10 CARGO NEWS offices.
Kenya is one of the leading flower exporters in Africa, with its key markets in Europe. As such there is demand for cold chain facilities to handle the highly perishable stems from the flower farms to their consignees in perfect condition. The Siginon Aviation terminal includes a perishables centre with 5,000 square metres of cold room floor space with storage space for 100 units of palletised cargo. In addition, the storage area is set at 2ºC, with a pallet building area at 10ºC. Trucks will also have off-loading dock levellers within a temperature- controlled area, with elevated work stations.
Copenhagen airport shrugs off cargo recession
Having posted a 6.4% growth statistic in 2012, Copenhagen airport has forged ahead of most other major European airports in the cargo segment. Moreover, this growth looks set to continue. China Cargo Air is stepping up its frequencies from three to five per week between Shanghai and Copenhagen, whilst Emirates Skycargo has just opened a new cargo service from Dubai to Chicago via the Danish airport. While most major European airports saw their cargo volumes decline in 2012, Copenhagen airport seems to have bucked the trend. The cargo carried ranges from pharmaceuticals and IT equipment to machinery, expensive fashion clothing and luxury food. In addition to pure cargo flights, the airport has also focused on belly cargo and this category grew by some 12.4% over 2012. This growth in belly cargo looks to be going only one way - and that is up. The figures from January this year show that several of the airlines at Copenhagen airport enjoyed substantial cargo growth: for example, SAS recorded 44.5% growth and Qatar recorded 52.8% growth, whilst Emirates recorded 99.5% growth. With 354,269 tonnes of cargo handled in 2012, Copenhagen becomes the thirteenth largest cargo hub in Europe, which puts it ahead of some of its important neighbours, like Zurich, Vienna and Munich. And, compared with all other major European airports, with the exception of DHL’s cargo centre in Leipzig, Copenhagen has seen the highest growth rate.
New cargo arm for Norwegian
Norwegian Cargo has been established as a wholly-owned airline entity that will serve various international markets
GROUND HANDLING INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2013
through an existing network of General Sales Agent agreements. At present Norwegian’s focus is that of freight transportation within Scandinavia only. Setting up this new enterprise will mean that the carrier’s route network (which comprises in excess of 120 destinations) will be available to interested customers. According to Bjorn Erik Barman- Jenssen, the company’s Director of Ground Operations, the airline’s growth, coupled with the start of its new flights that have targeted countries such as Thailand and the US, has meant that the timing is perfect for such a move.
Amsterdam back on track?
IATA’s findings for freight movements in March have not exactly made for cheery reading but in Holland, at least, there has been some cause for optimism. Schiphol Cargo tonnages actually saw a return to modest growth in the first quarter of 2013, with the total of all export and import cargo calculated at 366,269 tonnes, which was up some 2.25% on 2012.
January saw a good start to the year, with 116,137 tonnes of cargo (up 6.66%), partially because of a change in the dates of the Chinese New Year. As a result, Asia showed a dramatic improvement of 17%, but Europe was even better at 22.8% growth. February figures saw a corresponding
readjustment in Asian freight of 9.5% below 2012, but a strong return for Latin America (+13.3%) cushioned the impact of this fall, producing a total of 113,469 tonnes for the month (down 3.9%) and a running total of 229,607 tonnes for the first two months (reducing the year-on- year margin to 1.2%). But in March, the picture recovered again, with strong figures for Europe (+15.1%), Africa (+15.1%) and Latin America (+10.3%) posted; and Asia was also up 4.9%. The month’s total of 136,663 tonnes (+4.1%) put the year to date figure back on a growth course. March also saw total exports exceed imports for the first time since October 2012. Freighter movements through Schiphol rose marginally through January to March 2013, from 3,765 in 2012 to 3,780 (up 0.4%). Schiphol’s Cargo Senior VP, Enno Osinga, commented on the results. “The figures so far are encouraging. Recent experiences teach us all to be cautious about predictions, but there is an air of optimism in the business that we have not seen for some time. So I would like to think we can maintain or improve this trend throughout the year. “The weaker Euro seems to be helping
exports at last, and it’s encouraging to see them exceed imports once again, for the first time in six months. “We have retained our third place among major European cargo airports, but once again we are turning in the best performance of the top four, and growing our market share. This is a clear endorsement of our constant development activity in the life science and flowers sectors.”
He concludes: “The long-term game
plan remains unchanged: we make investments and drive initiatives today, to improve processes and enhance Schiphol’s appeal for tomorrow.”
MD-11 service to Africa begins to get underway
AV Cargo Airlines has introduced the first of three planned additional MD-11 freighters into its fleet. The first aircraft made its inaugural flight at the end of April and following this, it started scheduled services into Africa to various cities, including Lagos, Bamako, Entebbe, Pointe-Noire and Freetown.
Qatar in the Golden Triangle
The area that is bordered by Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam can well be dubbed the Golden Triangle for within its compass are a number of important manufacturing cities, along with several centres of commerce. Liège airport sits at the centre of this important area, thus facilitating movements to every side of the triangle. The Belgian airport’s latest recruit is that of Qatar Airways. A twice-a-week flight (actually a Boeing B777-F) links Doha, Nairobi and Liège. Here, the imported goods comprise mainly flowers, agricultural produce and fish; and the freight handling is taken care of by Aviapartner. “We are very proud to welcome Qatar Airways Cargo to our platform,” states Luc Partoune, CEO of Liège airport. “With the airfreight market in crisis for the last two years, the decision to operate new routes demonstrates both the ambition of Qatar Airways and the advantages of Liège airport.”
In brief
This year has started very successfully for Fraport Cargo Services. Two major long-term customers, convinced by the level of service and performance, renewed their contracts on a long-term basis. Moreover, two other premium carriers, namely Asiana Airlines and Singapore Airlines Cargo, decided to switch their cargo handling to FCS.
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