Exclusive – Cologne Cargo Hands Over to Wisskirchen

There was a lot of planning to be done since the official granting of handling rights and the actual takeover date just over two weeks ago.
The airport management (FKB) handed over to Wisskirchen’s Managing Director, Oliver Hellwig at exactly 06:00 hours on the 1st of September.

The move is still somewhat of a novelty in the airport cargo handling scene in Germany.
CBCC’s management along with the airport’s top men decided some time back that they would prefer a long term outsourcing model for the cargo handling division.
It is said that various companies took part in the tender and that the decision to go for Wisskirchen was in the end a unanimous one.

Franz van Hessen, FKB head of cargo is quoted as saying that “this move ensures that the airport has secured long term growth and employment for its general cargo sector.”
It is his belief that the cargo handling division will continue to grow steadily during the coming years.

Extension of Cologne’s CBCC is envisaged  
The agreement reached between FKB and Wisskirchen is in the form of a 30 year concession for the complete cargo handling.
Furthermore, the possible erection of another cargo warehouse by the airport is also part of the deal. This, when built will be situated in the vicinity of the present warehouse and also be run by the Wisskirchen staff.
Costs for a further cargo warehouse extension are estimated at between 15 - 20 million euros.
If this were to be built, then WHS would have capacity to turnover more than 200,000 tons of general cargo per annum at CGN.

Quite some positive plans
The present tonnage turnover runs at around 45,000 tons per annum.
This does not include what is handled separately by Lufthansa Cargo and the integrators UPS, Fedex and DHL, who have their own facilities at the airport.
Total cargo turnover in 2014 was put at almost 755,000 tons.

Oliver Hellwig, Managing Director and owner of Wisskirchen Handling is positive about the future cargo development at the airport and states that “we are proud to have been chosen by Cologne/Bonn airport to run the cargo handling facilities for the coming years.”
He further adds that “the potential is certainly there to attract new cargo carriers to the airport and we will work hand in hand with the FKB management to do all possible to achieve this.
Oliver Hellwig states “that based on experience a 5/7 scheduled wide body rotation (B747F or B777F) equals around 40,000 – 45,000 tons a year.” He adds that “such developments are not unrealistic, we are already considering the construction of an additional cargo terminal (CBCCII).”

Eurowings widebodies can up the tonnage
Oliver Hellwig is excited about the November start-up of the Eurowings widebody flights from CGN.
Hellwig adds that Eurowings will operate to destinations in the Caribbean, Dubai, Thailand and possibly later to cities within the USA.
The Eurowings flights will be operated by Airbus A330 aircraft taken from Lufthansa’s fleet and Hellwig is convinced that with their average belly hold capacity of 15-18 tons per flight, that considerable new tonnage in and out will be generated.

Both managers agree that there is still a lot of work to be done on refining systems, expanding the infrastructure in order to continue meeting the demands of present and future clients.
Both WHS and FKB are already working on various concepts for the development of tailored customer solutions.
This planning runs under the “Warehouse of Excellence” program which was recently initiated.

Mr Hellwig emphazises that they seriously want to offer the trade a simple and transparent price, quality and service product.
He adds that “the goal is to continue being faster and more efficient than other cargo handling entities.”

John Mc Donagh