SHORT SHOTS

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.

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.