AIRFREIGHT FOCUS\\\


Luſthansa Cargo promises a fairer deal for global aid efforts


Lufthansa Cargo has signed a deal with the German Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH) coalition of relief organisations to provide guaranteed capacity for disaster aid efforts anywhere in the world. The agreement aims to take away the uncertainty and, often, high costs that often hamper operations. Lufthansa cargo has also put


the ADH logo on one of its MD11 freighters, unveiled at a ceremony at Frankfurt airport on 13 February, where Lufthansa Cargo chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt said: “Fast transport of relief aid is essential. Through cooperation with ADH, we can in future ensure that assistance arrives faster and more effectively.” ADH chairman


Rudi Frick


added: “It helps immensely if aid organisations and logistics operators work smoothly together to ensure their services are instantly available, whenever needs dictate.” Garnadt pledged to offer the aid


group “capacity at cost price” with full transparency. He described the MD11 as “a flying ambassador” for ADH. Lufthansa will not however dedicate a specific aircraft to aid work, but will use whichever plane in its worldwide fleet is best positioned or most suited to the task in hand.


One of the problems that aid


organisations face is that, whenever a major humanitarian disaster strikes, the cost of air capacity often increases – and different aid groups can even end up trying to outbid each other. Rich Alan Moseanko, in charge of logistics for one of the ADH participants, World Vision Deutschland, told FBJ: “Freight rates can double very quickly – but this agreement will give us capacity at a reasonable cost.” He said that there had been cases


in the past where airfreight had been found too expensive to deliver vital aid and lives had been lost as a result, with vital cargo being brought in more slowly by road and often subjected to pilferage en route. Moseanko acknowledged that


Lufthansa was foregoing revenue by signing an ‘at cost’ deal. World Vision would welcome


other airlines joining the scheme and indeed Fedex has been a partner in the past and this would continue to be so, he said. Lufthansa is also a member of the Star Alliance group of airlines and there could be potential for those carriers to participate too. The aid organisations will


also continue to charter-in other aircraft as and when necessary. Humanitarian cargoes are subject


Airline industry and aid groups have pledged to work together


to tender, just like commercial cargo – although deals tend to be signed in hours, not days – and Lufthansa would not necessarily be selected, if other carriers could do the job cheaper or provide a more suitable type of aircraft. The MD11s and similar aircraft in the Lufthansa Cargo fleet are most suited to airports where mechanised handling is available; Russian-built types such as the Antonov have self-handling capability and will be more suited to locations where equipment is unavailable or destroyed. The German aid industry would


also welcome partners from the freight forwarding or logistics industries, said Moseanko and some discussions have already been held. Commercial logistics expertise is in fact very relevant to aid operations; the issues involved in getting food or water sterilisation kits to a war or famine zone are very similar to an electronics company launching a new phone or iPad, as


Moseanko explains: “In fact, the biggest problem we


face at the moment is getting relief goods into national locations; we would like to get stocks positioned in specific countries, rather than spend time and money getting them from our global stocks.” Although World Vision has, in conjunction with its aid partners, set up stocks at strategic locations such as Panama, Kenya or Dubai, Moseanko believes that it needs to put material into specific countries and locations where they are likely to be needed. The need for aid is in fact much more predictable than the media coverage of major disasters might suggest – for example, Mozambique suffers from chronic flooding, so it is very likely that there will be a need for certain types of aid goods there, year in, year out. Likewise, many armed conflicts have been ongoing for several years, so the aid agencies know what will be needed in those places as well.


Stop dithering over airports, says CBI


The CBI is calling for the International Airports Commission to set out a clear long-term strategy and to resist the temptation to kick a decision on extra runway capacity for South-east England into the long grass.


Commission, in its interim review, “to establish without any dount” future airport policy for the country, pointing out that it is the 11th major policy review, none of which have resulted in a single new runway being built. “We can’t have any more


reviews,” CBI chief policy director Katja Hall told a press conference. “Business leaders want a durable solution.” The Commission, led by Sir


Howard Davies, is due to make an interim report later this year and a full report is due in 2015. Meanwhile the UK Government has postponed a controversial decision on whether to build a third runway at London Heathrow – one of the world’s most slot- constrained airports – until aſter the general election. The CBI is however keeping


an open mind on whether new runway capacity for the South- east chould come in the form of a third runway for Heathrow or a completely new London airport. It is warning that the UK


risks missing out on billions of pounds worth of overseas


It wants the


trade it its doesn’t sort out its airport problem soon. In a report, Trading Places, published on 4 March, it argues that each new daily direct long-haul fliught from the UK increases the country’s international trade by £128 million a year, both in terms of air cargo and business people visiting


overseas markets to


drum up new business. But, says director for business


environmental policy, Rhian Kelly, Britain is currently trailing its European competitors in launching services to new high- growth markets. “The UK is fourth behind Paris, Schiphol abd Frankfurt in starting new flights to China and Russia, and we still lack servic es to places like Peru, the Philippines, Chile and Indonesia” - although the recent launch of a service from London Gatwick to the latter country was a welcome development, she added. The CBI report cites Indonesia as an illustration to support its arguments. When air services from the UK were suspended – due to safety problems at national


carrier Garuda –


trade from Britain languished compared with other countries where air services were maintained – despite the fact that Indonesia enjoyed similar economic growth rates.


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