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Issue 2 2012 Two-way trade for Emirates


Emirates will upgrade its daily Dublin- Dubai service from an A330-200 to a larger B777-300ER from 1 July, increasing cargo uplift from around 12 to 15 tonnes per flight to 25 tonnes. The service,


launched only in


January, has been warmly welcomed by both freight customers and passengers, says Michael Meagher, country manager Ireland for Emirates SkyCargo. The Middle East carrier had only a small presence in the Irish market before, with cargo sales handled from the UK by the team covering northern England and Scotland. Around two trailer loads of cargo per week were trucked from Shannon, Cork and Dublin to Manchester and London. Meagher now heads a dedicated cargo team of four in Dublin, part of a 30-strong presence Emirates has established there. A former head of cargo at Aer Lingus, Meagher knows both the Irish and Middle East markets, as he subsequently spent 18 months in Jeddah running Saudi Airlines Cargo. Nightly road feeder services now run from Shannon and Cork


to Dublin, connecting with the 12:55 departure for Dubai. “Load factors are 80% and we’ve even had to transfer overspill cargo to Manchester on a couple of occasions,” Meagher says. The obvious benefit of Emirates’ large global network is that


Irish


exporters can reach markets in Asia, Africa and Australasia faster than before, as well as accessing the Middle East more directly. Ireland’s pharmaceutical exporters have supported the new service strongly with shipments for the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. “It’s two days to New Zealand, where previously there was a stopover in London,” Meagher says. “We’re also in discussions with


agents and shippers to develop a seafood service into, and over, the Middle East. Live crabs, oysters and fish are farmed, packed and delivered into Dublin at eight in the morning, have a three-hour tail-to- tail transfer in Dubai and can reach Hong Kong or Shanghai the following afternoon. This kind of traffic from Irish producers was previously


Emirates SkyCargo’s Michael Meagher says new flights have been warmly welcomed


consolidated by other carriers in London.” The styrene-boxed seafood flies


under Emirates’ “white cover” pallet protection system, which insulates temperature-sensitive shipments for up to 70 hours. With the extra capacity from July,


Emirates plans to attack the pharma market more aggressively. And despite the widely reported death of high-tech manufacturing in Ireland, Meagher points out that the likes of Intel and Hewlett-Packard are still shipping significant volumes. “Government agencies are looking to develop new export markets for milk powder and baby food,” he adds.


Perhaps a greater surprise, given the


weak local economy, is the volume of cargo flying back into Ireland. “There’s heavy inbound demand for fresh fruit and vegetables and electronic parts,” Meagher says. “We’ve been shipping in fresh fruit such as strawberries from Cairo [via Dubai], cutting 48 hours off previous transit times via Europe.” There is still a lot of capacity from the


UK to Europe, and Meagher recognises that eastbound pricing has to be competitive. “There are many options available to the market, especially for cargo that can afford to wait for 24 hours. But we’re made a big investment in Ireland and we’re here for the long term,” he says.


///IRELAND


Faster parcels from the North


Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and investment, joined Gerald Leary, president of FedEx Express Europe, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa, at Belfast International Airport to mark the official launch of FedEx Express in the province. The company has moved into


a purpose-built 2,000sq metre facility in Carrickfergus from where it offers both a domestic


ground delivery service across Northern Ireland and a global service that is now one day faster than before, thanks to a daily flight from Belfast International. Local firms can now access


a next-business-day service to and from Europe and the US east coast, with a two-day service to Asia and the rest of the US. FedEx’s


investment created 52 jobs. has also


Daily services to Northern Ireland and Ireland Express, 48 and 72 hour services Groupage, Full load and Contract Logistics


Depot Network - Ashby (Midlands UK), Belfast, Dublin and Cork Daily services to UK Offshore Islands inc. Channel Isles, Isle of Man, Scottish Islands European Imports and Exports - Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal Receiving centre for handling UK and Ireland Distribution


01283 228528


www.surfair.co.uk transport@surfair.co.uk


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