IN BRIEF - THE LATEST AIR CARGO INDUSTRY NEWS
InstaFreight launches in Poland
Berlin-based InstaFreight which claims to consolidate the transport capacity of more than 6,000 overland cargo carriers and then offers it to shippers on one digital interface - has now launched
services into the Polish market.
At their Legnica office there are ten staff whose job is to ensure that the digital freight forwarders can be contacted 24 hours a day - seven days a week. Legnica is situated quite close to the
German-Polish and Czech-Polish borders and is a location where many companies from the automotive and e-commerce industries also have offices. Although closer to Berlin than Warsaw, InstaFreight
is convinced that Legnica is an ideal location for them to cover the needs of their Central and Eastern European customers. They state that they already have around 1,000 freight carriers listed
on their digital platform and that since starting up in Legnica they have arranged for several thousand overland transports of goods including air freight shipments.
InstraFreight is also planning to open offices in Italy, Spain and the Benelux countries in the near future.
Hong Kong gives in on 100% screening
We reported in our 2. September issue of CargoForwarder Global on Hong Kong’s plans to introduce 100 percent screening for all air cargo. It now seems that these plans have been put on hold by
the authorities.
There has been considerable criticism of the screening which was to be phased in gradually over the next 24 months. The official explanation for the delay is that there are doubts whether it is
wise due to the present economic turndown and possible upsets in the supply chain. Fact is, as we reported, there are by far not enough x-ray scanners on hand to cope for such a massive
screening. Obtaining the necessary equipment and subsequent staff training is seen as being a major problem. Also, a pressing question is who will bear the cost of new staff and equipment and in
how far HKG’s position as the world’s largest air cargo hub would be affected.
time:matters offer DGR transport
The Special Speed Logistics company, time.matters, has now added the transport of dangerous goods (DGR) to their portfolio of services. The company has reacted to the demands of those firms which
need quick transport of time-critical hazardous goods. Therefore time:matters has now introduced their own DGR speed service for DGR shipments listed under the hazard classes 2,3,4,5,6, 8 and 9.
These types of shipments can be supplied mainly from the automotive, aerospace, aviation and machinery components industries. time:matters will now be able to ship DGR goods worldwide on
passenger and freighter aircraft by using the services of Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines.
Alexander Kohnen, CEO of time:matters commented: “we are setting new standards in the industry with our fast and secure transport of dangerous goods. We are delighted to be able to offer this
service in ten markets now and intend to considerably add to these in the near term.”
WFS UK gets new cargo M.D.
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has appointed Paul Carmody as Managing Director for their cargo operations in the United Kingdom.
Mr Carmody was previously Head of UK Operations for WFS and brings with him many years of experience in the cargo handling scene. He previously held senior positions with Menzies Aviation in
Canada and the USA before joining WFS back in 2009. WFS handles around 600,000 tons each year in the UK at their London Heathrow, Manchester, Glasgow and other regional UK airports. He will
report directly to John Batten, WFS’ EVP Cargo, Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA).
Hermes introduces H5 Cloud at Bratislava
UK_based Hermes Logistics Technologies Ltd which specialize in designing and producing air cargo handling processes for airport handlers, have been instrumental in helping Bratislava,
Slovakia-based ground handler, CHS Trade to fully digitalise their cargo services at Bratislava Airport. This has been accomplished by using the Hermes 5 (H5) Cloud Management System (CMS) which
is configured in order to meet the needs of small, medium and large companies.
CHS Trade will use the H5 system in order to digitise their Air Waybills as well as digitising their data sharing and processes with their business partners.
Ctirad Emory, CEO of CHS trade stated: “we switched to Hermes 5 because the system can handle both context-based data and event reporting, and the Hermes team are very open-minded and flexible to
the customisation needs we have as a small operation.”
Fraport cargo throughput down in August
August was another disappointing cargo month for Fraport, Germany’s largest airport operator.
Cargo tonnages for the month fell by 5.2 percent compared to August of the previous year. A total of 173,122 tons passed through the airport last month. Not good news for Fraport, who put the
blame for the shortfall on the continued decline in global trade.
The passenger business at FRA showed a different picture with the airport handling 6.9 million passengers in August, an almost 2 percent rise on last year. Most other airports in the Fraport
Group portfolio continued to show positive results. Exceptions were the Brazilian airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre which recorded a 3.8 percent drop in passengers handled.
FLEET NEWS
US carrier Kalitta Air has based one of their B777 freighters at Germany’s Leipzig Airport. The aircraft is on wet lease to DHL and is presently being operated on the Leipzig to
Hong Kong route with intermediate stops either in Bahrain or Delhi.
Memphis-based FedEx plans to get rid of most of their older freighters in the coming months. The plan is to phase out the very old DC10-10Fs of which it still operates twenty, by
the end of next year. The ten old Airbus A310Fs will leave the fleet by the end of this year. FedEx also plan to put up to seven MD-11 freighters into desert parking slots between now and the end
of 2020.
John Mc Donagh
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