AMI and MANICA join CEVA’s global network, increasing African presence
In line with its strategy of becoming a market leader in Africa, CEVA recently announced that it had acquired a majority, controlling shareholding in AMI Worldwide Limited, thus expanding its
network to 12 countries across East and Southern Africa, when AMIs circa 1000 staff join the CEVA global network starting 01JUL20. In addition, CEVA is integrating three CMA CGM Inland Services
facilities in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, opening its own operations in Mauritania, and creating a Joint Venture with MACCFA in Ethiopia. By DEC20, the AMI and MANICA brands will have
become CEVA Logistics, and the African network will number 1,300 staff at 79 offices in 41 countries, and include 19 full-service warehouses providing 135,000 m² or storage capacity, and a fleet
of 1,500 trucks.
Mathieu Friedberg, Chief Executive Officer – CEVA Logistics, said: “Businesses across the African continent enjoy significant growth prospects and logistics solutions are crucial to
materializing these opportunities, by ensuring supply chains work well and trade flows run smoothly. With our strategic, continental expansion plan, CEVA will play an integral part in supporting
the continent’s socio-economic emergence, offering our customers our full range of tailored, innovative solutions along with our recognized expertise and our operational excellence. In so doing,
we aim to become a leading, continent-wide market player. From December 2020, CEVA Logistics will become the single brand representing all our activities in Africa.”
DACHSER boasts a brand new Haz-Mat warehouse in Karlsruhe
“Constantly growing demand from the chemical industry made building the new facility an absolute must,” said Bernd Großmann, Branch Manager Dachser Malsch. Dachser’s new 21,800 m²
warehouse in Malsch, near Karlsruhe, has 43,000 pallet spaces for the storage of chemical products and hazardous materials such as paints, coatings, and adhesives chemical industry products.
Separated by firewalls and divided into nine sections, each warehouse section has an automatic fire extinguishing system and depressed floors designed to retain product leakage and firewater,
with a prevention mechanism to avoid wastewater outlets from polluting groundwater.
Given that Baden-Württemberg is one of the top five German states for chemical industry revenues, the demand is strong for a reliable logistics partner. Dachser, with its dedicated dangerous
goods (DGR) management team at Dachser Chem-Logistics and 225 regional DGR safety officers, is as an obvious choice. In addition, the location is well-placed to serve Germany’s largest chemicals
importer: France. Over 20 million euros were invested in the warehouse which started being built in the spring of 2018. By FEB19, the first customers began moving in, and the facility is now
complete. All the DGR warehouse’s transportation, storage, and logistics services are up and running, offering direct daily routes into Dachser’s close-knit European network.
Is an electric-powered cargo plane soon to be reality?
A Californian start-up, Airflow, run by five entrepreneurs previously employed as members of Airbus’s Vahana eVTOL aircraft development team, has announced that it aims to construct an
electric-powered short takeoff and landing aircraft (eSTOL). It is intended as a single-pilot, mini-freighter capable of carrying a payload of around 227 kg, covering distances of between 80 and
400 km, at speeds of up to 185 kph. Initially operating with a hybrid-electric propulsion system consisting of electric motors, batteries, and a piston generator, the eSTOL aircraft will be able
to take off and land on very short runways - 100m for landings, 50m for takeoffs. Airflow ambitiously plans to have the fixed-wing aircraft in production and certified under FAA Part 23 rules by
2025, with a full-scale final prototype expected to fly around mid-2023, and initial experimental aircraft already ready to fly by the middle of 2021.
The motivation behind the idea, is the development of an “aerial logistics network” enabling the movement of freight between warehouses and “middle mile” distribution points,
doing away with slower, less environmentally friendly road transportation. Flights will also be around 30% less expensive (average hourly costs) than with a helicopter. Airflow Co-Founder and
CEO, Marc Ausman, estimates development and certification costs at circa $200 million.
Riding on air, yet not in an airplane?
It is not the first time that Germany has deliberated over the construction and use of a magnetic levitation train – a so-called “maglev”. Back in 2003, plans were well underway with three German
companies and the Chinese Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Co. to develop a 37-km stretch connecting Munich city to its airport, though they never came to fruition. Nor did the 78-km
Dusseldorf-to-Dortmund link that had been considered at that time or the Hamburg-Berlin line (290 km). All projects were binned because of budget shortfalls and political differences. Now, with
the (finally) expected opening of Berlin’s Brandenburg Willy Brandt (BER) airport in OCT20, the Berlin CDU party has suggested building a magnetic levitation train from the city center to the
airport BER.
Though an S-Bahn connection to the new airport is already in place, "An elevated railway with magnetic levitation technology would be a beacon for Berlin," Kai Wegner, the CDU state
leader said, wanting to redefine the future of mobility and arguing that sustainable traffic movement around the airport requires an attractive, ecological system. The maglev is environmentally
friendly and almost noiseless. The elevated railway with magnetic levitation technology from a German manufacturer, he has in mind, has 12-meter long, 2.85-meter wide wagons which can carry 121
passengers each. It would be a driverless train capable of speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour.
Chapman Freeborn Airmarketing gains Arcus Air Group’s Cargo Division
On 18JUN20, Arcus Air Group announced that it was selling its cargo division to Chapman Freeborn Airmarketing GmbH with immediate effect, so that "Arcus Air [can] in future concentrate on the
airline and executive aviation," according to Managing Director Alejandro Tapia Haarmann. Thus Chapman Freeborn, which belongs to the largest Central and Eastern European aerospace group (83
stations), Avia Solutions Group, has gained both Arcus Air Group’s Air Cargo Charter and On-Board Courier businesses. The logistics division of the 45-year old, private airline, operating out of
Zweibrücken, has affiliated cargo brokerage operations at various European locations, and was focused on urgent air cargo, in particular ad hoc air cargo charter and on-board courier services.
Its cargo clients were mainly from the automotive industry. Chapman Freeborn now owns Arcus Air Groups two Dornier 228-212 cargo aircraft, which Arcus will continue to operate on behalf their new
owner, however Arcus-Air CEO Alejandro Tapia Haarman has stepped down from his management activities in the logistics division. Instead, Arcus Air will focus on the growing demand for private
jets (the group noted an increase of 20% in 2019 and whilst this has been curbed by corona currently, the signs are there that demand will continue to increase with the re-opening of borders.)
Colibri Aero is busy designing cabin cargo loading materials
Near the beginning of this month, Colibri Aero unveiled its line of five differently-sized cargo containers for widebody passenger cabins, that it had developed together with J&C Aero,
enabling the quick conversion of an Airbus A330/A340 or Boeing 767/777 cabin to a temporary freighter in the space of just 24 hours. Each container can hold around 850kgs of cargo and comes
fitted with a smoke detector. The containers are currently pending EASA STC certification and will then be enhance for other aircraft types and size variations.
Now the two companies have launched Cargo Seat Bags for the transport of commercial and humanitarian cargo in the passenger cabins of Airbus A320 FAM aircraft. These have already been
EASA-approved, and come either as a Single PAX Cargo Bag, or as a triple seat kit. Both are very quick to install, and are compliant with Structural Integrity, Fire Protection and Emergency
Evacuation requirements. They are able to hold around 75 kgs each, plus 9 kgs under the seat, adding up to 252 kgs on a row of three seats. The seat bags are intended to be used both on
cargo-only and mixed operations flights, though it is not yet clear if EASA will be approving passengers and cargo on the same deck on the same flight.
Brigitte Gledhill
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Write a comment
Rayhan ahmed (Monday, 22 June 2020 10:16)
The e STOL electric powered cargo
Aircraft looks as if it is based on the
Twin DHC -6 otter . This e STOL
Electric powered aircraft will be a
Great idea to move cargo for example
Into uk airports like ;
Heathrow
Gatwick
Southend
Bournemouth
Black bush
Biggin hill
London city . Etc
I suspect the aircraft will Be easy to load / unload cargo needing two
Ramp agents .. photo of cargo hold
Needed .
The eSTOL would ideal for express
Parcel companies like DHL.
Rayhan ahmed (Monday, 24 August 2020 01:17)
Airlines at the moment are very
Interested in doing a preighter
Conversion on there B777, A330,
By removing the passenger seats
And putting down pallets with lock in
Pegs to the floor and then building
Then cargo is build on top and then
Netted .
However the person who is doing the
Pallets building in the cabin must have
Pallet building experience... I myself
Would be useless in this task I would
Most probably be passing the parcel
As they say in the uk .
Now to over come this the LFC conversion should be taken into
Consideration .
I was listening to a webinar not long
Ago I think last week (air cargo news )
Were a air cargo manager from
Turkish airlines that they are interested
In converting a 777 or a 330 into
A combia version were a side cargo
Door would be installed but I feel
This is a very unlikely option via
EFW.
The cabinets to put on top of the seats
Is also a good idea but this operation would Only be considered on passenger
Seats Which have not been removed
Further down from combia area
Of the preighter.