely delivered one of the largest dinosaurs to walk the Earth on a shipment from Buenos Aires to London Heathrow.

The Titanosaur Patagotitan Mayorum is around the same length as a British Airways’ Airbus A320 aircraft or four double decker buses.

The Natural History Museum confirmed IAG Cargo as its official exhibition logistics partner for its upcoming exhibition Titanosaur: Life as the biggest dinosaur back in November 2022. Now on UK soil, this will be the first time the magnificent titanosaur will be displayed in Europe.

The dinosaur’s journey started in Trelow, Argentina, from where the cast travelled to Buenos Aires before it moved onto London. In Trelow, Argentina, Patagotitan was dismantled into more than 40 crates – to be flown in the bellyhold of two British Airways B787-9 passenger aircrafts. Upon landing at London Heathrow, the unique freight was transported to a special facility ahead of its journey to the Natural History Museum where it will be re-assembled ready for public display in March.

IAG Cargo has many years of experience in transporting highvalue, unique and precious consignments via its dedicated

‘Secure’ product, ensuring total peace of mind when it comes to moving cargo like the awe-inspiring titanosaur.

“It is a privilege to partner with the Natural History Museum as the custodian of some of the world’s most important scientific artefacts. I want to thank our teams in Argentina and the UK who made this colossal task of transporting a 37-metre dinosaur a reality,” John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo, said.

“We’re pleased to have IAG Cargo as our exhibition logistics partner on this exhibition. As one of the largest dinosaurs to ever roam the Earth, it is so important that we are able to showcase this cast to the public, connecting our visitors with nature and inspiring them to care for the large animals we share the planet with today,” Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Natural History Museum, commented.

“I and the entire team felt honoured and privileged to fly this unique artefact from Argentina to the UK, and it was really very special to have been able to carry this precious cargo on a British Airways’ aircraft. Working with our sister company IAG Cargo, we’re delighted to have been able to play our part in its safe onward journey,” British Airways’ Captain Simon Boswell added.

“Our network planning team saw a perfect opportunity in the passenger A330 flight’s groundtime in Phuket, and have worked hard to establish a well-scheduled, interim passenger-freighter connection to Penang and back to maximise the cargo capacity into and out of Malaysia’s secondbusiest cargo airport.”

“This Next Generation-style multi-modal strategy sees Qatar Airways’ Doha-Phuket passenger connection becoming a Phuket-Penang-Phuket passenger-freighter for four days of the week, before returning to Doha again as a passenger service with lower deck cargo.”

“The re-launch of our Penang connections in an innovative and unique manner illustrates our ambition and ability, at Qatar Airways Cargo, to provide connectivity to our customers in the best possible way.”

With the exception of mail, the destination is open for all commodity types. Penang is the largest export contributing state within Malaysia, with mostly electronics/electrical equipment, general cargo and vulnerable cargo being sent by air.