SHORT SHOTS

Silk Way West Airlines celebrates first B777F lift-off
…all the way from the USA. Seattle, to be exact. On 04OCT23, the Boeing 777F set off from Seattle on its inaugural flight to Baku, marking the start of a new era for Silk Way West Airlines. The Azerbaijani airline has ordered seven Boeing freighters so as to benefit from the aircraft’s advanced technology, fuel efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Between now and 2030, the carrier will take delivery of five B777-F and two B777-8F aircraft, in line with its strategy to contribute to the development of Azerbaijan's aviation sector and enhance the country's significance as a regional and global transportation hub.
“With its impressive payload capacity and extended range, this aircraft will enable the airlines to offer more extensive, efficient, and reliable cargo transportation solutions to its clients. The Boeing 777F's extended range will open up new possibilities for connecting Baku with key global cargo hubs and will allow Silk Way West Airlines to serve its customers even better, facilitating faster and more direct shipments worldwide,” the press release states. The airline plans to increase the number of flights and destinations offered and is already looking forward to the second aircraft delivery very soon – “within the next month”.
Wolfgang Meier, President of Silk Way West Airlines, said: “We are thrilled to welcome the arrival of our first Boeing 777F to Baku, marking a significant milestone for Silk Way West Airlines. This addition to our fleet not only enhances our capabilities but also underlines our commitment to providing sustainable cargo services to our customers. We look forward to leveraging the advanced features of the Boeing 777F to further strengthen our position in the global cargo market.”

ANA Cargo plays part in cleaning up Space
On 04OCT23, ANA, ANA Cargo, Astroscale and Yusen Logistics celebrated the culmination of careful planning: the take-off of a special freighter charter from Tokyo’s Narita Airport as flight NH8599 at 20:25, and heading to Auckland International Airport, New Zealand, where it landed the next day at 11:10. The routing was a premiere for the airline, which did everything possible to accommodate the customer’s request. And on board was very special cargo: an ‘Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan’ satellite which had been manufactured by Astroscale specifically for the purpose of taking out the increasing amount of space waste resulting from the many artificial satellites that have been launched to support modern life on earth. ‘ADRAS’ (as the satellite is referred to), will help to remove debris and reduce congestion/collision threats. Working together with Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd., ANA transported the satellite to New Zealand on behalf of Astroscale, as it is from here that it will be launched to carry out its mission.
The project required detailed planning, since not only did the satellite need to be on location in time for its scheduled launch, but it also required maximum care and attention with regard to handling, build-up, transport, loading, and the overall shipment journey. Thus, ANA put together a ‘professional unit’ comprised of experienced staff at each end (Narita and Auckland airports), to oversee the transportation and closely cooperate with Yusen Logistics which secured the safe transport on the ground, as well as the correct packaging and export/import details. The shipment was handled according to the airline’s ‘PRIO SENSITIVE’ product which deals with particularly sensitive and vulnerable cargo. It flew on board of one of ANA’s ‘Blue Jay’ Boeing 777 freighter – one of two in its fleet, alongside nine Boeing 767 freighters. Given the success of the mission, ANA will also provide flexible charter operations in future, using its freighter fleet to the best of the customers’ advantage.

Maersk Part 1: Bringing air cargo to the City of Angels
The new import/export gateway opened this week (03OCT23) just outside Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), measures around 12,000 m² (130,000 ft²) and is A.P. Moller – Maersk’s latest strategic air cargo gateway. It joins Atlanta and Chicago, both opened this year, and is another milestone in the company’s air cargo expansion plans which have been developed to match North American customer demand. “The new capacity allows for more supply chain integration opportunities and better scaling to care for seasonal peaks as well as market driven volume spikes for breakout product launches,” the release details, going on to reveal that the facility is just 24 km/15 miles from LAX and around 14 km/9 miles from the Port of Long Beach. It offers direct planeside recovery with immediate unit load device (ULD) transfers, and is staffed to provide customs brokerage, commercial sales, and freight operations such as LCL transload. “This site is U.S. Customs bonded Container Freight Station (CFS) and a U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Certified Cargo Screening Facility (CCSF). This ensures timely and secure air freight handling. The facility is scheduled to attain Free Trade Zone status in 2024 to benefit from lower duties, reduced processing fees, and faster movement of goods.”
John Wetherell, Regional Head of Air Freight, North America, stated: “Our new Los Angeles air hub positions Maersk for years of growth. LA is a self-managed air facility that has tripled our access to capacity on the U.S. West Coast. Our customers will benefit from higher service levels and greater warehouse capacity.”
As the US’ 5th largest airport when it comes to handled cargo tonnage, and an important gateway between the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region, Maersk’s new cargo hub will no doubt soon be handling many of the region’s export goods: “Los Angeles is a leading high-technology center for the nation in the entertainment, electronics, biomedical, computers, and aerospace industries.”

Maersk Part 2: Ground Control to Major Bot
Maersk again. North America again. This time, the focus is on road rather than air – and in particular, on self-driving solutions. Together with the 2018-founded, autonomous technology provider, Kodiak Robotics, Maersk launched its first commercial autonomous truck lane between Houston and Oklahoma City on 05OCT23. “The companies are autonomously hauling consumer goods 24-hours per day, four days per week [on 53-foot trailers]. The commercial operations deepen Maersk and Kodiak’s expertise in integrating autonomous technology into supply chain networks in pursuit of performance, efficiency, and safety gains,” says the release, which points to more joint routes to come across Maersk’s growing North American logistics network. The launch of the initial lane follows intense pilots since NOV22, when Kodiak and Maersk first began testing autonomous freight deliveries together as part of Maersk’s Global Innovation Center Program. Since AUG22, Kodiak has been delivering eight loads per week to Maersk customers, with a safety driver at the wheel.
Autonomous trucking solutions bring two key benefits: they solve the problem of driver shortages (the industry is missing 78,000 drivers in the USA alone, and that gap is simply increasing), and they have the potential to significantly improve road safety, given than a staggering 94% of crashes are due to human error according to U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research.
Erez Agmoni, Maersk’s Global Head of Innovation - Logistics & Services, explained: “Teaming with Kodiak enables Maersk to stay at the forefront of innovative solutions. Autonomous trucks will play an instrumental role in digitizing the supply chain. We expect self-driving trucks to ultimately become a competitive advantage for Maersk as we execute on our strategy to provide customers with a sustainable, end-to-end logistics solution across air, land, and sea.”
Don Burnette, Founder and CEO, Kodiak, said: “Since our founding, we have focused on developing an autonomous product that is easy for global innovation leaders to integrate into their networks, and Maersk is a perfect fit. Hauling commercial freight gives us the opportunity to work together to integrate Kodiak’s autonomous trucking solution into Maersk’s operations. As the first autonomous trucking company to establish this new commercial lane between Houston and Oklahoma City, we are demonstrating our team’s ability to introduce new lanes and bring new efficiencies to the entire logistics industry.”

Qatar Airways Cargo is now flying to WAW
01OCT23 saw Qatar Airways Cargo’s first freighter flight to Warsaw in Poland, doubling the weekly cargo capacity to 200 tons on the route that has been served by passenger flights since 2012. The weekly freighter, which flies via Liège on Sundays, offers 100 tons each way, and will likely be carrying mainly general cargo, and perishables. Another 100 tons of belly capacity are spread over 10 weekly passenger flights to Warsaw – the only Polish destination thus far in the airline’s network. “A customer welcome event was held to celebrate the freighter arrival which was attended by Qatar Airways Cargo management, Warsaw airport officials, and customers,” the release states.
Elisabeth Oudkerk, SVP Cargo Sales and Network Planning said: “Qatar Airways Cargo has been serving Eastern Europe for many years and is very pleased to announce freighters to Warsaw which will complement the passenger flights to this important city. The launch of this service will provide consistent and reliable freighter operations between Poland and Qatar.” Other Eastern European cargo destinations include: Budapest (HU), Prague (CZ), Bucharest (RO), Zagreb (HR), Belgrade (RS), and Sofia (BG).
In other news recently, Qatar Airways Cargo also announced that, in addition to the pharma services already available in its Digital Lounge ebooking platform, it has also made Pharma Care and Pharma Passive bookable on its third-party marketplace partners: WebCargo by Freightos, cargo.one, and CargoAi, since 28SEP23, and will be expanding this to include further Pharma subcategories shortly.

American Airlines Cargo says a technical yes to Opticooler
The FAA approved DoKaSch’s Opticooler RKN already back in APR23, with United Airlines following suit just a fortnight later. Now, at the start of this month, half a year later, American Airlines Cargo has also released the technical approval for the well-received temperature solution. Thus, DoKaSch’s Opticooler® RKN active containers can be used across the carrier’s entire network from now on, providing its customers with a reliable solution for their temperature-sensitive goods on what the release states is “one of the world's largest and most extensive international air cargo networks.”
Eric Mathieu, Head of Customer Experience at American Airlines Cargo, commented: “The technical approval of the Opticooler® RKN, along with the well-established approval of the Opticooler® RAP is an excellent addition to our existing options for transporting temperature-sensitive cargo. It gives our pharmaceutical customers a reliable option for safely transporting their sensitive shipments in a highly regulated market. The Opticooler® meets our high standards and supports our global cold chain network.”
Andreas Seitz, Managing Director of DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, adds: “The USA is one of the biggest and most important export market for pharmaceuticals. The technical approval by U.S. carrier American Airlines Cargo is therefore an important step for our growth strategy in the region. It gives even more pharmaceutical shippers in the U.S. easy and trouble-free access to our Opticoolers® for the global distribution of their high-value and high-risk cargo. Combined with our high availability and reliability, the Opticooler® 'Made in Germany' contributes greatly to the reliability of the global cold chain.”

Brigitte Gledhill

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