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 need and expect, and what the airlines actually deliver.
“To be honest, there aren’t a lot of airlines offering time and temperature sensitive (T&TS) shipping services that I am confident of,” he says.
“I don’t want to be told ‘don’t worry’ about my shipment. I need to know everything about the service. I need to know about the hardware, but also about its organisational processes, so I can see it is properly a part of the company.
“I often see that the airlines control the service themselves at the origin and during transit,” he adds, “but at the destination they rely on handling companies that either do not offer the same service or offer one that the airline is not willing to pay a premium for.
“Even within the airline, not everyone always knows about the specifications of the service. If you offer a service you have to ensure it can be delivered to every part of your network at the same level of quality and reliability.”
Van Amersfoort says that there have been encouraging developments lately, but that there is still far to go.
“With so much pharma now being sent by ship, that should be a wake-up call for airlines to start investing into a reliable air cargo supply chain for pharma,” he warns.
“IATA implementing a T&TS label was a nice first step, as was the task force, but there is still a huge gap between the premium we pay and the premium service we get.
“Carriers need to recognise that becoming a pharma specialist requires more than just saying you’re one. It requires training of operational people and an obligation to invest in airport facilities.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/pharma-defection-to-ocean-is-wake-up-call-to-airfreight.html

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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 cargo handling, before joining Cargolux to oversee cargo and ground handling, trucking, standards and procedures, network delivery, ground safety, ULD management, Customs and e-Business, as well as IT systems used by the commercial division.
Ambak will be responsible for the management of all Emirates SkyCargo’s operations at its Dubai hub, comprising the Cargo Mega Terminal at Dubai International Airport and Emirates SkyCentral at Dubai World Central, as well as the operations at the more than 140 outstations across the world.
Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president, cargo, said: “Henrik has vast experience in the air cargo industry and this will make him a great addition to our team.
“He joins us at an exciting time when we are experiencing good growth, particularly with the recent start of freighter operations at Emirates SkyCentral and the expansion of our current facilities at Dubai International.”
Said Ambak: “I am proud to be joining a market leader with a strong vision of growth for the future. I look forward to being a part of the Emirates SkyCargo team and contributing to its continued success.”
Emirates SkyCargo operates a fleet of 12 Boeing 777Fs and two Boeing 747-400ERFs.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/ambak-joins-emirates-skycargo.html

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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 to Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards.
The PQP has been developed specifically for those involved in the air cargo cool chain and allows participants to demonstrate that they are compliant to the latest GDP regulations issued by the airlines, the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the European Union and the US Food and Drugs Administration.
Exelsius chief executive Tony Wright says: “With over half of the value of healthcare products being moved by air, shippers will be seeking only the most compliant GDP logistics providers.
“This programme will be of initial importance in the UK where the MHRA have taken a lead in requiring airport ground handling companies, airlines and forwarders holding pharmaceuticals to have applied for a Wholesale Dealers Authorisation (WDA).
“With the Exelsius pharmaceutical qualification programme, organisations involved in good distribution practice can be ready to meet those requirements.
The PQP programme includes a full facility assessment, compliance plans, quality management system & SOP development, vendor assessment, route qualification and a fully integrated and certificated training plan.
The PQP requires participants to demonstrate compliance with all aspects of an initial gap analysis and training programme before certification will be granted. Re‐assessment will take place within two years.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/exelsius-launches-pharma-programme.html

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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 award following an inspection by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The carrier has been granted Wholesale Distribution Authorisation (WDA) for medicines intended for both human and veterinary use.
Alan Dorling, global head of pharmaceuticals & life sciences at IAG Cargo, commented: “The authorisation is testament to the significant investments we have made in our dedicated people and our temperature controlled infrastructure facilities and capabilities, in addition to continuous product development and training to improve our customer experience.
“It is welcome third party recognition that IAG Cargo has become the diamond standard for the transportation of medicines worldwide and underscores our global leadership in this fast-growing market.”
IAG Cargo has made significant investment in its Constant Climate product for specialist service for time-and-temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, and is now available in more than 100 stations worldwide.
Loranne Vella Zahra, global quality assurance manager at IAG Cargo, said: “GDP is a complex area that requires all areas of our supply chain to adhere to the highest standards. Our network ensures that only authorised pharmaceutical products are distributed safely, and their strength, stability, purity, potency and integrity are maintained throughout.
“Achieving full GDP status and being granted a WDA is testament to the strong quality system we have in place and the investment we have put in people, equipment, facilities and processes.”
To ensure the integrity of shipments, accredited GDP/WDA shippers  are likely to select those carriers that have a GDP/WDA licence.

Source :  http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/iag-cargo-gains-pharma-certificate.html

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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,” said Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific’s general manager cargo sales & marketing.
“In a growing market, and in Asia in particular, we can provide the entire range of active containers, enabling us to offer our customers the best possible air-cargo solution to meet their needs.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/cathay-signs-up-dokasch-pharma-containers.html

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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 on board the aircraft is an important part of that effort.
“After the successful introduction of lightweight pallet nets last year, another big step is now being taken with the introduction of lightweight pallets.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/cargo-pallets-go-on-a-diet.html

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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 in November 2013 by a comfortable margin of 3.4 points.
The UK-based consultancy expects air freight pricing to recede in the near term, as the peak season concludes and lower jet fuel costs start to feed into reduced fuel surcharges.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/air-cargo-rates-gain-on-us-port-congestion.html

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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 on load factor totals with cargo and mail load factor up 4.7% to 68.4%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 5.3% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown were up by 13.1%.

In cumulative terms for the year to the end of November, overall tonnage rose by 11.9% while capacity was up 10.7% and RTKs increased by 14.8%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “Our business was helped by the bottlenecks in seaports on the West Coast of the USA, leading to more shipments being moved by air,” said Cathay Cargo boss Mark Sutch. “Intra-Asian traffic remained robust in November, and it was a better month for our cargo business in Europe, helped by big shipments of the new-release Beaujolais out of France. We carried close to 2,000 tonnes of the wine in total, most of it bound for Japan.”

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/cathay-cargo-boosted-by-beaujolais.html

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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 to a pick-up station where a consumer could find them, the study said.

DHL plans to “maintain pole position in the world of self-driving vehicles,” wrote Matthias Heutger and Markus Kueckelhaus, the authors of the study. "The question is no longer ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ autonomous vehicles will drive onto our streets and highways."

Source : http://www.cargobusinessnews.com/news/techwire/news2.html

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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 domestic volumes increased by 3.4 per cent.
Global air freight is set to grow by over four per cent this year compared with 2013, said the association of 591 member airport authorities, which operate 1,861 airports in 177 countries,
The Middle East posted the greatest increase in freight volumes at 13.7 per cent year-over-year for October. Dubai World Central (DWC) is now “a major contributor to overall increases in freight volumes for the region,” said ACI, adding: “Air freight volumes at DWC have increased by over 331 per cent as compared to the previous year.”
Part of the reason for the massive uptick is that DWC has benefited from a switch of freighter operations from Dubai International Airport. 
Africa also achieved double digit growth of 10.7 per cent for the month of October. Johannesburg (JNB), Africa's largest freight hub, moved up by 7.6 per cent in terms of freight volumes.
Asia-Pacific posted increases in volumes of 4.8 per cent in of October, which is slightly below the twelve-month growth trend of 5.7 per cent: “Nevertheless, the region's largest freight hubs continue to report gains in volumes. Hong Kong (HKG), Shanghai (PVG) and Incheon (ICN) saw volumes increase by 4.3 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively for the month.”
North America also experienced growth of over four per cent following a weakened air freight market in 2013. Memphis (MEM), North America's busiest freight airport and FedEx hub, and Louisville (SDF), the UPS hub, grew by 2.2 per cent and 4.2 per cent during October.
Europe experienced “more moderate growth” of 3.6 per cent year-over-year. However, results were mixed across airports in the region.
Frankfurt (FRA) grew only slightly (0.7 per cent), while Paris (CDG) had a decline of one per cent. Amsterdam (AMS) and London (LHR) grew by 7.7 per cent and 8.3 per cent respectively.
With ongoing weakness in the Brazilian and Argentinian economies, freight volumes in Latin-America-Caribbean increased only slightly, by 1.7 per cent for October.

ACI world economics director Rafael Echevarne said: "Although there has been improvement in the US economy, coupled with greater momentum in international trade volumes in Asia-Pacific, downside risks continue to persist in other regions, particularly in the Euro area."
Echevarne continued: “The German economy has experienced weak industrial production and export growth, which may translate into weakness across its economy. Japan, Russia and Brazil are also stagnating. Many of these factors combined may adversely affect air transport demand."

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/dubai-drives-octobers-cargo-surge.html

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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.
Said Qantas: “Using his airline and finance background, and building on the key role he has played in the transformation of the group as a whole, Gareth will be focused on completing the turnaround of Qantas International.”
Qantas Freight has a network of 21 specialist cargo handling terminals in 15 major gateway ports across Australia and in a dedicated terminal in Los Angeles.
It operates a fleet of 11 freighter aircraft to supplement capacity to key import and export destinations in Australia and around the world.
The aircraft operate a mix of scheduled and charter services, including seven weekly services from Australia to China, five weekly services between China and the USs and 37 nightly inter-capital Australian domestic services.
The wider group changes see the revised management team put under the leadership of Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce.
As a result of the new structure the current chief executive of Qantas International, Simon Hickey, and chief executive of Qantas Domestic, Lyell Strambi, have decided to leave the airline.
Said the national flag carrier: “This represents a flatter structure for the broader Qantas Group executive team, with the positions of deputy CFO, QantasLink CEO and Qantas Airways chief operating officer not being replaced.
“Transition to the new structure will begin in the New Year, with changes finalised by March 2015. The last major restructure of the Qantas Executive Committee was in May 2012.”

Source :  http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/qantas-management-reshuffle.html

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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 saw a number cargo tonnage increases during November, including a 41.3 per cent rise in cargo to Mexico, a 37.6 per cent increase to Brazil, 20.0 per cent to India and 13.3 per cent to Turkey.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/heathrow-volumes-rise-in-november.html

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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 has continued its steady recovery this year. The October figure of almost 14.5bn FTKs surpassed the industry’s all-time peak achieved four years ago.
“We’re seeing growth after a challenging time but we’re facing significant challenges,” Pearce said. IATA heads of cargo foresee a 4.3 per cent increase in volumes to 53.5m tonnes, slightly ahead of this year’s growth rate, but expect further yield erosion.
Air freight yields are now 20 per cent below their 2010 levels, reflecting continued weakness in load factors, and are declining again after some evidence of rate stabilisation mid-year. Pearce said growth in word trade was “half hearted” and business confidence had flat-lined.
Meanwhile, changes in manufacturing patterns could impact on international freight flows. “We are seeing some on-shoring of production for good economic reasons. China has seen a doubling of labour costs in the last 10 years while US energy prices have halved, leading to a renaissance of manufacturing in the US,” he commented.
Pearce also warned of the risks of protectionism, occurring via subtle procurement changes as well as traditional tariff mechanisms. Governments were concerned about protecting jobs at home, but their action risked “shrinking international trade and economic growth for everyone,” he said.
Air’s share of the overall freight market, which fell by 1.5 per cent annually over the first decade of this century, had stabilised since 2012 and air was “becoming more attractive again compared with other modes,” Pearce insisted.
However, the 40 per cent fall in oil prices since mid-2014, while in principle helping airlines control their costs, would not produce an immediate benefit as they would have hedged at least half their fuel requirements at rates north of $90 per barrel.    
“The success of their passenger colleagues also challenges cargo departments,” Pearce said. Load factor had stopped falling and freighter utilisation was increasing, underlining the industry’s ability to matching supply to demand, but he stressed that “lots of new capacity is coming online”.
IATA estimates that aircraft deliveries will increase by six per cent in 2015, putting pressure back on utilisation.

Source :http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/tonnage-up-but-rates-to-shrink-in-2015-says-iata.html

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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 from Athens to Liege will stop in Venice on the northbound leg, departing VCE at 11:00 pm.
Said TNT: “To ensure smooth connections between air and road operations, the air gateway is located in the existing TNT Marcon depot, near Venice. It is TAPA-certified and can handle up to 10 air freight containers (or ULDs) with a loading capacity of 2,000 kg each.”
Opened in 2013, TNT's Marcon depot uses advanced automated scanning and sorting equipment. From February 2015, the air gateway and the depot will use a new, fully automated sorting machine, which will speed up the sorting of export shipments by two hours. This equipment is being rolled out across TNT Italy depots.


Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/tnt-adds-venice-freighter-call.html

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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 is seeking closer links with China having recently entered into a partnership agreement with the country’s largest Bank, ICBC, both to attract future funding and, through ICBC Leasing, to facilitate the purchase of Airbus A321 aircraft.
“We regard the launch of scheduled cargo flights to China as another step in facilitating the development of business links between the two countries,” said Transaero chief executive Olga Pleshakova.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/transaero-launches-cargo-service-to-beijing.html

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