Pharma defection to ocean is ‘wake-up call’ to airfreight

Airlines are targeting premium products to claw back lost revenue from the recession. Foremost of those is the cool chain for fresh produce and pharmaceuticals. But, according to Steef Van Amersfoort, chairman of the air transport at the Dutch Shippers Council and veteran pharmaceutical-logistics executive, there is a massive difference between what pharma shippers...

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Ambak joins Emirates SkyCargo

Henrik Ambak has joined Emirates SkyCargo as senior vice president, cargo operations worldwide. Ambak, a Danish national, joins the freight division of Emirates with 27 years of experience in the air cargo industry, having worked for companies such as Novia, CSLux and Cargolux Airlines. He started his career as a freight forwarder, and then moved into ground and...

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Exelsius launches pharma programme

Exelsius has launched a pharmaceutical qualification programme (PQP) for companies involved in the handling and transportation of pharmaceutical & life science products. The UK-based international cold chain management consultancy says that its programme allows airports, freight forwarders and logistics service providers to become certified...

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IAG Cargo gains pharma certificate

IAG Cargo has received GDP (Good Distribution Practice) certification for pharmaceutical transport. The carrier, bringing together the cargo divisions of British Airways and Iberia, says that it is the first airline to be awarded GDP certification by a national government health agency in meeting the premier standard for pharma transport. IAG Cargo received the...

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Cathay signs up DoKaSch pharma containers

Cathay Pacific Cargo has signed a master agreement to rent DoKaSch Temperature Solutions' RKN and RAP Opticooler active containers. The containers, to be rolled out across the Hong Kong-based airline’s network in the first quarter of 2015, are aimed at the shipment of temperature-sensitive goods and pharmaceutical products,. “Cathay Pacific Cargo is pleased to be the first Asian carrier offering our customers an alternative solution for their temperature-sensitive air cargo shipments,”...

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Cargo pallets go on a diet

Air France-KLM is introducing new aluminum pallets that are 17kg lighter than standard pallets but just as strong. The new 83kg pallets will gradually replace all the current standard stock - each weighing 100kg - in the airline’s fleet. Said a spokesperson: “Air France-KLM is fully committed to reducing the company’s CO2 footprint, and weight reduction...

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Air cargo rates gain on US port congestion

  Air freight rates continued to climb through November on the back of strong peak season demand and conversions from ocean freight as a result of US supply chain bottlenecks. Drewry’s East-West Air Freight Price Index rose a further 5.3 points in November to reach an all-time peak of 120.8 points, exceeding the record high of 117.4 achieved...

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Cathay Cargo boosted by Beaujolais

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair cargo and mail traffic has continued to show strong year-on-year growth according to the carrier’s latest results with the carrier getting a big boost with shipments of Beaujolais wine to the Far East. The two airlines carried 165,102 tonnes of cargo and mail in November 2014, up 12% from the same period last year.There was good news too...

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Self-driving car the future of logistics industry

The logistics industry will probably be one of the first testing grounds for automated vehicles, according to a study from package delivery giant DHL. Shipping companies will likely adopt the technology faster than other sectors, since moving cargo in non-public areas like storage facilities and warehouses provides a safer venue to test such devices, according to a study published this week by DHL, the freight and express arm of Deutsche Post AG. Eventually vehicles might bring packages...

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Dubai drives October's cargo surge

A Dubai cargo surge helped global air freight traffic maintain an upward trend in volumes with a year-over-year growth rate of five per cent for October, reports Airports Council International (ACI). Overall worldwide accumulated volumes for the last twelve months rose by 4.6 per cent. International freight volumes jumped up by 5.6 per cent, whereas...

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Qantas management reshuffle

  A top level management reshuffle at Australian carrier Qantas has seen Gareth Evans appointed chief executive of Qantas International and Freight. Evans, currently chief financial officer for the Qantas Group, has been a senior executive at Qantas for 15 years and brings experience from previous roles that spanned network, pricing, scheduling and operations....

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Heathrow volumes rise in November

A surge in cargo to Mexico, Brazil, India and Turkey helped London-Heathrow airport freight volumes rise 2.3 per cent in November to 136,400 tonnes, compared with like month 2013. For the 11 months in the year to date, the UK’s top air cargo hub registered an overall 5.3 per cent increase in volumes to 1.37m tonnes versus prior year. Heathrow...

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Tonnage up but rates to shrink in 2015 says IATA

Senior cargo executives at IATA member airlines are predicting that global air freight tonnage will increase next year at its fastest rate since 2010. Yet rates are likely to shrink by a further 5.8 per cent in real terms, intensifying pressure on margins. Brian Pearce, IATA chief economist, told a media briefing in Geneva that volume measured by freight tonne-kilometres...

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TNT adds Venice freighter call

Parcels carrier TNT is launching a five-times a week B737-400 freighter service between Venice and its Liege air hub in Belgium, aimed at exporters and importers trading with north-east Italy. The morning flight from Liege arrives at Venice Airport Marco Polo (VCE) at 6:00 am and continues onto Ljubljana (Slovenia) before returning to Liege. Five weekly flights...

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Transaero Launches cargo service to Beijing

Russia’s leading carrier, Transaero Airlines, has launched a freighter service to China. Transaero delivered 22.4 tonnes of mail on the first flight between Beijing and Novosibirsk using one of the airline’s pair of new Tupolev Tu-204C aircraft. The year old aircraft will be regular performers on the route. The airline...

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IATA figures find fair weather for freight flow

IATA’s November Airlines Financial Monitor finds good news for much of the air cargo sector as freight volumes continue to expand steadily and load factors improve on the back of growth in demand. Air freight volumes increased in October compared to September, with recent improvements driven by progress in Asia Pacific and North America due to expanding trade volumes,...

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ANA and Lufthansa Cargo JV hauls first shipment

The cargo joint venture between All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Lufthansa Cargo has carried its first shipment. Sent by forwarder Schenker-Seino and booked via Lufthansa Cargo, three pieces of general cargo weighing 153kg were transported by ANA on a direct flight from Tokyo to London. The forwarder was able to receive the shipment approximately 16 hours earlier than by choosing the transfer connection via Frankfurt. On the same day, a Lufthansa Cargo freighter flight carried the first shipment...

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TNT cockpit iPads save 50kg in paper

TNT Airways is to roll out paperless cockpits across its worldwide fleet by using iPad Air tablets as electronic flight bags. TNT’s subsidiary airline, with a fleet of 50 aircraft, has made the move following approval from the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority. Each iPad will replace the 50kg of paper books and manuals carried by crews on each flight. Going paperless...

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Drewry Air Freight Price Index

East-West airfreight rates were for the second month in a row largely unchanged in July with Drewry’s East-West Air Freight Price Index only moving up by 0.8 points to 102.4 points. The small increase in pricing brought the index up to within 1.4 points of April’s high and an impressive 8.2 points above last year’s level, indicating the strength of the recovery in...

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Asia Airlines Capacity and Cargo Traffic

  Overall, airfreight demand in freight tonne kilometers (FTK) grew by an encouraging 4.7 percent compared to the same month last year. The average international freight load factor rose for the second consecutive month, by 0.8 percentage points to 66.1 percent in June, on a 3.4 percent growth in offered freight capacity.  Source: Association of Asia Pacific...

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European Airlines Freight Traffic

This is the monthly year-over-year percent change in overall freight traffic and Asia-Pacific freight traffic for European airlines. Asia Pacific fell in June 2014, and overall increased. Source: Association of European Airlin...

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