Battling through hard times


Europe’s largest market economy has seen its share of ups and downs over the course of the last few years. With the Eurozone financial crisis looming overhead, many companies continue to struggle onward and invest strategically


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hings are going pretty well at Düsseldorf International airport, certainly in terms of its air freight business, reports Gerton Hulsman, managing director of the air- port-owned handler DUS Cargo Logistics. “It is strange as air freight always has been an early indicator


of bad economic times,” he said. “However, we are on a par with last year and so far we haven’t


seen any dip. The hard times will absolutely hit this country as well, but up to now fortunately no signs stand out. “There is no doubt that the Middle East carriers – important


customers of the Düsseldorf gateway – are doing fairly well, although they also say that the market could be better. “South-east Asian connections are still strong and we are wait- ing for what is happening in the USA with the elections.


Hopefully this will incite the business,” Hulsman continued. “Lufthansa has had a bad time with a cabin attendants strike,


which will cost the airline a lot of money, which is a bad thing in these difficult days. Meanwhile, airberlin is now co-operating with EY and as Düsseldorf is the main hub for airberlin we see an increase of the double daily flights between here and AUH.” Improvements to infrastructure and processes at the gateway


are ongoing. “We have a project under way for an improved and extended Border Inspection Point. (BIP),” he noted. “We are in contact with the authorities to whom we presented our plans and for which we are now awaiting the green light. “Our warehouse can handle another 30,000 tons and will


then come to saturation level. We have ideas and plans which I cannot reveal; however, we can inform the freight forwarding community that, although Düsseldorf has not always been known as a cargo airport, we are doing a lot to impose our image. “We keep up a steady dia- logue with all parties involved


Near the end of last month (September), German flag- carrier Lufthansa confirmed that it is to build a new logis- tics centre at its home hub of Frankfurt-Main airport to replace the current 30-year old Lufthansa Cargo Center it uses at the gateway. With building expected to


begin in 2014 and the facility scheduled to become opera- tional in 2018, the centre will occupy much of the space in the northern part of the Frankfurt-Main site currently occupied by Lufthansa Cargo. “We are investing in the future and in our Frankfurt base,” Lufthansa CEO and chairman Christoph Franz noted. And Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Lufthansa Cargo


CEO and chairman, added: “Building a new logistics centre is a major component of our Lufthansa Cargo 2020 strategy. The new facility will enable us to take a quantum leap in the logistics process and will make the company fit for the challenges of the future.”


Hulsman: “we are on a par with last year and so far haven’t seen any dip”


to set up a cargo-friendly air- port,” Hulsman added. Looking to the future and


Germany’s prospects as the air freight driver of Europe, in the light of the seemingly perma- nent night-time curfew at its primary gateway of Frankfurt- Main: “Apart from Hannover, Leipzig, Cologne and Hahn, all German airports now have stringent night-flight bans,” he observed. “So, airline operators will


have to negotiate for other pos- sibilities during off-peak hours within the time frame that the airport is allowed to operate. If


they absolutely need the night, then they have to go to airports that have the possibilities like these four airports. The integrators made that decision already long ago,” Hulsman pointed out.


Flag-carrier confirms commitment to Frankfurt


Operations at the current facility will con-


tinue in part while the new centre is being constructed, although – because it is being constructed on the existing site – processes will gradually be relocated to other areas. The centre is likely to cost several hundred


million euro and the decision to go ahead with construction of this new facility, planned for many years, is being regarded as proof that Lufthansa Cargo will continue to hub at Frankfurt-Main, despite the night flight ban in place there.


Sovereign enjoys strong demand and looks to expand


Karim El-Sayegh, CEO of Hamburg-based road feeder service provider Sovereign Speed, notes that the company’s revenue is up by eight percent year-on-year this year. “We are experiencing particularly strong


demand for door-to-door consignments between the UK and Germany, as well as to and


from France,” he noted. But: “Volumes to the Nordic countries and Austria could be stronger,” Sovereign’s new online pricing tool goes live


this month (October). “This unique web-based application will enable our customers to receive instant door-to-door quotes to almost any- where in Europe,” El-Sayegh enthused.


Page 8


1 October 2012


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