SHORT SHOTS

Swissport grows in Vienna
Ground handling agent Swissport opened a new warehouse at Vienna airport with a surface comprising of 2,100 square meters. Including their existing facility, they now manage a total floor space of 7,000 square meters at the Austrian capital’s airport. The agent emphasizes that the new building has direct airside access, facilitating the transport of shipments from the cargo building to the aircraft stands and vice versa much more rapidly than before. 
“We are pleased to be able to offer our clients even shorter transit times for their shipments going through Vienna”, says Willy Ruf, Senior Vice President Central Europe for Swissport. “The opening of the new warehouse is another step to meet our strategic goal of offering direct airside access at each of the 15 airports where we offer cargo services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.”
The sorting and distribution center was built by operator Flughafen Wien AG and is leased and managed by Swissport. It offers clients a one-stop service, emphasizes the ground handling company.
Running a second warehouse in Vienna is in line with Swissport’s global cargo strategy, which focuses on higher yields and profitable growth, states the handling agent in a release.
In mid-May, Swissport was appointed by Finnair Cargo as the new operator of the carrier’s COOL Nordic Cargo Hub facility at Helsinki Vantaa Airport.

VD Gulf services first B777
Volga-Dnepr Technic’s daughter company, VD Gulf which has its base in Sharjah, UAE, has received their first Boeing 777 client for their MRO services in the region.
The Iraqi Airways B777 positioned to Sharjah in order to undergo a heavy C-check along with additional maintenance work. The aircraft has in the meantime been returned to its owner after having undergone a fourteen day tear down and check by the VD maintenance specialists.
VD Gulf now has full approval for the maintenance of B777 aircraft as well as for B747 / B737 and Airbus A320 types. They run a 22,000 square meter maintenance facility at Sharjah Airport where the Boeing 777 maintenance team consists of EASA-approved engineers with many years of B777 MRO experience.

Hactl signs for ULD CARE
The Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) is the latest organisation to join the ULD CARE’s new Unit Load Device (ULD) Code of Conduct.
This is a ten-point voluntary agreement which promotes best practice in the handling of ULDs in order to ensure a safe and efficient operation on ground as well as in flight. The main aim of the Code of Conduct is to reduce avoidable damage and loss to ULDs along the complete supply chain. There are already quite a few airlines and handlers who have also signed up to the code.
Hactl signed up for the code at this year’s International Ground Handling Conference (IGHC) which was recently held in Madrid. Hactl’s CEO, Wilson Kong stated that: “the ULD is fundamental to the modern air cargo industry; but it’s an everyday item that we all take for granted, and which many do not treat with the necessary care and respect.”

SEKO gets ISO13485 certification in Amsterdam
SEKO Logistics healthcare arm, MedTec, has given their European operation a boost by gaining ISO13485 certification at their major European set-up in Amsterdam. This facility acts also as a distribution centre for medical devices throughout the continent.
The company claims that their MedTec business has grown by 20% annually over the past five years and now contributes a total of 13% of the company’s global revenue. They handle equipment ranging from large laboratory machines to small healthcare devices including those which are on the market for home use. The ISO13485 certification allows SEKO to provide light contract manufacturing services, including assembly and inspection of medical devices, non-sterile product kitting and third-party logistics support. Their many facilities in the United States already have ISO13485 certification.