8


Issue 7 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS DB Schenker gets into parcels Space to grow at Heathrow


DB Schenker Logistics and the GLS Group have signed a non-exclusive cooperation partnership agreement under which the German forwarder will offer a Europe-wide parcel service and GLS will expand its freight services. GLS, which is active throughout


Europe, will deliver parcels for the DB subsidiary while the latter will handle pallets for GLS. GLS covers 37 countries in Europe with its parcel services. Under the agreement, DB


Schenker Logistics will manage parts


of the transport chain


itself and in general will collect parcels together with freight from customers. The cooperation will start on 1


January, initially in Germany and then step by step across Europe. GLS Group chief executive


Rico Back said: “GLS already works together with many freight companies and networks, including DB Schenker Logistics


on a national level. By signing the cooperation agreement, we have extended our cooperation to include the European economic area.” Ewald Kaiser, Schenker board


member for land transport, added: “Driven by e-commerce, the European parcel market offers excellent growth opportunities” with customers increasingly demanding an all-in-one solution. The cooperation will complements DB SL’s own parcel service in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Poland, he added. Ti’s John Manners-Bell


comments: “What DB Schenker appears to be doing is attempting to re-orientate its business


to


higher growth markets such as e-commerce logistics. GLS has the ability to provide services to the B2C parcels market, whereas Schenker is primarily a B2B player in heavier freight. GLS offers a pan- European last mile capability with the type of hubs needed to sort the


B2C consignments that Schenker needs. The senior management of Deutsche Bahn suggested recently that as a part of a wider re-organisation of the group DB Schenker could be partially floated and re-capitalized in order to resource a new corporate strategy.” He adds that mergers and


acquisitions in the express parcels sector


is being propelled by


e-commerce activity and this has created demand for providers of last mile delivery, e-fulfilment and specialised IT solutions. However: “The market is also hyper-competitive and delivering parcels in the B2C market where delivery densities are low, probability of end recipient being in is low, return levels of goods are high and the cost of developing new technologies to make the process more efficient are also high, then many companies will be unable to compete and could go out of business.”


Express firms face upheaval


The express parcels industry is coming under pressure as never before, according to a new report by transport consultants Ti. Fundamental changes in the market structure, caused by e-retailing, technological disruption and macro- economic upheaval, have created opportunities and challenges for express companies says Global Express and Small Parcels 201’. According to the report’s authors, e-retail has


led to more sophisticated delivery strategies, which better take into account the requirements of the final recipient. Home deliveries are costly and inefficient and hence express carriers have been developing more flexible solutions which allow the recipient to choose the time and location of delivery. As well as this, alternative delivery locations are being developed. The growth, particularly strong in Asia Pacific


(where the express market grew by nearly 16% in 2014) has not necessarily made express players profitable, especially those exposed to the domestic market. Even the largest carriers, such as UPS, have struggled to deal with the surge in demand at peak times of year, including so-called Black Friday. In addition, competition is also arising from


unlikely sources. Many technology companies, such as Uber and Nimbr, have become massive businesses and the possibility that one will emerge in the logistics industry should never be ruled out. The changes in the market are not all driven


by changing patterns of consumer demand. The biggest shake up will be caused by the likely acquisition of TNT, by FedEx, reducing the number of large, global express players from four to three. On the latest progress of the FedEx’s acquisition


of TNT, Ti’s John Manners-Bell says that the European Commission has opened what it calls an in-depth investigation into the deal. It is concerned that following the acquisition there may not be enough competition in the international small parcels sector and that prices for consumers would be driven up. “Given that TNT is a major player in the cross


border, intra European freight market, a sector in which FedEx has little in the way of operations, rationally there should be no problem with the takeover. However as we have seen in the past (UPS’ attempted takeover of TNT) deals can be undone by the lack of understanding which regulators have of the market and political factors may come into play,” he adds.


Spec build for Scotland’s Bellshill


Developer J Smart has started construction of a first phase 20,000 sq ft speculative industrial unit at Belgrave Point, Bellshill, in the heart of the central Scottish logistics industry. The first phase, due for completion in May 2016, is being marketed for lease by Colliers International and JLL and is


described as a high quality industrial warehouse or manufacturing facility with dedicated yard. It will be built as a shell, so occupiers can tailor facilities to their their needs. Colliers International director


Iain Davidson, said demand for industrial space has soared in the last year.


Cargolux Airlines has celebrated its 45th anniversary with a special aircraſt livery, created by Belgian cartoonist Philippe Cruyt, and the biggest decal that Boeing ever applied to an aircraſt, with 460 individual parts. It was applied to its 13th 747-8 freighter delivered to the carrier’s Luxembourg hub from Seattle on 29 September. Phillippe Cruyt has illustrated


Airport Property Partnership – a joint venture by property manager Segro


and Aviva


Investors - have launched ‘Skyline’, a new Grade A logistics development next to Heathrow Airport. The first part of the


development will be two speculatively built warehouse units of 73,530 sq ſt and 80,440 sq ſt. The new development will offer large, secure yard areas, with 12 metre eaves height, and will be built to the highest environmental standards. The units will be


completed in summer 2016. Both have the potential for office space across the first and second floors. Other nearby companies include freight forwarders DB


Schenker and Panalpina. SEGRO owns or


manages


6.4 million sq ſt of warehouse assets around London’s airports, including Heathrow.


Economic headwinds fail to throw Cargolux off course


Despite a slowing Chinese economy, Luxembourg-based B747 freighter operator Cargolux is still expanding its operations in Zhengzhou, eastern central China, including a likely joint venture international


all-cargo airline


based there. At a joint Cargolux/Boeing


Commercial Airplanes press briefing in Luxembourg on 29 September to mark the arrival of the airline’s 13th new B747-8F - boosting its total fleet to 25 (13 B747-8Fs and 12 B747-400Fs - Dirk Reich, Cargolux’s president and CEO, reported that in addition to further increasing the frequency of its established Zhengzhou- Europe and Zhengzhou-US freighter services during October, the airline’s talks with Chinese 35% shareholder HNCA (Henan Civil Aviation Development & Investment Company) about setting up a Zhengzhou-based joint venture Chinese carrier were “advancing”. “Those discussions are still


ongoing and nothing has been finalised yet but we hope that by the end of this year we will have the contractual basis to start activities,” he told FBJ. Reich said current thinking


a range of successful educational books on air freight and environmental topics, published by Cargolux in the early 2000s, as well as advertising and safety campaigns, calendars and posters for the airline. In addition, he has illustrated a range of books and has published his cartoons at various exhibitions throughout Europe. (www.cruyt.be)


envisaged Cargolux China, as the new carrier has been provisionally named, starting operations with three B747 aircraſt (either -400Fs or -8Fs), with a subsequent increase to five over the following three years. The new carrier’s main initial


focus, he continued, would be on China-US routes. “Some 60- 80% of the capacity of the first three aircraſt will be operated in the transpacific market, with the remainder deployed on intra- Asian routes.” Longer-term, he said, services linking China with Australia, South America and Africa would be added. Meanwhile, he said, Cargolux


would continue to focus primarily on serving transatlantic and Europe-Asia markets. The latter include its currently seven flights a week operation between Luxembourg and Zhengzhou and Cargolux Italia’s twice-weekly service from Milan to Zhengzhou. Reich also confirmed that


Cargolux would be the exclusive worldwide cargo general sales agent for the proposed new Cargolux China airline, working in the same way as it already did for its established Italian joint venture carrier Cargolux Italia.


Asked whether a slowing


Chinese economy might have any impact on the planned establishment of the new Zhengzhou-based joint venture airline, his response was a firm “no”. The annual average national economic growth rate in China may be back down to 7%, or according to some people, even 5%, but the hinterland is still growing much faster than Shanghai and other coastal cities. “It is a market which will continue to grow by at least 5% annually for the next few years to come.” This was supported by senior


Boeing Commercial Airplanes executive, vice president marking Randy Tinseth, during a presentation at the briefing outlining that company’s projections for the global air cargo industry over the next 20 years. He said Boeing envisaged annual air cargo traffic growth during the period 2015-2034 being strongest in Africa (averaging almost 7%), followed by the Middle East (6.3%), Asia Pacific (5.7%), Latin America (5.5%), Europe (3.1%) and North America (2.9%). “Within the Asia Pacific region, the Chinese market will grow in excess of 7% a year,” he added.


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  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44