ACW 19th December 22

GEODIS has announced it has expanded its GEODIS MyParcel product, the company’s direct-tocustomer cross-border delivery offering, with a new Air Zone Skip Service from the United States (US) to Canada.

First launched in 2020, GEODIS MyParcel is a small parcel delivery service from the US to 26 European continental countries, the UK and Canada. GEODIS MyParcel’s new Air Zone Skip Service is now available and will provide US retail shippers with a faster and more streamlined method to ship into Canada, with the goal of continuing to expand this capability into new geographic regions in the future.

GEODIS MyParcel’s Air Zone Skip Service offers an efficient method to transport small parcels from the US to Canada by consolidating individual shipments via air transport with final delivery to the end consumer, bypassing multiple touch points. The service includes full end-toend tracking visibility and management over the

entire shipping process from pick up to customs clearance through last-mile delivery. The GEODIS MyParcel Air Zone Skip service now serves the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

“Zone skipping can be an extremely beneficial strategy for high-volume e-commerce shippers who are looking to increase operational efficiencies, lower shipping costs per package and reduce transit times,” Michael Lamia, Senior Vice President of GEODIS MyParcel and GEODIS e-Logistics, said. “As e-commerce shippers continue to navigate consumer expectations for faster speeds, it is vital to work with a trusted logistics partner with a full breadth of expertise across air, ocean, road and last mile, including alternative shipping methods like zone skipping, to remain competitive in today’s dynamic market.”

The cross-border B2C e-commerce market is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth

rate of roughly 25.1% through 2028. According to Statista, retail e-commerce in Canada has generated nearly $67 billion in revenue in 2022 and is expected to increase to more than $103 billion by 2025. In light of demand, GEODIS first introduced GEODIS MyParcel to the Canadian market in January 2022, with the new zone now offering an additional advantage for shippers.

“Simply put, GEODIS MyParcel provides domestic e-commerce brands with a simple way to go global,” Lamia said. “Whether shipping to Canada, the UK or our 26 designated European countries, GEODIS MyParcel allows brands to continue growing their e-commerce business on a global scale by offering the right balance between speed and price to provide a seamless delivery experience to customers.”

With a global network spanning nearly 170 countries and more than 44,000 employees, GEODIS plans to make several key expansions into new geographical areas for GEODIS MyParcel in early 2023 and beyond.

AS the world’s only global air cargo alliance, SkyTeam Cargo has witnessed how the international airfreight landscape has evolved...

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CARGOWISE CONNECTS WITH... WISETECH global has announced that IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG), is now directly...

AIR CHARTER SERVICE INVESTS... AIR Charter Service is investing in its French operations by opening a new office in the country, in Aix-en-Provence. This is following... PAGE 4

AIR FRANCE KLM MARTINAIR ...

AIR France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo) has worked with the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco to transport 46 ...

Strong collaboration helps SkyTeam

the world

AS the world’s only global air cargo alliance, SkyTeam Cargo has witnessed how the international airfreight landscape has evolved since it was founded over two decades ago. With 11 member airlines, 15 origin hubs, 150 countries, 60 shared warehouses and a fleet of over 2700 aircraft, including 45 full freighters, the alliance has witnessed how customers have become more demanding, as the sector offers more choice and increased competition requires cargo handlers to excel every day.

“The world has become very dependent on worldwide logistics; it is essential to day-to-day life, as evidenced by the pandemic and also when the Suez Canal got blocked by the Ever Given in 2021,” Nico van der Linden, Vice President at SkyTeam Cargo, said. “SkyTeam cargo members cover the globe with their combined network, whether that’s shipping fresh roses from Kenya, hi-tech from Korea or pharmaceuticals from Switzerland.”

20 years of branded products

When the alliance was originally launched,

branded product ranges hardly existed throughout the industry. Only a few carriers had started to explore and implement them.

SkyTeam Cargo recently marked two decades of delivering efficient, seamless shipments through its key pillar products.

SkyTeam Cargo was a frontrunner in designing and implementing a dedicated product portfolio, launched in 2002 and rebranded in 2018, that brought these ideas under one branded solution built around four pillars. The products - Express, General, Specialised and Customised – work to ensure bespoke and simplistic shipping solutions are available to around 800 destinations worldwide.

“What made it unique back then, and it remains unique today, is that all our members have the same product portfolio with the same specification. This is something that doesn’t even exist in the passenger business, for example where every business class of airlines under an alliance or other form of cooperation has a different name and specification. In a business-to-business market like air cargo, it

is very beneficial to have this unique branded portfolio because it makes shipping cargo much more straightforward for our customers,” van der Linden stated.

SkyTeam Cargo benefits from strong collaboration between its alliance members and a vast array of shared resources, with this being the key driving force behind the success of the international grouping. Shared warehouses help to connect networks and feature what’s needed to handle every type of cargo safely and efficiently. “Connecting our members’ networks fills blank spots and offers more routing options,” van der Linden explained.

Boosting efficiency and sustainability

As with others within the airfreight industry, SkyTeam Cargo has a keen focus on finding where the alliance and each member can improve their efficiency. Digital operations have been critical to this, with e-freight, for example, replacing two-thirds of the paper documents required for air cargo with electronic messages, lower costs and increased turnaround.

“In the early days of my airline career, I was already involved in IATA’s paperless project. Back then, we calculated that as a single airline we were transporting the equivalent of two Boeing 747Fs just of paperwork every year…imagine the cost and waste on a worldwide scale,” van der Liden said. “The cargo industry has a reputation of being traditional and not very innovative, but this is changing. Digital operations aren’t just critical, they are crucial.”

However, the speed at which evolution is occurring in the sector is not fast enough, with SkyTeam Cargo urging the industry to get its “act together and speed up” digitisation. “It was not only e-commerce but also the Covid pandemic that made our industry realise we had to catch up. Digitisation provides a faster, more efficient means to ship cargo globally, both for our airlines and customers, particularly in terms of tracking visibility. I am excited to see the changes coming as they will transform our industry for the better,” van der Linden stated.

SkyTeam Cargo’s members operate modern fleets and are receiving deliveries of new, more fuel-efficient aircraft, with many aircraft on order. Some of these aircraft are up to 25% more

fuel-efficient than the planes they replace, which helps reduce emissions. “Fleet renewal is crucial if our industry is serious about reducing climate change,” van der Linden added.

The SkyTeam Flight Challenge was held in May this year and challenged our members to find new and innovative ways to operate more sustainably – including their cargo operations.

SkyTeam and its members are committed to minimising their carbon footprint by searching for all kind of initiatives that will help drive important changes and make a difference.

Post-pandemic rebound

The pandemic shifted the industry’s view on cargo and just how vital it is, not only to the world economy, but also in terms of global health. Airlines became a lifeline for shipping vaccines quickly, efficiently and safely across the world, helping to protect millions of lives.

“Cargo’s expertise in handling Pharma meant that the necessary logistics were already in place. We were ‘good to go’ as soon as the global vaccination programmes rolled out,” van der Linden explained.

As to the speed of the rebound, van der Linden warned that it is “going to be a marathon”, especially given the slowdown of global economies. “A recession is sure to have an impact on the recovery path of airlines, but our industry has weathered similar storms in the past and I am certain it can recover again.”

“The pandemic made it really clear just how important logistics – and air cargo’s contribution - is to airlines’ bottom line. During COVID, air cargo proved a crucial asset which helped airlines to mitigate the dramatic drop in passenger revenues,” he added. “For passenger airlines that were able to fly belly cargo only or used cargo in cabin processes; this helped many to survive. The pandemic really opened the airline industry’s eyes to the importance of cargo.”

As to the future, SkyTeam Cargo is optimistic that the airfreight sector will remain a key player in the skies, rather than being relegated back to a side project for many in the industry.

“Cargo opportunities/revenue could even be a key decision factor, instead of an afterthought when airlines review their networks. It is a real fundamental change.”

SINGAPORE Airlines has extended its cargo partnership with Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in the United Kingdom with a new contract for domestic trucking services connecting 18 regional offline airports.

WFS has provided cargo handling for the airline in the UK since 2015 in support of its passenger and freight services from London Heathrow and Manchester airports, including trucking services between the two airports as well as offline handling across all of WFS’ other UK stations. WFS now handles over 45,000 tonnes per annum for Singapore Airlines, which currently operates 30 flights a week from Heathrow and seven weekly services from Manchester using a combination of Airbus A350 and A380 and Boeing 777 and 747F aircraft.

With the awarding of the new domestic

CargoWise connects with IAG Cargo

IAG Cargo uses the freight capacity of passenger aircraft of International Airlines Group (IAG), which consists of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and LEVEL. With five airlines, and over 500 aircraft it’s a model that provides IAG Cargo with great capacity and a truly global network. IAG Cargo has become one of the largest cargo operators in the world, serving key sectors of the global economy including e-commerce, tech, manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace.

Direct data connection with IAG Cargo’s operational data allows CargoWise customers direct access to schedules, dynamic rates, capacity and allotment bookings. The integration also allows CargoWise users to easily change digital bookings without leaving the application, supporting IAG Cargo’s Destination Digital strategy.

“Connecting through CargoWise is another exciting partnership strengthening the digital development of IAG Cargo. This partnership is the latest step in our journey to transform the way we do business, making it easier than ever for CargoWise customers to book their freight directly with IAG Cargo,” John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo, said.

“We are pleased that IAG Cargo has joined the growing group of leading cargo carriers that integrate with CargoWise, supporting our industry digitalisation and integration strategy. This direct digital data exchange helps increase data security, data quality and simplifies the eBooking process between parties. CargoWise customers, including ten of the top 25 global freight forwarders who have either completed, or are in progress of global rollouts of the CargoWise platform, will have access to IAG’s dynamic rates, schedules and services for key routes,” Jorre Cobelens, Vice President – Logistics Data and Connectivity, WiseTech Global, stated.

trucking contract, Singapore Airlines will now access WFS’ 600 road transport services per week serving 18 other UK regional airports. WFS services every airport with overnight services five to seven days a week.

“WFS is delighted to be extending its partnership with Singapore Airlines in the UK to include the airline’s regional transport requirements. The airline is already a major customer of our UK operations and this new contract will enable us to support Singapore Airlines’ continued growth in the UK market by giving its customers across the country fast and seamless access to its wide choice of passenger and freighter flights,” Jennifer Smith, WFS’ UK Commercial Director – Cargo & Ground Handling, said.

WFS has recently invested to expand its UK transport fleet to 28 tractor units and 31 trailers to support the 50,000 tonnes it moves annually by road in the UK.

WISETECH Global has announced that IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG), is now directly integrated with CargoWise, enabling freight forwarders to efficiently choose, book, confirm and change shipments, in real-time from within the industry’s leading logistics execution platform.

Singapore Airlines awards WFS domestic cargo trucking contract to connect 18 UK airports

Air Charter Service invests further in France after strong results

AIR Charter Service is investing in its French operations by opening a new office in the country, in Aix-en-Provence. This is following a strong 2022 so far and a promising end to 2021 for its Paris operation in which revenue increased by 91%.

“Since opening our Paris office more than 13 years ago, it has grown into one of ACS’s largest offices and has had some fantastic figures over the years. We have made some major changes over the past 12 months and have now got an infrastructure in place for more long-term growth – part of that plan is this second French operation in Aix-en-Provence,” Justin Bowman, Air Charter Service’s CEO, said.

The office in Aix-en-Provence will be headed up by the experienced Caroline Bourge, who joined ACS over eight years ago, with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry prior to that, at both charter brokerages and airlines.

“I’m really excited to grow the team here in Aix, especially over the next 12 months. I believe that there is huge opportunity in this part of the country for our passenger departments, as we already have many existing clients in the region,” Bourge added.

Globe Air Cargo Japan premieres with Air Premia’s Japanese launch

ON 23rd December, Air Premia will leave Japan for Korea with a typical Japanese export cargo load of automotive parts, semi-conductor parts, and general consumer goods. The Korean airline plans to run a scheduled service linking Narita with Incheon, and from there on to Singapore, Saigon, and Los Angeles, respectively. It is already represented by ECS Group subsidiaries in Korea and the US. In Japan, newly founded Globe Air Cargo Japan will provide comprehensive GSSA support, ensuring optimum revenues and load factors on every Air Premia flight.

Globe Air Cargo Japan has been established to build and strengthen business relations in East Asia, as well as provide existing ECS Group airline customers with a known local Japanese

presence.

“With our established team of highly experienced sales professionals and existing forwarder relationships across the country, Globe Air Cargo Japan offers local air cargo expertise within a truly global ECS Group network, and one that goes above and beyond any standard GSSA portfolio,” Dmitry Vorontsov, Managing Director Globe Air Cargo Japan, said.

“ECS Group has placed a key focus on expanding its presence in Asia these past 12 months, and growing to support its international customers. Together with Air Premia, ECS Group is fulfilling its pledge to offer the strongest Asian network with unlimited connections,” Adrien Thominet, Executive Chairman of ECS Group, said.

CARGOAI SUPERCHARGES EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY IN THE AIRFREIGHT BOOKING PROCESS

Having recently announced a strategic technology partnership with Magaya, a digital freight platform for logistics service providers, CargoAi is on a mission to transform the air cargo industry by boosting the efficiency and productivity of quote and procurement processes. Collaborating in this way allows CargoAi to easily connect customers to digital solutions, giving them the ability to discover the best air shipment schedules and rates in mere seconds.

The integration of the CargoAi platform with Magaya Rate Management provides an efficient solution for its customers to retrieve and compare airfreight schedules, availability, and pricing, as well as book and track shipments, without the need to navigate between multiple airline websites or making myriad phone calls. This is just one example of a partnership that is bringing the industry into the 21st century, removing the need to use outdated processes that are costly and time-consuming.

“Our latest partnership with Magaya is a great opportunity for both companies to combine the strengths of our products…As such, it is also a step forward towards more digitalisation in our industry,” Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi, said.

“The world is moving away from static and inefficient rate sheets and, thanks to the great work of our team over the past three years, we are enabling transportation management systems (TMS), such as Magaya, to get live rates and accelerate the quote and procurement process. It also makes the whole process more transparent and more efficient which is why we are seeing rapid adoption.”

Supply chain visibility

With supply chain disruptions having caused challenges throughout the logistics sector

in recent years, companies are looking for reassurance when sending shipments that they will be delivered safely and in a timely fashion. That’s why visibility is key for customers who now want to track their shipments at every point of the journey, from origin to destination.

CargoAi looks to provide that, using its extensive network of connections to cargo airlines to offer customers the most complete and encompassing rate management solution on the market. By leveraging a multi-functional CargoAi API, Magaya Rate Management customers gain access to realtime visibility of air cargo schedules, aircraft type information, and valuable information about upcoming flights, including a stateof-the-art CO2 calculator that enables the most environmentally friendly transportation decisions.

“Accurate visibility in supply chain has been one of the big challenges of the last 10 years and has now accelerated in air cargo. That is why our unique CO2 tracking solution is replacing previous standards and tools. Realtime is important for quoting and booking processes but it is also becoming more and more important for tracking,” Petot explained.

Reducing carbon emissions

CargoAi’s commitment to improve the airfreight sector is visible in another partnership that the digital solutions provider recently announced with Neste, a producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The move enables freight forwarders and their clients to significantly reduce the carbon emissions of their cargo transport by purchasing Neste’s MY SAF. With the industry facing the need to take steps to become more greener, this partnership opens the door for those that play a pivotal role in tackling climate change to take great strides forward.

As of November 2022 onwards, CargoAi offers the possibility to purchase Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel when booking a cargo transport. This can be done in the booking flow - either after a booking is confirmed or when the cargo is being tracked. This complements CargoAi’s Cargo2ZERO sustainability offering launched in October 2022. The use of sustainable aviation fuel significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions from air transport. Purchasing Neste-produced SAF helps companies meet their climate targets and credibly report their CO2e emissions reductions.

Being a younger player in the industry, CargoAI sees sustainability as being crucial, with the commercial demand for Cargo2ZERO growing rapidly, as companies are pushed towards more environmentally-friendly operations.

“We have an excellent collaboration with Neste and have been working for the last SIX months to produce a solution that will allow any freight forwarders in the world to access SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and offer a solution to their customers to reduce their carbon emissions,” Petot stated. “Neste is taking care of working with the airlines to deliver the SAF to the airport and make sure it goes into the system to actually reduce CO2 emissions and make an impact on the environment. This is another step in CargoAi’s commitment to help build the industry of tomorrow.”

“SAF is the only way to really reduce emissions today. The SAF premium is adding some costs, but is only a fraction of the current airfreight rates. As worldwide production ramps up and technologies improve, SAF is the main hope for decarbonising our industry,” Petot explained.

Partnerships drive progress

The global logistics industry is vast, meaning that change cannot occur within a silo. Digital transformation requires a collaborative approach from multiple companies at different levels of the supply chain. CargoAi recognises this. “We have our expertise in some specific areas of air cargo, but we don’t have the ambition to do everything ourselves, and it is great to collaborate with other like-minded partners,” Petot stated.

When creating a partnership, CargoAi looks for companies that offer solutions that provide real benefits and that have the same open and transparent mindset that they have. Although, Petot admits “It takes a lot of trust to build those long-term partnerships.”

“To convince those who remained attached to the old traditional way, we started by investing heavily in user experience. As a result, our applications are very easy to use and don’t require implementation or specific training sessions. We have a strong customer success team dedicated to onboarding. Using data, we can find out which users need more support, education and change management,” Petot said.

“There has been a forced acceleration in innovation with Covid and some companies have realised that it is now simpler to innovate than 20 years ago. With our modern SAAS solutions, companies don’t need a lengthy process of implementation and we mainly see bottom-up adoption versus traditional topdown approaches. As usual, the companies that innovate the most have a competitive advantage and our goal is to propose solutions that can be adopted by everyone,” he added.

VIEW FROM THE MAINDECK

AIR

FRANCE KLM

MARTINAIR CARGO TRANSFERS 46 AFRICAN SPURRED TORTOISES TO SENEGAL FOR POPULATION REINFORCEMENT PROJECT

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP Cargo) has worked with the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco to transport 46 juvenile tortoises to Le Village des Tortues in Noflaye, Senegal, as part of a population reinforcement project. This transfer is one phase of a three-year programme.

Since 2012, the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco has been home to several African spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata), the third largest land tortoise in the world. These herbivorous reptiles, from a breeding centre in Mali, were entrusted to Robert Calcagno, Director-General of the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, in order to educate visitors about the need to protect this endangered species.

“Protecting animal species, both on land and at sea, and making them known to the general public is a major challenge for the future. By housing these spurred tortoises, now an endangered species, we have allowed them to reproduce while raising awareness among visitors of the need to protect them. The logical outcome was to work to boost the local wild populations,” Calcagno explained.

The transportation of the tortoises to Senegal was enabled by the specialist services of AFKLMP Cargo, which facilitated the tortoises’ journey from Monaco to Dakar via its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The programme includes management of the tortoises in quarantine within the Centre for the Protection of Turtles in SenegalVillage des Tortues, their introduction into the Koyli Alpha Nature Reserve in the northwest of the country, and their

monitoring for a two-year period.

“Air France KLM Martinair Cargo is very sensitive to the protection of the environment and the preservation of endangered species. We were therefore delighted to join the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco in transferring the 46 African spurred tortoises to Senegal. We were proud to make our extensive network and our recognised expertise in the transport of live animals available for this operation,” Mathieu Fleisch, Vice President Product & Verticals for AFKLMP Cargo, said.

The tortoises have been placed in an observation enclosure for six months, located in Le Village des Tortues in Noflaye, a conservation centre housed in the heart of a special botanical reserve.

At the end of the quarantine phase, the juveniles will be transferred to a fenced-off part of the reserve for one year so that they can acclimatise to living conditions in the wild. They will then be released in the reserve managed by the association, in accordance with the recommendations and directives of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) within the framework of wildlife reintroduction operations.

The tortoises will be monitored regularly by trained staff, who will analyse their growth and adaptation to the reserve.

“As with all our projects, beyond the biological objectives, we seek to raise public awareness of the causes we defend. Here, children from local communities will be trained and involved in the project,” Olivier Brunel, project manager for the operation, added.

Lödige Industries finalises automated cold chain pallet-cargo system for AAT COOLPORT

LÖDIGE Industries has completed an automated Cold Chain Pallet-Cargo System at Hong Kong International Airport. Via its Hong Kong office, the German company, planned, manufactured and implemented the advanced system for AAT COOLPORT, which is the first on-airport cold chain facility in Hong Kong providing a complete temperature-controlled environment, operated by Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT). Supported by the pallet moving solution, the operator can maintain strictly regulated cold chains seamlessly and respond to the increasing global demand for temperature-sensitive air transports.

The customised and automated material handling system is designed for fast and safe transport of temperature-sensitive goods inside the cold chain facility. Modern and climate-resistant sensors in combination with an enhanced maintenance and control system ensure an efficient and safe flow of fragile goods.

“Seamless compliance with cold chain regulations is enormously important, so we are investing in the most reliable and efficient equipment for our new cold storage facility COOLPORT. This also allows AAT to offer services that were previously unavailable in Hong Kong International Airport,” Yammie Sin, Chief Marketing Officer at Asia Airfreight Terminal, said. The contract was awarded in June 2021 and AAT COOLPORT has been serving the industry since July 2022. Lödige Industries has a proven track record given its numerous material handling system projects in Asia. The company, with regional offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, has a solid understanding of customer needs in the Asian region, and an established network of local partners. The new palletised cargo handling system marks another milestone in the long partnership with AAT and further consolidates Lödige Industries’ strong presence and experience in Asia.

“Especially in the cold chain sector, absolute reliability and consistency are key. With customised solutions like this new and CEIV-certified cold chain storage system, Lödige Industries proves that it can also offer world leading material handling solutions for the area of temperature sensitive cargo,” Nicholas Tripptree, Managing Director, APAC at Lödige Industries, added.