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Issue 6 2015 - Freight Business Journal News Roundup


Freight forwarder Rhenus Logistics UK has opened a new 65,000sq ſt combined office and warehouse at Ashford, Middlesex, close to Heathrow airport. Specialising in air and ocean freight, Rhenus Heathrow’s general manager is Spencer Davern.


///NEWS


Air Luſthansa and Swiss promise new approach to pricing


Trade-only airfreight and express wholesaler AMI has launched a new ex-works service that provides door to airport transportation from any non-restricted origin point in the world, to any airport in India. It caters for virtually any commodity except perishables, and users can choose between direct expedited service, or an economy consolidated option.


Qatar Airways Cargo has launched an on-board courier service for door-to-door and time-critical shipments. The new QR On-Board Courier service was rolled out across the carrier’s global network on 1 August. Dedicated couriers accompany each shipment from collection to delivery direct to the recipient and the Qatar Airways Cargo team take care of everything from flight reservations to entry requirements and customs regulations anywhere in the world.


Qatar Airways Cargo is to launch a weekly freighter service from its Doha hub to Djibouti, operated by an A330F. The carrier’s dedicated QR Fresh service for food and perishables is available in the East African country.


Airtransat is to launch a weekly Montreal – Glasgow service from 29 May next year, operated by an Airbus A310.


Swissport International took over Oman Air’s cargo handling at London Heathrow on 3 September. It will also take over handling at Munich, Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle by 1 November.


Delta Air Lines has appointed Alan Lavender as its new area sales manager for its UK Cargo division. He was previously key account manager at Cathay Pacific.


The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has appointed Warren Jones as director and Kenneth Gibson as business development manager. Warren Jones, whose most recent role was president of cargo network services (CNS) at IATA, will focus primarily on TIACA’s sales initiatives and will also manage other aspects of the association’s commercial development programs and operations. He will be supported by Kenneth Gibson who will develop TIACA’s sales strategy and will be an important point of contact for TIACA members.


The European Commission has cleared IAG’s acquisition of Irish airline Aer Lingus. Conditions imposed include IAG’s release of five daily slot pairs at London Gatwick airport to allow competition on routes from London to Dublin and Belfast. IAG is the holding company of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.


Specialist aerospace logistics provider B&H Worldwide has extended its aircraſt on ground (AOG) service to cover its entire global operation. Based at London’s Heathrow airport the new B&H 24/7 Critical Logistics Centre is a permanently staffed single point of contact for all customers needing critical assistance – wherever they are located.


Lufthansa Cargo and Swiss WorldCargo are to offer a new pricing concept, but have stopped short of rolling up fuel and other surcharges into the basic freight rate as some other carriers have done in the last few months. The carriers’ new structure will consist


of two components: a net rate plus an airfreight surcharge which, they promise, “will be significantly lower compared to the combined fuel and security surcharges, which will be eliminated with the start of the winter flight schedule.” Furthermore, they predict that it will


“lead to a re-aligned and increased net rate that will reflect the real value of our service in an adequate way. Overall prices of transportation will remain at current levels.” They add that the new surcharge will be


“market oriented” to reflect the volatility of external cost factors, such as fuel, exchange rates, flight dependent cost such as airport charges and fees, all of which are beyond the carriers’ control. It will be adjusted whenever one of these external cost factors changes significantly and in a transparent way. They said: “This would not have


been the case with an all-in rate, which we also investigated in detail. An all-in rate would have required a less transparent adjustment mechanism in the event of significant fluctuations in costs beyond our control.” The new approach would avoid special


processes such as negative rates and help shorten transaction and response times to customers. Customers will also be offered the option


of securing stable total rates for certain types of long-term contracts, even when they extend beyond a single season.


Liſt-off for IAG-Qatar deal


IAG Cargo has extended its capacity partnership with Qatar Airways, one year on from signing the deal that replaced its own all-cargo capacity. It also extends the number of destinations to nine routes. They include a new Shanghai to Madrid service and a new feed from Islamabad to the IAG Cargo network. IAG Cargo is also increasing the capacity it books on the regional routes covered by the Qatar Airways partnership. By connecting to IAG Cargo’s wider


network through its London and Madrid hubs, the new deal opens up routes between Asia, Europe and Latin America and will prove particularly beneficial for flows of garments from Pakistan and consumer electronics from Shanghai, says IAG. Cargo chief executive Steve Gunning,


commented: “Through such agreements we are able to support our customers where they need us and drive network growth in an asset light way. This puts IAG Cargo in a strong position and allows us to focus on delivering the quality products and services our customers demand.” Qatar Airways chief officer cargo, Ulrich


Ogiermann, said: “Our collaboration with IAG Cargo has proved successful over the past year and this partnership continues to represent an excellent opportunity to develop our business strategy through mutually beneficial commercial


agreements.” Meanwhile, China Southern Airlines has


become the latest airline to join IAG Cargo’s Partner Plus Programme with customers gaining access to confirmed space booked on its aircraſt to a range of new destinations including Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Urumqi. There are now six carriers in the Partner


Plus programme including Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, the Avianca group, American Airlines, and Finnair. A few weeks earlier, IAG signed a block


space agreement with Finnair Cargo to use the latter’s freighter capacity between London Luton and Helsinki. The freighter will fly twice a week and will supplement Finnairs’ seven and IAG Cargos’ two daily narrow-body services between London Heathrow and Helsinki. Steve Gunning commented: “(The)


deal will provide our customers with new destinations in some of the Asia’s most important trading hubs. IAG Cargo has its sites firmly set on network expansion and Partner Plus is allowing us to meet this goal much more rapidly than would otherwise be possible. He added: “With the addition of China


Southern, our programme now offers our customers extended network reach across all the world’s key markets. Our focus is now shiſting away from adding new members and onto deepening our commercial relationships with the existing members of the programme.” China Southern senior vice president


cargo, Zhao Fengsheng, said: “IAG Cargo has a strong global network reach and will prove an important partner in helping us to connect our customers with markets in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere.”


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