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4

TIACA makes appointments

IATA CEO TO rETIrE In junE

PHArMA THE KEY TO SuCCESS

COluMbuS rOuTE MEETIngExPECTATIOnS

WFS lOOKIng TO FurTHEr ExPAnD glObAl PrESEnCE

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals

7

9

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THE INTERNATIONAL AIR CARGO AS-SOCIATION (TIACA) has appointed Warren Jones as director, as it moves to strengthen its sales team.

Jones will report to Doug Brittin, secretary general of TIACA, and will be based at the organisation’s Miami headquarters.

As director, Jones will focus primar-ily on TIACA’s sales initiatives. He will also manage other elements of TIACA’s commercial development programmes and operations.

He brings 18 years of air cargo expe-rience to his new role, and was most recently president of cargo network services at the International Air Trans-port Association (IATA).

Also joining TIACA as business development manager is Kenneth Gib-son, who has previously worked for IATA, Kerry Logistics, and World Fuel Services.

“Warren’s extensive experience and industry knowledge and Kenneth’s background within airfreight will be tremendous assets as we focus on our three pillars of advocacy, networking, and knowledge,” says Brittin.

Jettainer has been selected to manage and maintain unit load device (ULD) pallets and containers for Canadian carrier WestJet.

The ULD outsource management company announced the news at the Air Cargo Han-dling (ACH) Conference in Bangkok from 1-3 September.

Operations are to start in conjunction with the inaugural flight of the carrier’s first wide-body service, which will allow the airline to serve Europe and other regions of the world from Canada on a non-stop basis.

WestJet will utilise a mixture of nearly 400 pallets and containers. They will come into operation on flights of the first of four Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft, which has been delivered to WestJet. Additional units will be added con-

tinuously as the carrier’s fleet is expanded.Jettainer managing director, Carsten Hernig,

says: “By signing with this Canadian airline, we were first of all able to further strengthen our position in the Americas, one of our most important growth markets.”

The deal continues the investment in North America by Jettainer, which has taken over the

ULD management for American Airlines and KF Aerospace.

Hernig continues: “This new contract also confirms our aim at approaching low-cost car-riers and leisure airlines, which are expanding their product portfolio, for example in terms of adding widebody aircraft to their fleets in order to serve long-haul destinations.”The ULD management firm also announced at ACH, that it has joined the board of ULD Care. Jettainer director of operations, Michael Popp, will help work on the further development and standardisation of ULD processes at the organisation. The firm will also take part in the International Air Transport Association’s designated ULD Panel through Popp, who rep-resents the airlines Lufthansa and Swiss.

Demand softens in Asia PacificA

sia Pacific airfreight markets softened in July reflecting a slow-down in world trade activity and weakening

demand for the region’s exports, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

The region’s air cargo market has along with the Middle East been a beacon of growth in the industry, but demand has been hit by China’s slower economic growth over the last few months.

Preliminary traffic figures for the month released last week by AAPA show demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) fell by 2.2 per cent year-on-year (YOY) to 5.35 billion, compared to 5.4 bil-lion that was recorded in the same month last year.

Capacity measured in available freight tonnes kilometres (AFTK) rose by 2.9 per cent YOY to 8.63 billion, up on the 8.39 billion reg-istered in July 2014.

The association says these fig-ures led to a YOY freight load factor fall of 3.2 percentage points for the average freight load factor, which

was 62.1 per cent for July.AAPA director general, Andrew

Herdman, says: “On the freight side of the business, air cargo demand began the year quite strongly but has lost momentum as a result of a slowdown in global trade and weaker demand for Asian exports.

“For the January - July period, the region’s carriers reported a 3.5 per cent increase in international air cargo demand, down from the 5.3 per cent growth recorded in 2014.”

Herdman adds: “Whilst demand for air travel remains robust, the weak cargo markets high-light some wider concerns about downside risks to the global mac-roeconomic outlook, including the effects of slower growth in China, exaggerated currency movements and stock market volatility, that could affect both business con-fidence and consumer demand going forward.”

The FTK figure in July was slightly up on the 5.34 in June, but slightly down on the 5.4 billion in May, but up on the 5.3 billion in April, and down on March, when

FTK was 5.9 billion. It was up on February and January, when FTK was 4.8 billion and 5.1 billion, respectively.

The AFTK figure in July is the highest monthly figure achieved by carriers in the region so far this year, as was above the 8.3 billion in June, the 8.5 billion in May, the 8.4 billion in April, the 8.6 billion in March, the 7.4 billion in Febru-ary and the 8.3 billion achieved in January.

Demand for the first seven months of 2015 rose compared to the same period last year. FTK is up

3.5 per cent to 37.3 billion. AFTK is up by 4.5 per cent to 58.5 billion. The average freight load factor for the first seven months of 2015 was 63.9 per cent, which is a 0.6 percentage point fall on the same seven months in 2014.

There are some positives for carriers in Asia Pacific, as Herd-man says they are enjoying lower oil prices. He adds airlines are focused on achieving further cost savings and operational efficien-cies, to deliver improved levels of profitability to support future investment.

jettainer announces ulD deal at bangkok conference

Volume: 18 Issue: 35 7 September 2015

NEWSWEEK

Q atar Airways Cargo has designed and implemented a new cargo management system called CROAMIS to manage its end-to-end airline cargo busi-

ness processes.The single system will run the carrier’s

cargo reservations, operations, account-ing and management information system, serving the airline’s entire global freight network, which it says is designed to scale with the future growth expected.

CROAMIS was developed in-house by Qatar Airways through an innovative co-funded model with global IT services provider Wipro.

The integrated system enables compre-hensive automation of the airline’s core business functions and supports collabo-rative operations across the airline’s cargo supply chain.

The system incorporates the latest prac-tices in business functions including sales, pricing, cargo ground handling, and unit load device management.

CROAMIS also provides an integrated revenue management module for inven-tory management, cargo load and revenue optimisation and also has a robust revenue accounting suite.

It has been developed using platform

independent state-of-the-art technology, which facilitates modular deployment and is also cloud ready.

Qatar Airways chief officer for cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann, explains the system provides 100 per cent coverage of all cargo business functions in a single application.

“CROAMIS will align our end-to-end cargo business processes and provide the entire global cargo network with a seam-less system that will support our projected growth,” Ogiermann adds.

2

New cargo system rolled out by Qatar

EMIRATES AIRLINE took delivery on 3 September of a Boe-ing 777 Freighter and two 777-300ERs.

These aircraft arrivals mark the 150th 777 into Emirates’ fleet. The carrier is the largest operator of the aircraft. Boeing says it is the first time in 15 years it has delivered three 777s at one time to a single customer.

Emirates now has 13 777 Freighters, which is capable of flying 4,900 nautical miles (9,070 kilometres) with a full payload at general cargo market densities.

The range capability translates into significant savings for cargo operators through fewer stops and associated landing fees, less congestion at transfer hubs, lower cargo handling costs and shorter cargo delivery times.

Emirates president, Sir Tim Clark, says the 777s give the airline range, reliability, and flexibility to efficiently serve close to 100 destinations on six continents.

Emirates receives Boeing freighter

Cargo climbs steeply in DubaiCARGO volumes at Al Maktoum International Airport – Dubai World Central (DWC) – rose by 42 per cent in the first half of 2016, interim figures show.

Volumes for the six months to 30 June 2015 hit 443,012 tonnes, the airport says. This performance nudges DWC further up the ranks of top cargo airports. In 20th position earlier this year, DWC now sits in 19th place.

According to Dubai Airports, the robust growth in cargo volumes is due to their decision relocate all dedicated freighters from Dubai International Airport to DWC in May last year.

Aircraft movements at DWC came to 20,866 in the first half of 2015, down 17 per cent from the 25,184 move-ments in the same period last year.

“The story is only just beginning for DWC but the early results continue to impress,” said Paul Griffiths, chief ex-ecutive officer of Dubai Airports.

“The airport is quickly emerging as an important cargo hub and with the addition of 70 weekly flydubai flights to seven new destinations in October we expect the airport to soon establish itself as an important gateway to the Middle East.”

Once flydubai operations commence this October, DWC will offer bellyhold cargo through a total of 190 weekly flights to 17 destinations.

When completed, DWC will, Dubai Airports says, be the world’s largest airport, and able to handle 16 million tonnes of cargo a year.

ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

NEWSWEEK

3ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

T he Airports Council International (ACI World) has released the latest edition of the World Airport Traf-fic Report for 2014 and says cargo volumes rose after three years of

stagnation.The airport association says worldwide air-

port cargo increased by 4.7 per cent last year to 102 million tonnes, with positive levels of growth across all six regions.

ACI World director general, Angela Gittens, says: “Despite the uneven recovery in the global economy, there was a net increase in global demand for foreign goods and commodities in 2014. The overall flow of exports and imports by sea, land and air, measured by world trade volumes in goods and services, has grown. The American economic rebound and the rise in consumer spending helped stimulate major exporters of high-tech goods such as tablets, laptops and mobile phones.

“This helped awaken the air cargo market in

the last quarter of 2013 and into 2014 after sev-eral years of sluggish growth.”

ACI says airports in Asia Pacific handled the most cargo during 2014 with 40.5 million tonnes, up 6.3 per cent over 2013, North Amer-ica carried 28.9 million tonnes, up three per cent, Europe handled 18.4 million tonnes, up 3.2 per cent, the Middle East 7.4 million tonnes,

up 9.2 per cent, Latin America-Caribbean five million tonnes, up 0.6 per cent and Africa 1.9 million tonnes, up 5.1 per cent.

ACI says the world’s air cargo market is highly concentrated, with the top 30 air cargo hubs handling 53 per cent of global cargo volumes.

Hong Kong International Airport (pictured)and Memphis International Airport remain the busiest airports in terms of air cargo traffic (4.4 and 4.3 million metric tonnes of cargo respec-tively). The two Shanghai airports handled 3.6 million tonnes combined, taking third position.

The world’s busiest airports for international freight were Hong Kong, followed by Incheon International Airport with 2.5 million tonnes, up 3.3 per cent over 2013 and Dubai Interna-tional Airport with 2.5 million tonnes, up 3.1 per cent.

The busiest airports for domestic freight were Memphis, which handled four million tonnes, Louisville Airport with 1.8 million tonnes and Beijing International Airport with one million.

Global cargo volumes up last year after stagnation

TRANSAERO AIRLINES has seen its cargo traffic recov-er in July after the earlier decline amid the economic headwinds.

The Russian carrier reports it delivered 5,742 tonnes of cargo in the month, a three per cent increase on July last year. Revenue cargo tonne kilometres grew to 31,837,600, which was a rise of one per cent on July 2014.

Transaero carried most of the cargo on domestic routes, which made up 4,500 tonnes in July, a four per cent growth from the same month last year. The airline primari-ly ensures cargo deliveries to Russia’s far east.

The carrier’s cargo traffic on international routes reached 1,200 tonnes, which corresponds to the same results in July 2014.

Transaero is one of Russia’s top three largest cargo carriers and transports cargo and mail in the holds of its passenger aircraft as well as using a Tupolev Tu-204-100 cargo aircraft.

Transaero’s cargo recovers

WorldNewsQATAR AIRWAYS will reinstate its non-stop flights to Nagpur (India) from 1 December this year.The carrier says it is part of its ongo-ing expansion and commitment to the Indian market. Qatar Airways had pre-viously served Nagpur from September 2007 to May 2009. Qatar Airways will operate a daily Airbus 320 between Doha and Nagpur.

DELTA AIR LINES has appointed Alan Lavender as area sales manager for its UK cargo division.He will oversee the airline’s cargo con-tribution, working with the in-country general sales agent (GSA) as the pri-mary contact for Delta’s key and local accounts in the UK.Lavender joins from Cathay Pacific Air-ways where he spent about 10 years.

Aeroflot sees improvementsAEROFLOT has had a sound first half, with a strong perfor-mance from its cargo division, thanks to stronger yields.

Figures released this week by the Russian carrier show cargo revenues rose by 16.3 per cent year-on-year (YOY), from 3,819 million Rubles ($56.4 million) to 4,442 mil-lion rubles. This growth was achieved, the Russian carrier says, despite a one per cent fall in cargo volumes in the first half of 2015.

Aeroflot Group revenue rose by 25.8 per cent YOY, up from 140,281 million rubles to 176,467 million rubles. The operating profit was 5,866 million rubles, compared with an operating loss of 1,384 million rubles for the same period last year. The interim report showed a net loss of 3,541 million rubles.

Operating costs increased by 20.4 per cent to 170,601 million rubles. Aircraft maintenance costs rose by 41.3 per cent, while operating lease expenses leapt by 71.5 per cent. Aeroflot spent 44,714 million rubles on aircraft fuel in the six months to 30 June 2015, an increase of 11.1 per cent.

“In the first half of 2015, Aeroflot Group strengthened its position as the leader in the Russian air transportation market with a 5.8 percentage point increase in market share”, says Shamil Kurmashov, Aeroflot deputy chief executive officer for finance and network and revenue management.

NEWSWEEK

4 ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

Asia slowdown impacts Schiphol

CARGO tonnage passing through Amster-dam Airport Schiphol dipped in the first half of the year mainly as a result of a de-cline in volumes from Asia and Europe.

Schiphol, Europe’s third busiest cargo gateway, handled 784,567 tonnes in the first six months of 2015, down 2.1 per cent on 2014. It says the latest figures were mainly impacted by declines in Asia traffic led by China (down 3.8 per cent at 293,293 tonnes) and Europe (down 16.2 per cent to 64,198 tonnes).

Other regions held up and bright spots included North America where traffic rose 4.7 per cent in the period to 150,494 tonnes, while Latin America was up 4.8 per cent to 84,482 tonnes. Middle East traffic was down 3.4 per cent at 103,243 tonnes, and Africa was marginally down (0.1 per cent) at 88,860 tonnes.

Freighter movements rose 1.4 per cent to 8,218 in the same period and the cargo hub’s best recorded month in the first half of the year was March, with a total of

139,597 tonnes.Schiphol’s director of cargo, Jonas van

Stekelenburg, says: “It is disappointing we have not so far seen some growth again in 2015 but, given the current softness of our major Chinese market, the tonnages are better than we might have expected.

“The weakness of the Russian econ-omy also impacted one of our biggest flower markets, affecting exports around Valentine’s Day and other events in their calendar when flowers are given.”

With tonnages for 2015 still up 6.5 per cent on 2013, Stekelenburg maintains the figures are better than they might ap-pear because the comparison is against a very strong first half of 2014 when growth topped 7.2 per cent. “Our ongoing drive to innovate and improve processes at Schiphol, and the proactive work we are undertaking to develop new trade lanes and vertical clusters, should continue to insulate us against the worst effects of slowing economies,” Stekelenburg adds.

Boeing has completed the configuration of the 777-9, the first member of its new 777X family, which is set to boost cargo capabilities.

The aircraft manufacturer says the basic design has been established, and configura-tion trade studies completed. Wind tunnel test results, aerodynamic performance and struc-tural loads have also been evaluated.

Their completion allows the 777X team to begin detailed design of parts, assemblies and other systems for the aircraft. As detailed designs are completed and released, produc-tion can begin. Boeing says that it is on track to deliver the first 777-9 in 2020.

“The program is right where we want it to be,” says Bob Feldmann, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of the 777X programme. “We have an airplane and production system that are on track and on schedule, and we remain laser focused on meeting our commitments to our customers.”

The 777X family includes the 777-8 and the 777-9, which provide significant range, payload and fuel burn advantages, according to Boeing.

The 777X will be the largest and most effi-cient twin-engine jet in the world, with 12 per cent lower fuel consumption and 10 per cent lower operating costs than the competition.

According to Boeing, the 777X team has worked closely with airline customers and key suppliers to reach this stage.

“It’s great to see the airlines and industry team side-by-side with us as we achieve this important milestone,” says Feldmann. “The team has followed a disciplined process to com-plete all of the requirements for this stage of the program.”

The 777X program has received orders and commitments for 320 aircraft from six customers worldwide. Production is set to begin in 2017.

Boeing hits configuration milestone

IATA CEO toretire in JuneTHE International Air Transport Associ-ation (IATA) is searching for a new chief executive officer (CEO) after Tony Tyler an-nounced he will retire next June after five years in the post.IATA says it expects to appoint a successor at its June 2016 annual general meeting in Dublin, Ireland.

Tyler was previously chief executive of Ca-thay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong, in which capacity he also served on the IATA board of governors and as chairman before joining IATA as CEO in 2011. As well as the CEO, he is also director general of IATA.

“It has been a great privilege and respon-sibility to lead IATA and I am proud of what

the IATA team has achieving during my term of office,” Tyler says.

“I remain fully committed to leading IATA until a successor is appointed and appreci-ate the widespread support of colleagues, the board of governors and membership at large,” Tyler adds.

IATA represents 260 airlines in 117 coun-tries, which is 83 per cent of air traffic.

Turkish Cargo says it is using its “geographic and network advantage” to make several investments to improve its pharmaceutical services.

The carrier tells Air Cargo Week (ACW) the trans-portation of pharma is “highly important both due to

humanitarian and commercial reasons”. The airline explains the yields that moving pharma brings is

higher than general cargo and why it is further expanding its pharma capabilities.

Istanbul, where its main hub is located, is in a prime position to provide rapid connection between the pharmaceutical producers and consumers.

Turkish Cargo explains to ACW: “We are growing our Temp-Control business in a variety of ways: expanding our network, offering new product options, making new containers available and enhancing the efficiency of our operational processes and our customer service.”

The Turkish carrier opened a new cargo facility in January 2015 at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, which has an annual tonnage of 1.2 million tonnes and is now handling an increasing amount of pharma through specialist temperature-controlled facilities. The facility covers a total space is 67,000 square metres.

“We handle temperature sensitive products in temperature controlled areas in our warehouse according to branded Pharma Program and Warehouse Storage Instruction.

“We provide some special equipments like thermal blankets using with cooler blocks, we can provide ACT containers and accept shipments in containers if shipper or forwarder demands so. In case of delay or any irregularity we provide dry ice supple-mentation service,” the carrier explains.

Turkish Cargo’s services include remote temperature and humidity tracking using smart sensors, ability to report the shipments stored within time range at specific cool storage, temperature and humidity values of cold chain storage areas. Facilities are monitored through an automated system called Telemetry.

The carrier says it has further improved its handling capabil-ity of pharma cargo to make the process transparent, reliable, and temperature-controlled. “We standardised and aligned the pharma handling process. We already have a tracking system on our website and capability of remote temperature and humidity tracking using smart sensors.”

Turkish cargo recently inaugurated a new 3,000 square metre special cargo storage area and now has 39 separate special cargo rooms. The carrier has signed agreements with temperature con-trolled container providers and is planning to provide ACT for customers especially for freighter destinations in 2015.

The airline says it is also planning to launch new products for pharma cargo shipments this year.

Pharma investments for Turkish

5ACW 7 september 2015

PHARMA NEWS ROUND-UP

Container deal signed by UnitedUNITED CARGO has signed a global rental agreement with temperature-controlled container specialist va-Q-tec.

United Cargo’s TempControl customers will be able to choose from five sizes of va-Q-tainer containers: Half Euro, Eurox, USx, XLx and TWINx. TWINx is the newest va-Q-tainer unit and can accommodate two pallets inside. All rentals will be handled by United’s centralised 24/7 control tower team, who are responsible for managing each shipment.

United plans an October launch date for the new va-Q-tainer rentals. This is the first time a North American carrier has itself announced the availability of these containers.

TempControl product development and marketing man-ager, Krisha Kucharski, says: “These va-Q-tainer units allow us to transport shipments at temperatures from -50°C up to +25 °C – the widest range we have ever offered our cus-tomers. As the bio-pharma transport industry expands into new markets, these units will enable us to better utilise our narrow-body aircraft and reach more destinations more quickly.”United has 50 certified TempControl locations worldwide.

MNX GLOBAL LOGISTICS has opened a facility with tem-perature-controlled capabilities located just outside of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol that will serve as the compa-ny’s operations and warehousing hub for life sciences and medical device customers in Europe.

The facility’s capacity exceeds 1,300 square metres with the option to expand by an additional 1,700 square metres when needed.

The hazard analysis and critical control points and good distribution practice compliant facility was designed to ex-ceed the, “highest standards in the handling and movement of critical biopharmaceutical, radiopharmaceutical and medical device shipments,” MNX explains.

The facility has minus 20 degrees Celsius, two to eight degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius temperature con-trolled storage with 24/7 monitoring.

Life sciences hub for MNX

ACW 7 september 2015 6

T he logistics community at Amster-dam Airport Schiphol has launched a new project, the ‘Milk Run’. It aims to optimise the inbound supply chain at the airport, while reducing CO2

emissions, by streamlining the delivery of import shipments from handling agents to for-warders’ warehouses.

Currently undergoing proving trails, the new Milk Run concept would replace forwarders’ own truck collections from all handling agents with a single delivery from the handling agent to multiple forwarders’ facilities.

This would dramatically reduce truck traffic on and around the airport, hopefully leading to shorter truck queues. This, in turn, would improve service for forwarders, release their vehicles and drivers for other more profitable activities, and cut CO2 emissions, the project stakeholders say.

The launch partners – who have co-funded the initiative – are DHL, Panalpina, Nippon Express, Menzies (as the handling agent trial-ist and scheme manager), Bos Logistics (which provides the collection and delivery service on behalf of Menzies) and community system pro-vider Cargonaut. Ten more forwarders have agreed to take part in subsequent trials.

The Milk Run system will feature an online portal enabling participants to monitor their shipments from before arrival at Schiphol up until delivery to the forwarder’s door. It is hoped that this will give greater transparency to the import process.

“This is yet another example of how the Schiphol community’s close collaboration enables progress to be made that no individ-ual party could accomplish on its own. This is as important as the early results, which inci-dentally look very promising,” says Cargonaut commercial director, Luc Sheidel.

The number of vehicle movements used to handle the import traffic between the partic-ipants has fallen by 30 per cent to date. Load factors have grown from an average 25 per cent to over 60 per cent. The Milk Run pilot will run until the end of 2015, when a full evaluation will take place. If the trial is considered a success,

the eventual aim is to operate a similar facility for export cargo.

Panalpina World Transport business unit manager for Amsterdam, Dimitri Brink, explains: “We wanted to be involved in the Milk Run as we are keen to support any initiative that saves time and improves efficiency in the airfreight supply chain. The Milk Run is already exceeding our expectations, freeing up our vehi-cles and drivers, and giving us earlier access to import freight.”

“If this success can be extended to all imports through Schiphol, it will score yet another advantage for the airport in its role as a major gateway for Europe.”

Schiphol, Europe’s third busiest cargo gate-way, handled 784,567 tonnes in the first six months of 2015, down 2.1 per cent on 2014. It says the latest figures were mainly impacted by declines in China (down 3.8 per cent) and Europe (down 16.2 per cent).

Other regions held up in the first six months and bright spots included North America where traffic rose 4.7 per cent in the period to 150,494 tonnes, while Latin America was up 4.8 per cent to 84,482 tonnes. Middle East traffic was down 3.4 per cent at 103,243 tonnes, and Africa was marginally down (0.1 per cent) at 88,860 tonnes.

The airport’s cargo director. Jonas van Ste-kelenburg, says it is disappointing there has been no growth in 2015.

Schiphol streamlines import logistics via new projectNETHERLANDS

CEVA LOGISTICS is investing heavily in the Netherlands, keeping one eye on the envi-ronment as it looks to future growth.

The global logistics specialist is ‘in the final stages of connecting to wind energy sources to provide the necessary electric-ity to operate our sites’, CEVA executive vice president Benelux, Bart Beeks, tells Air Cargo Week.

“We are planning to provide our services in the Netherlands on a more environmen-tally-friendly, eco-neutral basis”, he says.

The past three years have seen CEVA open no fewer than six locations in the Netherlands: Venray 1 and 2, Born 1 and 2, Roosendaal 2 - an extra warehouse ad-jacent to the current site - and gateway (at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol). These new locations have added around 150,000 square metres to CEVA’s portfolio, Beeks says, and the company’s presence in the Netherlands continues to grow.

“We have recently opened a first line location at Amsterdam Schiphol, located directly adjacent to the ramp. This direct ac-cess substantially shortens the transit time of air cargo between aircraft and terminal - an attractive advantage for our customers,

particularly in the pharma and perishables sectors”, he adds.

CEVA’s commitment to the Netherlands is an indication of how good a place it is to do business. Beeks says that, generally speak-ing, “the Dutch workforce is well educated, fluent in English and with a good knowledge of other foreign languages, has considerable expertise in logistics flows and possesses a healthy dose of entrepreneurship”.

“These are all attributes that are of value to our company and our customers. In the Netherlands we have a business environ-ment which is very interesting for foreign companies, with a supportive government, and Customs that sees itself as a trade fa-cilitator,” he adds.

CEVA investing and looks to the environment

7ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

Pharma the key to success

GLOBAL logistics specialist Rhenus is one of the key partners in the e-Fast Delivery project, launched earlier this year to simplify the cargo delivery process.

Working with AIR FRANCE KLM MARTINAIR Cargo and Cargonaut, Rhenus has come up with a new e-Link system that allows truck drivers to deliver air cargo di-rectly to designated loading docks at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, without first stopping at the documentation desk.

The system sends an automatic message to the ware-house management system. This in turn enables the handler to check that the shipment is secure, paperless, and ready for carriage. On arrival at the KLM Cargo area, the drivers scan an ACN card – if it shows that the ship-ment meets all three of these conditions, they can drive straight to the loading dock.

“By switching to e-freight, the delivery process for ship-ment is arranged more efficiently and is less error-prone. It saves time, not only for the customer but also the air-line and forwarder”, says Rhenus chief operating officer for airfreight in Europe, Peter Pasman. He adds: “This innovative concept is just one of the e-Freight develop-ments to which Rhenus is strongly dedicated.”

Rhenus has a number of other initiatives underway. Among these are different projects which aim to increase efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions, says Pasman – in-cluding the Milk Run initiative at Schiphol, which Rhenus joined on 1 September. The firm will also take a proactive role “in developments regarding Customs, safety and se-curity,” he adds.

PILOT FREIGHT SERVICES is looking towards America to bring onboard new clients.

The firm’s chief executive officer, Richard Phillips, tells Air Cargo Week: “As we are now well established in the Netherlands, and as the US and European economies are bouncing back, we are seeing more and more oppor-tunities with American companies looking to establish a footprint in the European markets and looking for options to establish warehousing and distribution in Europe.”

Pilot Netherlands is perfect for US firms due to its cen-tral location, with major markets such as France, the UK and Germany all just a few hours away, he says.

Phillips adds that US origin import air and ocean cargo is still Pilot’s specialty. The company has invested heavily in its export processes in the last year, he explains.

“Consequently our export air to the US has grown

substantially.”Like many companies operating in the air cargo sector

in the Netherlands, Pilot Freight Services benefits from the country’s well-educated workforce. Phillips says: “At the core of our operation in the Netherlands is a team of talented people dedicated to giving our customers the same level of flexibility, service and reliability they have grown accustomed to at Pilot.”

He also mentions the rapid pace at which Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been expanding in recent years, to the extent that it is now number three in Europe for cargo traffic and tonnage, after Frankfurt and Paris.

Phillips says the paperless movement is gathering speed in the Netherlands. Import, export and transporta-tion documents are on the way out. Electronic air waybills (eAWB), and e-pouches are fast becoming a reality.

Rhenus backs e-freight push and aims to reduce emissions

Pilot aims to capitalise on interest in the US market

NETHERLANDS

T he focus in the Netherlands remains firmly on pharma, but stakeholders still need to up the ante, according to Robert Kleppers (pictured right), senior sales executive of air cargo, at Jan de Rijk Logistics.

He explains that air cargo and logistics firms “need to get their act together or lose the business” which is what his firm is focusing on.

But Kleppers tells Air Cargo Week that pharma is becoming more difficult to transport, as regulations become increas-ingly strict. “Companies must qualify or lose the business. They must be best in class,” he says.

Jan de Rijk Logistics was one of the first supply chain ser-vices that was awarded the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) new CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) pharma certification.

The certification, which it attained earlier this year, indi-cates that a cargo handler has demonstrated the best possible protocols in handling temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical and life-sciences materials, and has adequate equipment, storage facilities, and knowledge of the pharma-handling business.

Kleppers also stresses that communication is key to the continued success of the air cargo sector in the Netherlands. Lots of good facilities are already in place at Amsterdam Air-port Schiphol, but they need to be better communicated to stakeholders, he believes.

Kleppers says: “We need closer communication. It needs to be more widely known that these capabilities are available.”

One of the best ways to promote the availability of these

facilities, Kleppers says, is by bringing stakeholders together. That way, he believes, they will discover com-mon ground and begin to develop new supply chains.

Jan de Rijk Logis-tics continues to gain new road feeder ser-vice contracts and has signed an agreement with Xiamen Airlines. From 26 July, Xiamen Airlines started flying three times a week from Xia-men (China) to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and will move cargo across Europe from flights.

Jan de Rijk chief executive officer, Sebastiaan Scholte, says: “We are excited about the new relationship with Xiamen Air-lines and we look forward to be their future partner in their ambitious growth plans.”

In April. Virgin Atlantic Cargo also awarded a new three-year road contract to Jan de Rijk, extending its delivery network to over 50 airports across Europe.

The majority of cargo arriving in London flights is destined for the main airport hubs in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris, which are served by next morning deliveries from the UK.

Working with Jan de Rijk means the UK airline, which has its main hub at Heathrow Airport, can now offer customers destinations across the continent and Scandinavia.

ACW 7 september 2015 8

T he development of its Zhengzhou hub this year is evi-dence that Cargolux Airlines’ focus remains firmly on China, the carrier tells Air Cargo Week (ACW).

The hub, developed in cooperation with the Henan Civil Aviation Development & Investment Co

(HNCA), the Luxembourg-based cargo airline’s Chinese share-holder, enables Cargolux to offer fast, scheduled road feeder services to 20 Chinese cities, linking Zhengzhou with major industrial and business centres.

The creation of the hub also facilitated the launch of a twice-weekly trans-Pacific service between Zhengzhou and Chicago.

Cargolux president and chief executive officer, Dirk Reich, referred to the new service as a milestone in the development of the company’s Chinese operations. He predicted that it will bring “unique opportunities for shippers and manufacturers on both sides of the Pacific ”.

The Chicago services are expected to increase to four weekly round trips before the end of the year.

Cargolux already operates seven weekly frequencies between Luxembourg and Zhengzhou. In June, the airline launched a Milan

to Zhengzhou service. Flights stop in Novosibirsk (Russia), which make this the first commercial Cargolux service to Russia. Com-modities on the Milan – Zhengzhou route include Italian fashion goods, machinery and mechanical spare parts, Cargolux reports.

More recently, the carrier announced a second service to Chennai (India). This launched in August, and is the result of a partnership between Cargolux and Oman Air.

This is intended to open up new freighter destinations to both Oman Air and Cargolux and to contribute to the development of Oman’s logistics hub.

The partnership expects to build on the success of this service by expanding its airfreight services from Oman to destinations in China, Europe, Africa and the US, Cargolux explains in a state-ment last month.

Cargolux, executive vice president sales and marketing, Niek van der Weide, says: “The importance and value of the cooperation and partnership with Oman Air which made the reintroduction of cargo services to India possible and, effective August 11th, we will go to 2 weekly flights ex Chennai.

“India will be a very important market for Cargolux in the future and we will look at further expansion soon with planned addition of Bombay as a 2nd destination.”

The Cargolux network currently covers 90 destinations, some 70 of which are served on scheduled all-cargo flights.

Cargolux focus remains on the Asian regionWORLD ROUTES

ALL NIPPON AIRLINES (ANA) has launched a new Narita-Bangkok-Jakarta-Narita cargo route.

The new route began operating on 2 September, and was added to ANA’s cargo portfolio to meet “the strong growth in de-mand for air cargo services in the ASEAN region”, the Japanese airline says.

The service will increase the frequency of cargo flights between Narita and Bangkok, and will be ANA’s first ever cargo flight be-tween Bangkok and Jakarta.

The Bangkok - Jakarta flight will be ANA’s first year-round international cargo service between two non-domestic airports.

The Narita - Bangkok - Jakarta - Narita route will fly twice a week from 2 September until 24 October, 2015. From 27 October, it will increase to three flights per week.

It will meet a diverse range of customer

needs by increasing the volume of avail-able cargo space between the airports as demand for air cargo services increases, particularly for goods such as automobile components and fresh produce.

ANA currently operates a network of 43 airfreight routes, consisting of direct flights departing from and arriving at Narita In-ternational Airport and to Kansai airports, along with various routes that fly via ANA’s cargo hub at Okinawa’s Naha Airport.

ANA looks to Asia with additional route

AIR CANADA continues to widen its cargo reach, with a number of new routes in 2015.

The Quebec-headquartered airline’s next new destinations will be Dubai and Delhi, both launching in November. Toronto-Delhi will run four times a week, and Toronto-Dubai will be a three-times weekly service.

Earlier this year, Air Canada launched a year-round direct service between Toronto and Amsterdam, and a seasonal service between Vancouver and Osaka. In June the airline announced increased widebody ca-pacity between Toronto and Los Angeles, with a Boeing 777-200LR operating daily.

The significant increase in the carri-

er’s cargo capacity complements the daily widebody service between Los Angeles and Vancouver, operated with a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

Air Canada extends its reach

E mirates SkyCargo’s new weekly freighter service to Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus (US) is meeting the aims and objectives of the route, the air-line tells Air Cargo Week.

The service uses a Boeing 777 Freighter, with a capac-ity of just over 100 tonnes. The freighter carries a range of goods into Columbus and its surrounding areas, including from high fashion, pharmaceuticals, automotive spares, electronics, and machinery.

“The route has been performing well with good volumes car-ried into Columbus right from the launch of the flights”, says Emirates vice president cargo commercial, Americas, Central and Southern Africa, Duncan Watson (pictured right at Air Cargo India in February).

Watson adds: “Our freighters play a major role in our network strategy, and with the addition of Columbus to our freighter schedule, we have connected businesses in the US mid-west and the rest of our global network through our Dubai hub, thereby improving freight connectivity and creating new opportunities for American companies to reach new markets.”

“Columbus also serves as an ideal alternative point to Chicago where shipments originating in or destined to the mid-west can be trucked much more efficiently.”

Emirates SkyCargo continues to invest in the US and also began services to Orlando (US) on 1 September. The Florida airport is

Emirates’ 11th cargo destination in the US.The Americas market, particularly the US and Central America

is proving a pull for other air cargo operators, as it is one of the regions where growth can be achieved.

Mexico is, and will for the foreseeable future, be a focal point for Pilot Freight Services, according to the firm’s chief executive officer, Richard Phillips. He admits that Mexico is not a new route per se, but explains that the country is continuing to re-establish itself as a major manufacturing and assembly hub for US goods.

“As Chinese manufacturing costs have continued to increase and logistics hurdles, such as port delays, have impacted profits; more companies are looking to Mexico”, Phillips says.

“Many have had some remaining footprint there from years past and are now expanding, others are building new facilities both along the border and in the interior of the country.”

Transportation in Mexico is ‘notoriously uncertain’, according to Phillips, and customers used to Pilot standards in the US are keen to benefit from the same in Mexico.

“We see a real opportunity to bring the level of pipeline visibility importers are accustomed to getting with their Far East-sourced goods, to a market that has traditionally lacked clarity.”

“In the past few years Pilot has invested heavily in our Mexi-can presence. We now operate multiple locations both along the border and in the interior, including our flagship facility in Mexico City. These stations are full Pilot operations, staffed with trained Pilot personnel, working in our IT environment, providing Pilot customers the same level of care they have come to expect from all of our locations.”

Phillips expects to see Pilot’s overall import activity increase. He adds that the with the growing strength of the US dollar, mar-kets such as Australia and the UK, which are not traditionally heavy exporters to the USA, are becoming more commonly seen.

Columbus route meeting expectations for Emirates

9ACW 7 september 2015

WORLD ROUTES

NZ and Cambodia sign agreementNew Zealand and Cambodia have signed an open skies air services agreement.

New Zealand transport minister, Simon Bridges, says the signing of an open skies air services agreement will provide improved air links between the two countries. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, signed the agreement on 19 August. McCully says Asia is important and links with countries help improve New Zealand’s connectivity with the region and boost visitor arrivals.

McCully adds: “We are looking at the possibility of a com-prehensive air services agreement with ASEAN as a whole.” New Zealand is next targeting Laos and Myanmar.

LUFTHANSA CARGO is ‘keeping a close eye on all markets’ but expects China to remain interesting, the carrier says.

Lufthansa Cargo, head of market and network planning, Thomas Quirrenbach, tells Air Cargo Week: “We are flexible and demand-oriented in how we manage our network and we respond quickly to opportunities. In spite of diminishing growth, China will remain an interesting cargo market in the future.”

Quirrenbach says that Lufthansa Cargo is keeping a close watch on every region, and will strengthen its offering wher-ever it expects opportunities. He warns increasing bellyhold capacities are likely to limit growth opportunities for freighters in the future. Lufthansa Cargo will keep its network profitable, he adds. “If demand on certain routes is persistently weak or new routes don’t work out, we respond to this.”

He adds: “Our newest routes are to Santiago (Chile, season-al), Saigon (Vietnam, seasonal), Natal (Brazil) and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan (operated by Aerologic). Performance meets our expectations.”

Lufthansa Cargo added the Natal route to its network in June, to capitalise on the booming fruit sector in north-eastern Brazil. Flights to Brazil support the region’s growing automo-tive sector, carrying Europe-manufactured parts.

China to stay on Lufthansa radar

ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015 10

W orldwide Flight Services (WFS) plans to extend its global footprint through expansion in Asia, Africa and Latin America (LATAM).

WFS group chief operating officer, Barry Nass-berg (pictured), tells Air Cargo Week that this is an exciting time of growth for the company, add-ing its network growth and investments are all being driven by the needs of airline customers.

“Airlines are increasingly looking to handlers to function as an integral element of the supply chain, rather than just an outsourced service provider.

“They are looking for network scale, full scope of activity, and the ability to offer specialised han-dling to support their pharma, perishable and high value products. Their use of the most capa-ble handler on an airport becomes part of their own selling proposition,” Nassberg says.

The cargo handling market is growing, and the industry is consolidating. “This is an opportunity for handlers like WFS which are making a strong commitment to cargo,” says Nassberg.

He admits global expansion is a long-term undertaking with each country presenting a unique business environment. “Successful entry

into new markets takes patience and persever-ance,” he adds.

Nassberg explains: “We are working on net-work expansion to complete a true global offering. This will cover LATAM and Africa, where a number of new acquisitions and organic proj-ects are in development. In Asia we are working on a number of new partnerships.

“In Europe, where we already have a dense network, we are expanding to fill in some of the gaps and complete a full pan-Europe system. We need to be where our customers are and our growth will mirror their own, as more and more carriers develop comprehensive multi-continent networks.”

Alongside expanding its global presence, Nassberg says WFS will continue to show its commitment to much-needed industry changes

that bring opportunities for new efficiencies.: “We’ve been one of the handlers leading the charge for the introduction and implementation of electronic air waybills (e-AWB) working very closely with the airlines.”

“We are also believers in the value of indus-try certifications, which set a high bar and drive consistency and service excellence. So we’re working our way through our network, making the needed investments in facilities, training and systems to achieve these,” he explains.

WFS signalled its ambitions in May with the news it would be accelerating its growth under the planned new ownership of Platinum Equity. Weeks later it announced plans to acquire a 51 per cent shareholding in Fraport Cargo Services. Other WFS investments include the opening of cargo centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and of Swissport’s cargo business at Copenhagen Air-port. WFS also acquired two further cargo terminals at Heathrow Air-port in the last year and, in June was awarded ground handling licenses at five Spanish airports.

WFS looking to further expand global presenceCARGO HANDLING

MENZIES AVIATION credits its large hub and base contract wins in 2014 and 2015 for a sound performance in the first half of 2015.

In its interim report, the Edinburgh-based group says that its cargo handling opera-tions continue to show healthy growth, ‘with strong returns where the market dynamics are good’.

Menzies says the eight per cent year-on-year overall growth in tonnes handled was driven by contract wins in Oceania and from new facilities it operates in Canada.

“Overall, we continue to shape our cargo business to meet market demand. Our re-vised focus on key account management is delivering results thanks to our focus on our strategic objectives and target airlines”, the company said in a statement.

In the first half of 2015 Menzies secured 49 new contract wins.

Among these were Tucson, Cincinnati and Lubbock, all in the US, where Menzies was awarded base airports by United Airlines. Operations at these gateways start in Sep-tember, and they will generate a combined 11,500 additional turns a year.

“We won these awards as part of the first phase of an outsourcing plan and we are

well placed to increase our footprint with United when phases two and three are an-nounced later this year,” Menzies explains.

During the first half of the year, Menzies also renewed its key customer in Colombia, LAN Airlines, for another four years, giving the company a stable platform to improve returns in the region.

In June, Menzies won a contract with Canadian carrier Westjet, which started servicing Glasgow Airport on 30 May. The airline will fly daily until 31 October. This is Menzies’ first Canadian airline contract.

Menzies station manager at Glasgow Air-port, Sharon Robertson, says: “We fought hard to win the contract over Swissport and we’re delighted that they have signed up for a three year contract.”

Americas contracts work for Menzies

Freight Forwarders

11ACW 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

TRADEFINDER

Turkey

Airlines

USA

Industry EventsAZura Productions

Freight Forwarders

Associations

Hong Kong

Jamaica

Spain

Worldwide GermanyUnited Arab Emirates

Charter Brokers

China

NEWSWEEK

Delicate cargos of two contrasting kinds - newly spawned fish from Arc-tic waters and hi-tech industrial laser equipment - have been transported to northern Russia and Japan by Vol-

ga-Dnepr Airlines.More than a million Muksun fish were moved

from a hatchery in St Petersburg to northern Russia. The whitefish are being used to re-pop-ulate the freshwater Ob River basin and were transported in four 2.5 ton water containers

with oxygen tanks to Salekhard on board a Boe-ing 737 Freighter operated by AirBridgeCargo. It is believed to be the first time Muksun’s have flown by air.

To ensure the well-being of the fish, the aircraft’s cargo hold was maintained within a 12-14 degrees Celsius temperature range and they were accompanied by fish breeding experts. Engineers at Volga-Dnepr, developed a special loading plan for the flight and used bespoke equipment to unload the fish in their water containers in Salekhard.

High value industrial laser equipment has also been moved from Orebro in Sweden to Japan on one of Volga-Dnepr’s IL-76TD-90VD freighters. Volga-Dnepr leading engineer, Alexey Stepanov, says: “The 21-ton shipment’s dimen-sions were 3.2m wide and 2.7m high. This cargo was oversize and delicate and needed to be loaded and carried in a temperature environ-ment below 30 degrees Celsius.”

Volga-Dnepr moves fish and lasers

ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT has started the de-propping process for the roof structure of its Midfield Terminal Building (MTB).

By February next year, the 30 supports that currently hold the roof structure will have been removed - a process involv-ing a team of 45 specialists with 60 hydraulic jacks – and the curved roof of the MTB will appear to be floating on 18 steel arches.

“It is truly amazing to witness this great progress,” says H. E. Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports. “We are extremely proud to maintain our track record of achieving key construction milestones safely in spite of the project’s architectural complexity. Currently the whole proj-ect is 55 per cent complete and it is expected to be 70 per cent complete by the end of 2015.”

Abu Dhabi Airports’ MTB, part of a multi-billion dollar infra-structure project, will boost cargo handling capacities.

For the first seven months of 2015, Abu Dhabi handled 483,171 tonnes of freight, an 8.5 per cent year-on-year in-crease on the 445,341 tonnes recorded in 2014.

Abu Dhabi project on track

Saudia Cargo checks in to JFKSAUDI AIRLINES CARGO (Saudia Cargo)has responded to growing demand for its shipping operations by starting a weekly freighter ser-vice between Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and New York’s, John F. Kennedy International Airport from 4 September.

Saudia Cargo’s acting commercial vice pres-ident, Rainer Mueller, describes the move as being designed to “enhance the carrier’s air cargo operations” to and from the US.

“With this added route, Saudia continues to provide its customers the access to greater opportunities in terms of cargo tonnage and future destinations,” Mueller says. “It builds on the capacities already available through the seven weekly passenger and freighter flights to Washington DC, New York and Los Angeles.”

Spanning a rapidly expanding global net-work, Saudia Cargo operates a fleet of

dedicated freighters and sells bellyhold ca-pacity on passenger aircraft for Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier Saudia.

Saudia Cargo has been expanding its freighter links and in June it launched a new direct freighter service between Shanghai (China) and Delhi (India) as part of the carri-er’s continued expansion strategy.

The direct service offers scheduled main deck capacity using a Boeing 747-400 Freight-er aircraft, operating twice weekly.

T he latest Nuna solar car, designed and built by students from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, has been transported by AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) from Amsterdam to Hong Kong on board one of its Boeing

747 Freighter flights.For the first leg of its journey to the 2015 World Solar Challenge

in Australia, the car was packed in a specially designed crate con-taining the vehicle, support equipment and spare parts.

“We are proud to be partners of the Nuon Solar Team and sup-port an innovation that will shape the future of transport,” says Henk-Jan van Keulen, ABC’s general manager in Amsterdam.

“We appreciate our customers’ trust in the reliability of our ser-vices and wish them the best of luck in the race through Australia.”

The World Solar Challenge commenced in 1987 to showcase the development of advanced automotive technology and promote alternatives to conventional vehicle engines.

The 2015 race begins in Australia’s Northern Territory and requires vehicles taking part to drive 3,000 kilometres to southern Australia. It starts in Darwin on 18 October and will end in Ade-laide seven days later.

Solar race car takes flight