
IN BRIEF - THE LATEST AIR CARGO INDUSTRY NEWS
LH Cargo founds ‘heyworld’
“By establishing ‘heyworld’, we are creating a simple and reliable transport solution for the e-commerce sector” - this is how Peter Gerber, Lufthansa Cargo CEO described the latest product his
company offers to their customers.
‘heyworld’ was formed by LH Cargo in order to offer what they term as a custom solution from a single source to meet future customer needs in the e-commerce market in which new standards created
by increased digitisation are needed. The new LH Cargo subsidiary which will also be based in Frankfurt will offer services in the form of what LH Cargo sees as ‘configurable, transparent and
reliable transport solutions designed particularly for online retailers, digital marketplaces, online shop operators and forwarders.’ This will include, say LH Cargo managers, a portfolio which
gives convenient access, fast transport times, a high level of reliability and simple customs clearance procedures - all of which will be embedded into the present Lufthansa Cargo
airport-to-airport cargo services.

Polmans and Gadhia give TIACA new face
It is only a few weeks ago that the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) made it known that Sebastian Scholte would be stepping down as Chairman of TIACA and that Brussels Airport
Company’s Director Cargo and Logistics, Steven Polmans would take up the chair position.
TIACA also announced on 13. June that the Vice Chairman position will now be taken up by Sanjeev Gadhia who is Founder and CEO of Nairobi-based Astral Aviation.
Mr Polmans has been on the TIACA Board since 2016 and for the past two years has been acting as Vice Chairman. Both Scholte and Polmans have been successful in giving TIACA a new face and
direction during the past eighteen months and it is regretful that Scholte has to give up the position as he is leaving Jan de Risk as he moves into another field in his career.
Working alongside TIACA General Secretary, Vladimir Zubkov, both Steven Polmans and Sanjeev Gadhia have pledged to continue promoting TIACA to the industry along the lines set up a year or two
ago.

e-CARGOWARE expands Innovation Team
UK-based e-CARGOWARE which is said to be one of the youngest Digital Cargo Platforms in the air cargo industry, has made it known that they have expanded their innovation team.
The new member is Steve Hill who runs the Top Tier Associates consulting company in the UK and is seen as being one of the industry’s top IT specialists. He has in the past also contributed to
the IATA One Record and eCargo groups and e-CARGOWARE. Co-Founder and Executive Director, Arun Singh stated “I have every confidence that he (Hill) will help us further consolidate our ‘Digital
First’ initiative.
Mr Hill says that “I see a real desire for change with all the stakeholders, including airlines, handlers and GSSAs who are willing to embrace innovation and e-CARGOWARE. Des Vertannes, Chairman
of the Board is convinced of Steve Hill’s future contribution and stated that “I have no doubt he will contribute immeasurably to the company’s continued growth and success.”

Leisure Cargo insolvent
What has been on the cards for the past few months has now become official.
Leisure Cargo, the German-based GSA has officially filed for bankruptcy. This move is said to have happened after Leisure Cargo lost the lucrative GSA contract with the TUI Group of airlines who
recently made it known that they will move their GSA contract to the Paris-based ECS Group.
Leisure Cargo’s fortunes have been going downhill since the final demise of Air Berlin in 2018. The loss of TUI makes an even deeper dent into their revenues. Condor, which is part of the Thomas
Cook Group, was also said to have been looking for an alternative to Leisure Cargo as the rumours grew stronger that the company was in trouble.
It is not clear as to whether Leisure Cargo can restart operations in one form or another after the insolvency procedures which are now in the hands of the Duesseldorf courts, have been
completed. The Zeitfracht group which also owns WDL Aviation, another Leisure Cargo client, took over Leisure Cargo in 2017.

Amazon to open logistics centre in Bremen
Keep moving forward in Europe. That seems to be Amazon’s aim. They have announced that later this year they will move into a new 12,500 square meter facility in Bremen, Germany. This, according
to Amazon’s German Director, Bernd Gschaider, will be a state-of-the-art building which will also include a multi-level car park to accommodate up to 280 Amazon delivery vans. The new Bremen
facility brings the total Amazon European handling space up to 1.2 million square meters. The Bremen building is being developed by the Goodman Group and is their 14th facility developed
specifically for Amazon.
In other news, FedEx confirmed that they will be dropping Amazon as a client in the United States. This decision, FedEx says, does not however have any impact on FedEx contracts with Amazon in
other areas.
Emirate SkyCargo runs down freighter fleet
The continuing slack air cargo market has now made a dent into Emirates SkyCargo revenues and the result is that the Dubai-based carrier is now going to reduce their freighter fleet by about 20
percent. Reports out of Dubai state that Emirates SkyCargo’s fleet of fifteen Boeing 777Fs will be reduced down to twelve, with three aircraft being “temporarily” taken out of service. Whether
this is a temporary measure, or whether the aircraft will be put up for sale, remains to be seen.
There are many factors which led to Emirates taking the decision to cut the cargo fleet. Among them are the ever-increasing fuel prices as well as sliding revenues from the Chinese and Indian
markets which have until now been the backbone of the SkyCargo services.

Jettainer and WestJet extend cooperation
Frankfurt-headquartered Jettainer, the German ULD management company has announced that they have extended their long-term ULD agreement with Canada’s WestJet. Both companies confirm that
Jettainer will continue to manage and maintain WestJet’s ULD fleet for a further five-year period.
WestJet presently has around 2,000 containers in service with their fleet of 120 Boeing 737s, four Boeing 767s and their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Fraport shows slight cargo increase in May
Although passenger movements at Frankfurt, Germany’s largest airport rose by 1.4 percent in May, cargo throughput only managed a slight 0.6 percent rise compared to May 2018. This resulted in a
total of 185,701 tons passing through the airport.
Passenger figures could have reached a rise of almost 3 percent if weather and strike related flight cancellations had not taken place.
The other airports in Fraport’s portfolio recorded differing results. The fourteen regional Greek airports managed 3.1 million passengers, a drop of almost two percent and Bulgaria’s Burgas and
Varna Airports recorded an 18.3 percent drop in traffic.
Asia Pacific Airlines gets third 757F
Guam, Pacific-based Asia Pacific Airlines will soon take delivery of their third P2F Boeing 757-200 freighter which will be deployed into the carrier’s extensive Pacific-Asia air cargo
network.
The aircraft was converted in Florida by Precision Aircraft Solutions and it is expected that Asia Pacific Airlines will deploy it out of their second base in Honolulu to cater for the increasing
amount of e-commerce shipments in the region.
John Mc Donagh
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