SHORT SHOTS

CHEP Aerospace Solutions signs up with Air Caraibes Atlantique
The Zurich-based ULD management company which only recently changed owners, has signed a deal with the French Caribbean airline, Air Caraibes Atlantique. The deal allows CHEP to supply and manage containers and pallets for Air Caraibes fleet of five Airbus A330 aircraft.
The carrier will also add three A350 aircraft to its fleet which are intended for transatlantic operations. CHEP Aerospace Solutions will also supply and manage ULD’s and pallets for those as well.
The agreement runs for a period of four years and also includes Air Caraibes Atlantique switching from their present container fleet over to CHEP’s lightweight containers.
Dr. Ludwig Bertsch, CHEP Aerospace Solutions President said: “Air Caraibes Atlantique will be the first French airline to operate the new generation A350. The group’s ULD needs will double during our partnership and we look forward to supporting their growth.”

Vienna to get additional cargo space
Vienna, Austria’s capital airport is busy expanding their cargo facilities.
The Air Cargo Center which is located within the airport boundaries is being expanded by one-third and will by the end of this year have a further 15,000 sqm space on offer to present and future clients. The extension is costing the airport a total of 16 million euros
Also - “Office Park 4” is the name being given to the planned extension of office buildings at Vienna Airport. It is expected that by early 2020 there will be another 20,000 sqm of office space  available to national and international companies. The cost of this additional space is estimated at around 50 million euros.

Kerry Logistics acquires Germany’s Multi Logistics
The Hong Kong-based Asian logistics service provider, Kerry Logistics, has spread its reach into Germany by acquiring Multi Logistics GmbH, who for the past 30 years have been a specialized media logistics provider. The acquisition will add to and strengthen Kerry’s presence in Germany.
This will give Kerry Logistics a total of seven offices in Germany headed by the regional Frankfurt office and also includes the larger cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Bremen.
Multi Logistics’ service portfolio includes international freight forwarding, door-to-door services, personal support services for film productions, as well as security transport and handling of rental equipment.

Fraport cargo figures up slightly for 2016
Fraport, Germany’s largest airport operator last week released their traffic figures for 2016.
Cargo throughput (including mail) rose by 1.8 percent for the year to some 2.15 million metric tons. A slight increase on 2015 was reached despite the various strikes by Lufthansa pilots which resulted in many flight cancellations - and hence - less cargo flown.
December was also a good cargo month at FRA. Tonnage rose by almost 8% to 188.6 thousand metric tons. The growth was stimulated by a year-end export rush prompted by Germany’s continuing economic growth and to some part by the weak euro versus the U.S. dollar.
Passenger figures surpassed the 60 million mark with almost 61 million moving through the airport.

Japan Airlines / China Airlines codeshare includes cargo
Taiwan’s China Airlines last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Japan Airlines which entails expanding their present codeshare agreement from 28 weekly flights up to a total of 240 flights per week.
The agreement is listed as an enhanced “strategic cooperation on cargo and passenger services” between both carriers. The new codeshare agreement is expected to start as of the end of February 2017.
So far, no details have been released as to how they will codeshare exactly on the cargo sector. Rumours are that the model will be along the lines of the codeshare already being practiced by All Nippon Cargo (ANA) and Lufthansa Cargo between Japan and Europe.

American Airlines ups pharma capacity from San Juan
Dallas / Fort Worth-based American Airlines is to give pharmaceutical customers more capacity between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Philadelphia.
American operates a dedicated 25,000-square-foot pharmaceutical facility at PHL which is utilized for the incoming pharma products and distribution to other areas.
Puerto Rico is said to account for almost 25% of all pharmaceutical and medicine exports from the USA with San Juan itself being listed as one of the largest pharma manufacturing bases worldwide.
The new daily service SJU - PHL will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 passenger jet which offers ample belly space and payload on the relatively short sector flown with this aircraft.
American’s PHL cool centre is currently in the process of being listed as a registered IATA CEIV facility.

John Mc Donagh