Pharma helps K+N airfreight outpace the market

Kuehne+Nagel beat 2014 airfreight market growth with a 5.3 per cent increase in volumes to 1.2m tonnes for the full year.
The Switzerland-based logistics giant’s air cargo increase is more than twice last year’s global market benchmark average of between three and four per cent.
K+N, the world’s second largest airfreight forwarder by tonnages, said that the key success factors in the business unit were “industry-specific airfreight products, which led to significant business wins in the pharmaceutical, automotive and industrial goods sectors”.
There was also increased demand for KN EngineChain product – launched in 2013 - a special service for the transport and handling of aircraft engines.
The new online portal KN FreightNet, which was brought to market in 2014, “underlines K+N’s innovative power while setting a new standard in the airfreight industry” it said.
In comparison to the previous year, airfreight EBIT improved by 7.2 per cent to SFr 238m. The conversion rate developed positively from 25.3 per cent in the previous year to 27.0 per cent.
In it container ocean freight arm, K+N handled over 3.8m teu in 2014, which represents an increase of 242,000 containers or seven per cent more than in the previous year. In maritime, K+N once again grew significantly faster than the global seafreight market, which gained around four per cent.
Detlef Trefzger, K+N chief executive, commented: “In a volatile economic environment with fluctuating currencies, we were able to simultaneously expand our market share and increase results in 2014.”
Dr Trefzger added: “For the first time profits were reported over four consecutive quarters. I would also like to emphasise the continuously excellent performance in airfreight and the further improvement of results in contract logistics.
“In seafreight we grew volumes and held margins stable, despite the high volatility of rates and negative currency impacts.”
Total K+N group net turnover of SFr17.5bn was 1.9 per cent (in constant currencies 5.1 per cent) higher than in the previous year.
Gross profit rose by 0.5 per cent (in constant currencies 2.9 per cent) to SFr6.288m and the operational result (EBITDA) increased by 4.5 per cent (in constant currencies 7.8 per cent) to SFr1,005m.
Earnings for the year improved by 6.1 per cent (in constant currencies 9.7 per cent) to SFr644m.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/pharma-helps-k-n-airfreight-outpace-the-market.html

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Panalpina launches 'Brazil Wings' freighters to São Paulo

 

Panalpina is adding a B747-400 freighter service to São Paulo, Brazil, aimed at manufacturers of heavy machinery and equipment for agriculture and mining.
The direct service from US hub Huntsville to São Paulo, called Brazil Wings, has been designed for customers in the mid-west and in parts of the s south eastern US.
As of March, global forwarder Panalpina will operate scheduled charter flights from Hong Kong to its Huntsville and from Huntsville to São Paulo.
The extended service is part of the renewed long-term agreement between Switzerland-headquartered Panalpina and ACMI lessor Atlas Air. It offers scheduled main deck capacity to South America from the US and a transit time of less than 40 hours from Hong Kong to São Paulo.
“Our customers in the US have a need for fast and efficient connections to Brazil. The new set-up with Atlas Air, where we switched one of our wet-leased aircraft to 200 scheduled charters per year, allows us to meet this demand effectively,” explains Lucas Kuehner, global head of Air Freight at Panalpina.
As of March 3, Panalpina will initially operate two flights per week from Huntsville to Viracopos airport, São Paulo, with dedicated scheduled charters using Atlas Air B747-400 freighters.
Roberto Schiavone, head of air freight for the region Americas at Panalpina, says: “The new service is tailored to companies that manufacture heavy machines and equipment for agriculture and mining.
“Brazil, with its large agricultural and mining industries, is an interesting market for these companies, but getting the goods there can be challenging. So far, the companies had to export via large, congested airports with limited freighter capacity.
Schiavone adds: “We offer an alternative – scheduled main deck capacity to Brazil from an uncongested airport that puts high priority on cargo.
“Export cargo can be easily trucked to our unique air freight gateway in Huntsville. There we offer an airside facility and short distances. This allows for fast expediting and full control on the ground. In addition, customers benefit from cargo consolidation and customs clearance services.”
Panalpina provides daily road feeder services from more than ten major US cities to Huntsville. From the Chicago area, with its important manufacturing base, transport to Huntsville takes as little as 16 hours. Panalpina also manages import customs clearance and delivery to the final destination in Brazil.
The freighter flights from Huntsville to São Paulo connect with the freighter flights coming in from Hong Kong.
“We can fly cargo from Hong Kong to Viracopos via Huntsville in less than 40 hours,” says Matthias Frey, global head of Panalpina’s controlled air freight network.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/panalpina-launches-brazil-wings-freighters-to-sao-paulo.html

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Volvo renews TNT international delivery contract

 

Swedish truck and bus maker Volvo has renewed a three-year contract with express operator TNT for ‘inbound to production’ and aftermarket delivery services in Europe.
TNT will continue to handle Volvo’s European emergency production movements.
TNT collects automotive components and parts from more than 800 different suppliers in Europe and delivers them to production facilities in Sweden, Belgium, France and Poland.
“The service builds on TNT’s integrated road and air network in Europe. It combines scheduled and special services to ensure all production delivery needs are met,” said the express company.
It added: “The need to maintain low inventory levels while keeping assembly lines running smoothly make guaranteed reliable deliveries essential. TNT provides a door-to-door transit monitoring service for shipments from its Automotive Control Centres, with 24/7 availability.”
Under the contract, TNT handles parts distribution to Volvo dealers throughout Europe to support Volvo’s aftermarket offering. Most parts are collected at Volvo’s central or support warehouses in Europe.
Another contract sees TNT managing the delivery of parts from suppliers in Europe to Volvo Trucks’ manufacturing plant in Hagerstown, Maryland, US.
TNT said that its ‘Inbound to Production’ and aftermarket services will be available to more customers in the automotive, high tech and industrial sectors in 2015.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/volvo-renews-tnt-international-delivery-contract.html

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Airfreight bolsters Expeditors’ figures

A ten per cent year on year increase in airfreight net revenues contributed to a strong 2014 fourth quarter for US forwarder and logistics company Expeditors.
The Washington-based company said its net earnings had increased 19 per cent in the quarter, to almost $99.4m, compared with $83.5m in the same period of 2013.
Ocean freight net revenue was also up, by 11 per cent, while overall net revenue increased by nine per cent.
Senior vice president and chief financial officer, Bradley Powell, described the results as “a great affirmation of our efforts to date. We’ve worked steadily to improve our performance throughout 2014.”
President and chief executive Jeffrey Musser added that the double digit growth in air and ocean freight net revenue had come “at a very opportune time,” “particularly…in light of a global economy that still struggles to gain traction.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/airfreight-bolsters-expeditors-figures.html

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Losses mount at dampened Damco

Damco, the global logistics arm of Danish shipping group AP Moller Maersk, more than doubled its annual losses to $293m for the full year 2014.
The ocean giant parent said that Damco's losses were due to “significant” impairment hits  in 2014 and “reduced profitability” in its ocean and airfreight segments.
Netherlands- headquartered Damco, which recorded an $111m loss in 2013, saw air freight volumes nosedive by 16 per cent in 2014 over prior year. Ocean freight also fell, by six per cent.
Margins in both airfreight and ocean were "under pressure and declined through 2014".
Restructuring at Damco will see the subsidiary back to “profitable growth” in 2015, said AP Moller Maersk.

Source :  http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/dampened-damcos-losses-mount.html

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Kale breaks into Iraq Market

Iraqi ground-handler Azmar Air has gone live with Kale’s Galaxy International air cargo management system.

Azmar, based at Sulaymaniyah International Airport in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq will use the system for e-freight compliance, warehouse management and vehicle management, and it will be able to offer real-time updates to customers’ trade partners and EDI messaging, says Indian-based Kale.

It added that Galaxy is already in use by handlers including Bahrain Airport Services, Mumbai International Airport and leading international airports in India, plus Lusaka and Ndola in Zambia amongst others.

Indrajit Marath, Azmar’s general manager- cargo village said: “We are now able to automatically capture all data, do better flight planning and plan the operations in advance.

“Our customers including airlines, forwarders, GSAs are happy to see online updates and track shipments. More importantly, we attained this without having to increase our staff count.” 

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/kale-breaks-into-iraq-market.html

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DHL refines risk management system

DHL's Resilience360 risk management tool can now be integrated with customer's transport management systems, allowing them to view shipments affected by disruptive incidents.
Customers can then scan the latest position and status of all their shipments worldwide and identify corrective actions.
Recent incidents monitored by Resilience 360 included the ash cloud from the Bardarbunga Volcano, the economic fall-out from Russian sanctions and the Ebola crisis.
In the case of the volcano, Resilience360’s near real-time information and global mapping device made it possible for customers to anticipate and avert knock-on disruptions elsewhere in the supply chain, such as flight disruptions in other regions, says DHL.
Resilience360's new country-specific risk page also gives with an overview of supply chain risk scores and incident trends, together with a free weekly supply chain risk intelligence bulletin.
Resilience360 is described by DHL as an end-to-end supply chain risk management platform that alerts customers about global incidents and risks to their global supply chain in almost real time, allowing customers to respond immediately to incidents and pre-empt or minimise business interruption.
Since its launch, Resilience360 has been used by customers across Asia, Europe and the Americas, particularly by the automotive, chemicals, life sciences and technology sectors.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/dhl-refines-risk-management-system.html

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We will do better, promise TNT management

TNT Express has outlined the steps that will return the parcels and freight operator to profit.
A core part of its strategy is to set up focused international Europe and domestic units, strengthening its management and accelerated investment in its transport and IT, along with improved service levels.
At a capital markets day conference this week in London, chief executive Tex Gunning and his senior management team sketched out the details.
TNT Express had earlier announced a €137m loss in the 2014 fourth quarter and a warning from Gunning that the company continues to face challenging trading conditions.
TNT was the subject of a failed takeover bid by UPS in 2013, and restructuring charges (€70m), goodwill impairments (€32m) and the costs of a re-launch (€22m) since then have compounded its financial woes.
Chief financial officer Maarten de Vries admitted that the company had suffered from a “structural underinvestment in infrastructure and IT” since the express arm of the company was demerged from the postal operations in 2011.
But since then, the company had invested to “drive operational excellence”. Further investments would, in 2018-19, further improve service reliability and lower the cost base, he said.
The company’s cost reduction programme - branded ‘Deliver!’ – had reduced worldwide headcount from 62,468 in 2012 to 58,292 he added. The target now was to generate €250m of cost reductions and realised €125m of net savings by 2018.
One of the ways this will be achieved will be by simplifying the current highly complex service portfolio – over 3,500 product codes – to a much more streamlined offering of four basic products with 75 options.
Maarten de Vries also said that processes and IT systems were much too complex and a centralised global IT organisation would be put in place.
A new ‘simplify and transform’ programme over the next three to five years would cut IT spending by €100m, although in the short term there would be IT cost increases and there would be a €70m investment in new IT systems.
Activities such as accounting, procurement, data management and customer contact centres, currently operated mainly on a country by country basis, could be consolidated through shared service centres, saving €100-150m by 2018.
The price to pay for these root-and-branch reforms would be restructuring charges of €250-300m over three years. However, these should diminish to no more than €25-50m by 2017, after hitting a peak of €125-175m in 2016.
Investment of €800-€900m in 2015-17 would, among other things, increase European air network capacity by 50 per cent, as well as improving productivity and reliability. Investment in hubs would include two new ones in the UK, three in Australia and modernisation and automation in France and Italy, added domestics managing director Marco van Kalleveen.
International Europe managing director Ian Clough pointed out that TNT was still a major player in the European global market, with 12 per cent of the total, third only to DHL (19 per cent), UPS (16 per cent) and well ahead of FedEx and Schenker’s five per cent each.
But he said that it was important to ditch the current “dysfunctional organisation” with its “heavy overhead structure” and create an integrated international European business.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/we-will-do-better-promise-tnt-management.html

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FedEx swaps sides in Illinois

Federal Express officially started operations at Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA) in Bloomington on February 2. It follows an announcement in May 2014 that it was pulling out of its operation at nearby Peoria airport, on the west bank of the Illinois River.
The express carrier said the move would allow it to upgrade its priority overnight service and offer earlier delivery times to the central Illinois market, while maintaining delivery times to Peoria itself. Flights will operate mainly to Indianapolis and Memphis.
FedEx’s arrival fills a gap for CIRA, which lost passenger carrier Frontier Airlines in November and also suffered from the shutdown of DHL’s US operations in 2008.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/fedex-swaps-sides-in-illinois.html

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Christmas overspend flattens UPS earnings

 

UPS reported “flat” fourth quarter earnings in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with the same period in prior year. In fact, earnings per share, at $1.25, were identical to 2013, said the US-based express carrier.
It blamed higher than expected peak operating expenses in its home market as the carrier sought to maintain delivery times - UPS delivered 1.3bn packages during the fourth quarter, an increase of 8.1 per cent over the same period last year.
"UPS customers were delighted with the high quality service we delivered during the holiday season," said chief executive officer, David Abney. "However, the financial results were below our expectations.” He promised to “address this disparity with both cost and revenue actions" in 2015.
International revenue, on a currency-neutral basis, increased 5.9 per cent to $3.4bn – although currency fluctuations took $40m off this figure compared with 2013 - with 4.3 per cent growth in daily package volume.
Export shipments were up 5.2 per cent, driven primarily by 8.5 per cent growth from Europe, offset somewhat by a decline in Asia export volume. Non-U.S. domestic products were up 3.6 per cent with strong growth in Canada, Spain and Mexico.
Export yield contracted 1.7 per cent on a currency-neutral basis, as a result of lower fuel surcharges, product mix and stronger intra-regional shipment growth.
Revenue in the supply chain and freight segment increased 7.4 per cent to$2.5bn, with growth in distribution and UPS Freight.
Adjusted operating profit increased 4.7 per cent to $179m with improvements in distribution and UPS Freight offset by declines in the Forwarding unit, where gains in North American air freight and ocean were offset by “challenges” in international air freight.
Chief financial officer Kurt Kuehn foresees “continuous improvement and advances in strategic initiatives that have great potential for the company" during 2015. "E-commerce growth, operations technology implementation, emerging market expansion and industry specific solutions will provide momentum for UPS.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/christmas-overspend-flattens-ups-earnings.html

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TNT tweaks its figures

Express carrier TNT said its fourth quarter results, due to be published in full on February 17, would include non-recurring tax expense items totalling €77m, which include a €67m non-cash valuation allowance on deferred tax assets.
The Netherlands-headquartered company added that changes to its accounting treatment in Brazil would also result in €17m lower reported operating income for the full year 2014 of which €5m would occur in the fourth quarter, but there would be no impact on net income.
During 2014, TNT appointed a new management team and launched its new Outlook strategy with the aim of bringing the company back to sustainable profit and, in September 2014, told the market that it will take three to five years to realise the full benefits of the investment and restructuring programs.
The strategy is in full implementation mode, it added.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/tnt-tweaks-its-figures.html

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December's dollar yields dip

Air freight volumes continued to rise in December but exchange rate and fuel surcharge fluctuations saw a 2014 end of year fall in dollar-based yields, according to research house WorldACD.
December’s healthy year-over-year (YoY) volume growth continued 2014's trend, as chargeable weight increased 6.7 per cent, said the Netherlands-based analyst which uses primary data from global airlines.
December yields (in US dollars) dropped by 5.6 per cent, “a very worrisome figure at first sight,” said WorldACD, but citing two reasons for the fall.
The worsening Euro–US dollar exchange rate contributed to an 8.5 per cent dollar-yield decrease in December for cargo originating in one of air cargo’s largest markets, Europe. Measured in Euros, yields increased slightly.
Added WorldACD: “Overall yields were seriously influenced by a further drop in fuel surcharges. Although the yield drop was significant in Asia Pacific as well (-5.9 per cent), it was rather limited in MESA (Middle East & South Asia, -1.1 per cent) and North America (-1.6 per cent).
“The origins North America and Africa were the best monthly performers in terms of revenue growth, with YoY gains of 7.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively.”
WorldACD said that 2014 was “a good year for air cargo”, with a volume growth of 6.4 per cent over 2013, and a much smaller change in dollar-yield (-1.45 per cent). Worldwide revenue increased five per cent after two years of declining revenues.
The Asia Pacific origin was above average (+ 6.2 per cent dollar-revenue increase), whilst MESA was well below (-0.4 per cent).
“North America distinguished itself as the fastest growing destination with a revenue increase of 10.9 per cent. Monthly yields decreased YoY in nine out of 12 months; they went up in June, July and August.”
Continuing the trend from previous years, revenues from pharmaceuticals and perishables outpaced the market, at 16.2 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively.
Pharmaceuticals grew in yields by two per cent, more than the 1.2 per cent increase in 2013. But perishable cargo yields dropped by about three per cent, double the average of all cargo taken together.
The leading origins in both product markets strengthened their position: Africa and Latin America in perishables, Europe and MESA in pharmaceuticals.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/decembers-dollar-yields-dip.html

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Hellmann gains AEO status in the UK

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK has been awarded authorised economic operator (AEO) status by HM Revenue & Customs.



The supply chain quality standard highlights businesses involved in the international supply chain.
The two-year process began in December 2012 and involved Hellmann training over 500 staff to complete the process and achieve its goal of becoming AEO certified.
HMRC inspected all areas of the business, offering recommendations for improvements, and making Hellmann UK the third country in the company’s global network to receive the accreditation.
Ian Dallow, security manager at Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK, said: “Gaining the AEO status has been a lengthy process but something that has been extremely worthwhile. New procedures have been implemented and a more stringent security culture has been adopted to ensure the best service to our customers.
“AEO also provides us with additional business opportunities with major clients and a framework based on quality to help to drive the business forward.”

Source :http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/hellmann-gains-aeo-status-in-the-uk.html

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