8


Issue 3 2015 - Freight Business Journal


We’ll stick with freighters, says Luſthansa chief


Demand for freighters is still strong, despite the decision by British Airways to axe its all-cargo planes and Air France KLM’s drastic slimming down of its operation, Luſthansa Cargo chief executive Peter Gerber told a press conference on 19 March. Describing BA’s arguments that all-cargo aircraſt were not now


necessary as “a brilliant attempt to sell defeat”, he said that the German airline would remain faithful to the freighter concept. The market was still growing and pinch-points could emerge on major routes such as Asia- Europe. Gerber also hailed the success of Luſthansa’s joint venture with ANA,


which started in the westbound direction in December and is due to be extended to the eastbound leg between Europe and Japan in the summer. He also suggested that another, similar agreement could be signed


with another carrier during 2015. Luſthansa’s operating profit was €100 million in 2014, despite the long-


running pilots’ strike throughout the year and which is continuing into 2015. The Luſthansa chief hopes to get approval for the LCCneo cargo hub


at Frankfurt during 2015, although the project is running about two years behind schedule due to the discovery of difficult soil conditions.


Fish can fly thanks to new DB Schenker terminal


DB Schenker Logistics held an opening ceremony for its new temperature-controlled warehouse at London Heathrow on 26 March, and the facility began handling its first fish on 30 March. It covers an area of 11,000sq ſt (1,000sq m)


and will be able to handle 30,000 tonnes of cool-chain cargo a year at a temperature of between 1 and 4 degrees Centigrade. Offering a high level of automated handling and cross- dock handling capability, the facility will allow the global logistics provider to offer an “end- to-end chilled solution”, says Matthias Kraus, UK airfreight director, for the large volumes of primarily farmed fish that will be passing through it. Located close to Heathrow’s Terminal 4,


the warehouse is said to be ideally suited for access from all areas of the airport, and especially to the airlines that will be flying the fish out across DB Schenker’s North American and Asian network. The fish, sourced from around Norway,


Scotland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, is moved through the


the cargo and make another booking, a big advantage to our customers,” he notes. Block space agreements (BSAs) might be


another option, although the irregularity in the conditions of availability and supply of the fish themselves makes this a risky proposition for the logistics provider. In general, Kraus has been very happy


forwarder’s regional fish network to London’s biggest and busiest airport. DB Schenker will then build up the pallets (or units, as it calls them) very quickly for delivery to the carriers, the fish being flown in Styrofoam boxes. “We know the fish represent low margin


product for the airlines, and can be sacrificed by an airline when higher margin freight is expected.” It is a problem, Kraus admits, but points out that having the new facility will allow DB Schenker to keep the fish on-site at Heathrow for much longer without spoiling, should sufficient space not be available on any imminent flight to the required destination. “Now we have this facility we can even recall


with the service provided by airline partners, although he would like to see greater capacity made available, especially to the US (a particular problem right now, as there still exists a backlog of cargo around US West Coast ports; freight has thus continued to be shiſted by air rather than sea as a result of the congestion at those Pacific Coast ports, taking up valuable, constrained bellyhold capacity to the region). He would also like to see a perfect flown-


as-booked record from the carriers, of course. But Kraus points out that performance in this regard is closely monitored, and DB Schenker is constantly reviewing carriers’ utilisation and upliſt performance.


IAG goes back to Cuba


IAG Cargo – the joint venture airline between British Airways and Iberia - is launching a new route to Colombia and reopening its route into Cuba this summer. The new services will link Iberia’s Madrid hub with Cali and Medellín in Colombia and Havana in Cuba, bringing the total of IAG Cargo gateways in Latin America to 19. IAG Cargo is also increasing the number of flights it


offers to and from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic from five flights a week to daily from 1 April. The Havana service starts on 1 June and


will operate on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The new Colombian route will operate as a triangular flight between Madrid, Medellin, Cali and Madrid from 3 July on Wednesdays, Fridays,


and Saturdays. Both routes will be serviced by Airbus A330s and the flights are timed for good connections at Iberia’s T4 hub. IAG chief executive Steve Gunning said


that Latin America is fast emerging as an important international trade centre. IAG Cargo expects to see good export flows of flowers and fruits from Cali and Medellín and imports including books and clothes.


News Roundup


IAG Cargo is no longer accepting bookings of UN3480 lithium ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraſt. The new policy applies to batteries packed on their own but does not affect batteries consigned as UN3481 or UN 3091 which includes batteries packed with, or contained in equipment.


Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic Airways have added six new services to their summer schedule as part of their new their transatlantic partnership. Virgin Atlantic is launching a second daily service between Los Angeles and Heathrow and the combined service with Delta will offer three daily flights between the two cities. There is also a seasonal second-daily Virgin Atlantic service between Atlanta and Heathrow and a second service between San Francisco and London Heathrow that will operate five days a week over the summer. Delta will also fly one of the Newark-to-London Heathrow services previously operated by Virgin Atlantic while Virgin Atlantic will take over Delta’s Atlanta-to-Manchester service.


Virgin Atlantic Cargo is partnering the City of London-run Heathrow’s Animal Reception Centre (HARC) in a trial ‘check before you fly’ service for pets. Until now, it has not been possible to check whether animals meet the requirements of the UK Pet Travel Scheme until aſter they land in the UK, by which time it may be too late to correct any errors. But in what is being hailed as a breakthrough by the UK authorities, this will now be possible for pets flying on Virgin Atlantic from 1 April.


UK-headquartered charter firm Air Partner has signed a strategic partnership deal with AirCargoGroup (ACG) – an association of neutral airfreight wholesalers and consolidators with 50 members in 65 countries. Air Partner will be a preferred vendor and associate partner and it will also be able to use ACG’s neutral airfreight wholesale and handling services worldwide, as well as its blocked space agreements with commercial airlines for its part charter requirements.


Etihad Cargo has launched a TempCheck solution for blood plasma, pills, medicines and anaesthetics and other sensitive pharmaceutical and healthcare products. As part of the scheme, it has upgraded the temperature-controlled storage facilities at its Abu Dhabi hub, and refurbished its existing cool rooms to meet pharmaceutical-safe specifications, ahead of opening completely new purpose-built facilities by summer 2015.


Express delivery company TNT has opened an international transport hub in Heerlen, the Netherlands, dedicated to shipping of medical devices to European hospitals and clinics. The 2,000sq m facility is located near the European distribution centres of 80 major medical device manufacturers and will operate 24 hours a day. From Heerlen, TNT will make next day deliveries of medical devices to 96% of Europe’s 16,000 hospitals.


TNT has launched a five-time weekly service between its main European hub in Liege, Belgium and Tel Aviv. It will be operated Monday to Friday by a Boeing 737-400. It will cut transit times for express shipments by one day.


Airfreight unit load device manager Jettainer is developing a new lightweight pallet weighing only 70kg – 32kg less than standard designs, it says. It is made of a composite material that is being used in the aviation sector for the first time. It is manufactured with a sandwich design and does not need heavy-duty bases to stabilise the load.


///NEWS Air


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40