SHORT SHOTS

Budapest honours Cargolux as best cargo carrier
“Best Performing Cargo Airline” - this was the award given to Cargolux by Budapest Airport at a ceremony held on 8 February in the Hungarian capital. Tony McNichol, Cargolux Regional Director Central Europe received the award on behalf of the Luxembourg-based all cargo airline. Budapest Airport recognised Cargolux for their contribution to the airport’s record breaking year 2017 for cargo volumes. The carrier transported almost 11,000 tons of cargo to and from Budapest during the past year. This was a 14.5% increase over the previous year.
Tony McNichol stated upon receiving the award that: “We are honoured and proud to receive this award - it is a great recognition of our efforts to offer the Hungarian air freight community the best possible service.” Budapest Airport handled a total of just on 130,000 tons in 2017 - a 13.4% increase on 2016 figures. The new Cargo City which is being erected is expected to be operational by 2019.

Roses are red for LH Cargo…
Valentines Day is now behind us hopefully many women around the world have been showered with red roses. Lufthansa Cargo has flown quite a few freighters for this special day, all filled to the top with red roses. In total, 800 tonnes of the “Queen of Flowres” were flown into LH Cargo’s Frankfurt main hub. They originated mainly from Kenya and South America. The 800 tonnes equate to the capacity offered on eleven MD-11 freighter flights. The carrier has a thriving year-round business of transporting flowers and perishables under their Fresh product label from Africa and South America. Their freighter fleet is equipped with special temperature controlled systems which can be quickly adjusted to cater for ideal temperature needed for the transport of sensitive products.

… and for many other freight carriers as well
Among them is AFKLMP Cargo that flew nearly 3,000 tons of flowers from Latin American and African production sites to Europe on board their Boeing 747-400F and 747 Combi aircraft. On the occasion, Marcel de Nooijer, Executive Vice President AIR FRANCE KLM MARTINAIR Cargo stated: “We are strongly committed to the flower market and successfully met seasonal peak flower demand again for this year’s Valentine’s Day.”
To move flowers and plants seamlessly from growers to wholesalers, Royal FloraHolland, Schiphol Cargo and AFKLMP Cargo have initiated the ‘Holland Flower Alliance’ – an ambitious group of floricultural logistics professionals, dedicated to the pursuit of innovation and sustainability in the floral supply chain.

CARGOLUX is traditionally involved in the run-up to Valentine’s Day as well, adding to its weekly 20 flights out of Nairobi, Quito and Bogota another 1,200 tons to meet consumer demand. “We are operating a modern fleet which has the state-of-art thermal capabilities, in order to guarantee the reliable transport of flowers to lovebirds around the world,” says Stavros Evangelakakis, Cargolux product manager for fresh and temperature controlled commodities.

On the same occasion, LATAM Cargo flew more than 9,500 tons of flowers from Colombia and Ecuador to Miami, Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
“This holiday, we once again surpassed last year’s record peak. The figures are a testament to LATAM Cargo’s leadership in the region and reflects the trust customers have placed in our ‘Perishable’ service, which ensures the highest standards during the entire shipping process so that products reach their final destination in perfect condition,” stated Felipe Caballero, Commercial Vice President for Central and North America, LATAM Cargo.
 
time:matters celebrates 10 years of Spare Parts Logistics
Frankfurt based time:matters Spare Parts Logistics Division, a daughter company of time:matters Ltd, looks back on ten years of service of offering tailored spare parts supply solutions within their own European flight network as well as a global partner network. The company is proud of its overnight delivery of essential spare parts within almost all European regions by latest 8 am the following day.
The division was set up in 2007 when time:matters won the tender from Siemens Healthcare and Fujitsu-Siemens and flew the first shipment on 17. December 2007. In the early stages the service was only on offer to customers in Italy and Scandinavia. This was extended to France and the UK and in the meantime overnight deliveries are possible in Spain, Greece, Russia and all of the baltic region. The service is especially popular with producers of agricultural equipment as well as medical technology, the automotive sector and IT companies.

John Mc Donagh / Heiner Siegmund