Is this a wise move for the air freight industry?
Will present air cargo operators see this move as a short- or medium term danger to their own cargo flows?
Possibly yes, as much of the internet ordered goods being increasingly supplied through e-commerce companies was until now being moved on traditional cargo routes.
Alibaba, with their massive presence and relatively safe control of the Chinese market, have successfully entered into deals with various Chinese carriers, the largest been SF Express, for exclusive carriage of their goods.
Again, it’s no secret that Alibaba wants to expand outside of China and has recently made a major takeover foothold in Singapore by taking a stake in SingPost in order to control the South-East Asian market (CargoForwarder Global report April 2016).

Will Amazon end up in control of Atlas Air?
Not in the short-term, but what plans do they really have to operate their own controlled freighter fleet?
Looking at the planned Atlas-Amazon deal - one can assume that it is a win-win situation for both.
At least, for the present time!
An interesting deal as Titan Aviation Leasing, an AAWW subsidiary will lease twenty passenger converted B767-300s to  Amazon. These will be operated by Atlas Air for Amazon for a seven year period on a so called CMI contract which includes crew, maintenance and insurance. The deal includes a further three-year extension to the contract.

But what happens after ten years of successful operations?
It is very interesting to see that Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has agreed to Amazon being able to acquire up to twenty percent of AAWW’s common stock over a five-year period at a price said to be around $37.50 per share.
A further 10 percent share acquisition is also agreed between both parties over a seven year period and at the same $37.50 per share. This 10 percent increase is however subject to Amazon and Atlas adding more than the present 20 aircraft into future operations.
So - assuming that all goes well within the coming decade, Atlas and Amazon will operate well over twenty dedicated freighters with Amazon having (at least) a thirty percent share in the large American all-freighter carrier.

What plans would Amazon have for other continents?
The Atlas deal is meant solely for U.S. domestic transport on behalf of Amazon.
Europe is also an important and large market for the e-commerce giant.
So, why not tie up there with a partner along the lines of the Amazon deal?
Who would be in their sights?
Cargolux, AirBridgeCargo or even Lufthansa Cargo? Who knows!
All speculation at the present time, but surely other cargo operators are getting worried about Amazon and Alibaba moves in this direction as it will ensure a dilution of their cargo revenues in the future if expansion plans of the pair move into other world markets.

Amazon puts pressure on European logistics
There is quite some unrest within the European logistics community at Amazon’s recent decision to offer itself as a third-party logistics provider on the continent.
This move is essentially aimed at offering retailers in Europe access to Amazon’s warehousing and controlling networks.

Who wins, who loses?
What Amazon terms as a Pan-European Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, is being seen by other logistics enterprises as a direct ambition to position themselves further into logistics at the cost of other companies by offering retailers space in their facilities for storage and delivery by Amazon of their goods.

The ball is definitely rolling and there is no stopping the new direction being put into action by the giant e-commerce set-ups.
But, who will be the losers or the winners within the present transport supply chain in the next five to ten years? Time will tell.

John Mc Donagh

CWT did not immediately respond to queries about the potential deal, while a spokesperson at HNA Group declined to comment.
In recent years, the HNA Group, headed by co-founder and chairman Chen Feng, has grown into a group with nearly US$100 billion in assets. It operates more than a dozen airlines including flagship Hainan Airlines Co and has launched at least US$8 billion of overseas M&A's so far this year.

HNA on global purchase trip
The Singapore Business Times reported earlier that CWT chairman Loi Kai Meng, director Liao Chung Lik, businessman Lim Soo Seng as well as their families have been exploring a sale of their stake in the logistics and commodities trading company since July. They currently own nearly 65 per cent of the company, according to Thomson Reuters data.
HNA Group has been on an acquisition spree. In 2015, it acquired Zurich-based ground handler Swissport. Last month, it said it would buy Swiss airline catering firm Gategroup Holding for US$1.4 billion and also agreed to purchase Carlson Hotels, thereby getting the ownership of the Radisson, Park Plaza and Country Inns & Suites hotel brands.
HNA Group, which was established in 1993, is actively involved in sectors such as aviation, tourism and finance. Its logistics business, HNA Logistics Group, provides logistics services to shipping and marine engineering construction, bulk commodity trading and logistics finance.

Nol van Fenema

Postal association names new chief executive
The International Post Corporation (IPC) has named Holger Winklbauer to succeed Herbert-Michael Zapf as the new chief executive of the IPC. Zapf is stepping down after 10 years in the role.
Winklbauer, who has served in a variety of roles in the logistics industry including CEO of DHL Global Forwarding in the Netherlands, will take over from Mr Zapf at the end of July 2016.
IPC is the cooperative association of 24 national postal services from major countries in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, which provides assistance to its postal members, whose business activities include mail, parcels, express, e-commerce, logistics, retail and banking services.
IPC was founded in 1989 and its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium,

C.H. Robinson uses Riege’s ‘Scope’ to speed up customs clearance
The Netherlands based 3rd Party (3PL) and Supply Chain Logistics company, C.H. Robinson, intends to speed up customs clearance in Germany and the Netherlands by introducing a new software named ‘Scope’ which has been developed by the German based Riege Software International.
C.H. Robinson has been looking for some time for what they term as a smarter and stronger software solution for their customs clearance operations.
The decision to go for Riege’s Scope was made because they are convinced that it offers a much-needed timesaving and highly efficient software product.
This was confirmed by C.H. Robinson’s  Customs Manager, Bob van Leeuwen.
The initial implementation was made already in September 2015 and after some additional modifications, has now been introduced also in Germany.
C.H. Robinson was founded in 1905 and is one of the world’s largest 3rd party logistics providers, employing over 13,000 staff and reached a gross revenue of US$13.5 billion in 2015.

Lufthansa Cargo gives DACHSER “Planet Award of Excellence”
The Global Partner Council, which is the annual meeting of Lufthansa Cargo’s largest customers and the LH Cargo senior management, has awarded the Kempten, Germany based forwarder, DACHSER, the coveted “Planet Award of Excellence.”
The award was given for what LH Cargo sees as DACHSER’s outstanding performance in their global cooperation.
It was noted that DACHSER flew the highest market share of all Lufthansa Cargo’s Global Partners last year. Praise also came for the stability and sustainability of the close business relations during the past year.
A major deciding factor for choosing DACHSER was their growth last year in the transport of temperature- sensitive cargo and perishables, live animals, express shipments, dangerous goods and hi-value freight.

Fraport 1st quarter show mixed results
The figures for the first three months of 2016 show that Fraport, Germany’s largest airport operator, has mixed results.
Passenger figures rose to 13 million, an increase of 3.3 percent on the Q1 last year.
Higher revenues were also achieved due to increasing the airport and infrastructure charges as well as those for aircraft handling.
A move which did not go down well with many of the airport’s customers.
The Fraport subsidiaries in Lima and Ljubljana and the Twin Star AMU Holding contributed to a positive result.
The Q1 adjusted Group revenue rose by 2.6 percent in the first quarter to EUR572.5 million.
EBITDA however fell by 4.9 percent to EUR 145.6 million due to what Fraport states as higher costs resulting from a new collective wage agreement and non-capitalized investments.
There was no mention (so far) of cargo movements and trends in the first quarter.

IAG CARGO present Q1 results
Revenues for the first quarter of this year for IAG Cargo fell by 1.5 percent compared to the same period in 2015.
Q1 showed the cargo consortium made up mainly from British Airways World Cargo and Iberia, with additional partners Aer Lingus, Vueling and bmi generated a combined revenue of EUR262 million
Cargo volumes declined by 1.8 percent while yields dropped by a notable 6.9 percent.
IAG Cargo’s new CEO, Drew Crawley commented that “these are respectable results in the face of a challenging market. The trading conditions experienced towards the end of last year have continued into 2016.”
IAG Cargo continues on their road to network expansion and will open new routes from Madrid to Shanghai and Johannesburg this year as well as further expansion into Lima, San Juan and San Jose to cater for the pharmaceutical and perishable markets.

John Mc Donagh / Nol van Fenema

China’s policy of expanding and modernizing aviation infrastructure at large scale continues unabated, seen by the investment plans given green light by the CAAC. According to a report in Xinhua, the expenditure focuses on airports, encompassing 11 construction projects and 52 aviation-related upgrades to existing facilities.
"The general aviation sector, especially aircraft research and manufacturing, has become a hot spot of both industrial upgrading and social concern," Mr Feng told the news agency.

Boost for light aircraft expected
China's cabinet separately said it would support the development of the country's aviation industry and opening up low-altitude air space, an issue that constrains a fledgling market for helicopters and small aircraft. It did not provide details.
China's military controls the country's air space, and its planes have priority over civil aircraft. Special military-only zones also force other aircraft to take a longer route.
Over the last few years, Beijing has relaxed some restrictions on flights below 1,000 m (3,280 ft) - although civil aircraft still need military approval to fly through some areas.
The relaxation could boost demand for light aircraft. China had only 1,600 light aircraft and around 80 airports to handle them in 2013. It will need 10,000 light aircraft this decade to meet demand, according to some projections.

Nol van Fenema

In their advance, the ECA refers to the massive capacity expansion exercised by Arabian carriers on many routes to the detriment of their European peers. This move is legitimate if based on transparent commercial conditions enabling European carriers to compete with their Gulf rivals on fair terms, reasons ECA. However, those conditions are not given, since the fully or partially state-run airlines from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar enjoy large-scale cost advantages guaranteed by their governments. They are benefitting from access to cheap ground infrastructure, fuel and unlimited sources of capital, which allows them growing their fleets at a breathtaking pace as a platform as cornerstone for their capacity-dumping policy with the primary objective to increasingly snatch away market shares from their commercially driven competitors. All this is claimed as being fact by the ECA.

Unlimited funds to finance continuous expansion
A ruinous policy harshly criticized by the ECA in their appeal to the EU Commission. “Everyone should be bound to play by the same rules,” demands ECA President Dirk Polloczek. His organization, representing 38,000 European pilots claims that over the past decade, the three Gulf airlines have collectively received €39 billion in unfair subsidies from their governments for taking away market shares in passenger and cargo transports from their EU competitors. This is shown in a recent in-depth investigation, the ECA holds. “It is therefore no surprise that these cash-rich airlines can afford to easily finance their excessive and detrimental growth strategy,” Polloczek criticizes.

Urgent actions demanded to end passenger and cargo traffic distortions
A highly alarming signal, he finds, shown by traffic flows between Europe and Southeast Asia, entirely dominated by Gulf carriers. “All this comes directly at the expense of the European aviation and its employees, who are following strict state-aid and fair competition rules and who do not have access to unlimited funds.” In their release, the European Pilot Association demands that “Europe needs to take urgent action and stop this to safeguard the future of our industry and the employment it generates in Europe.”

Each abandoned route costs 600 jobs
The ECA paints a grim picture of European aviation matters should the EU politicians and the block’s national governments continue sitting on their hands. “600 European-based jobs are lost for every long-haul route abandoned as a result of the predatory expansion of a Gulf carrier,” says Philip von Schoeppenthau, ECA Secretary General. This accounts for passenger and cargo traffic alike. “The threat is real, it is happening now, and needs action quickly. We will work closely with national governments, the European Commission and other stakeholders to end this unprecedented and harmful market distortion.” Which steps his association intends taking in close coordination with the E4FC coalition to end the criticized traffic distortions or at least curb the Gulf carrier’s European expansion the pilots leave open in their appeal.
In the meantime, Etihad Chief James Hogan pleaded for expanding open skies treaties. At a meeting held in New York, he said that an open skies policy fosters competition, drives innovation and spurs growth. Currently, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered carrier services eight cities in North America, which doesn’t seem to be the end of the line.

Heiner Siegmund

The new partners will develop a modified version of EHang's 184, the world's first autonomous drone capable of carrying humans, to optimize it for organ delivery. The companies have agreed to work together over the next 15 years under a program called Manufactured Organ Transport Helicopter (MOTH) system.

Still a long way to go
The collaboration could revolutionize the way organs are transported in the U.S., with the potential to save tens of thousands of lives, according to EHang.

Lung Biotechnology, a subsidiary of multi-billion dollar firm United Therapeutics, based in Silver Spring, Maryland plans to station MOTH rotorcraft outside its organ production facilities and use preprogrammed flight plans to hospitals and re-charging pads within the MOTH radius, allowing organs to be delivered within their viability windows. According to the producer, the drone can carry a human patient autonomously for up to 16 kilometers. However, while presenting their plans the drone provider showed only a model version of its 184 but missed presenting an unmanned aerial vehicle in flight.

Nol van Fenema

Trials at Packstations went well
The trials were conducted between January and March in the Bavarian community of Reit im Winkel, close to the German – Austrian border. They are part of a larger research and innovation project by DP/DHL aimed at automating delivery services wherever technically and operationally possible. The test series is the first time worldwide that a parcel delivery service has directly integrated a parcelcopter logistically into its delivery chain. To gain experience and test the efficiency of the unmanned copter under everyday conditions, local private customers living in the region were invited to test out the specially developed Packstations, dubbed the Parcelcopter Skyport. During the trial period, they could simply insert their shipments into the Skyport to initiate automated shipment and delivery per Parcelcopter. This way, a total of 130 autonomous loading and offloading cycles were ultimately performed.

Weather conditions play an important role
One of the crucial tasks for the copter was to master the rapidly changing weather conditions and severe temperature fluctuation in the test area. With that achieved, the DHL Parcelcopter then performed a series of flawless flights. Each round trip from valley to plateau at roughly 1,200 meters above sea level covering eight kilometers of flight. The drone's cargo was typically either sporting goods or urgently needed medicines and it arrived at the Alpine station within just eight minutes after take-off. The same trip by car takes more than 30 minutes during winter.
Next, DHL will analyze the performance data and other findings in close cooperation with Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), a specialized research institute in the city of Aachen. The results will be used to launch further tests in different areas to gain additional experience concerning the intended integration of their Parcelcopter into DHL’s service portfolio.
Juergen Gerdes, Management Board Member for Post – e-Commerce – at DP/DHL comments: “We're the first worldwide who are able to offer a transport drone – Parcelcopter at DHL – for end-customer delivery. With this combination of fully automated loading and unloading as well as an increased transport load and range of our Parcelcopter we have achieved a level of technical and procedural maturity to eventually allow for field trials in urban areas as well.”
It seems the Parcelcopter’s career has only begun.

Heiner Siegmund

Madame Simonet has achieved a steep career in the Humanist Democratic Centre, a Christian democratic francophone political party in Belgium, where she served in different functions in the Walloon government.
 
Longstandig career as politician
The 1959-born Liege resident served as Vice-President of the Government of the French-speaking Community and Minister for Higher Education, Scientific Research and International Relations. She has also been Minister for Research, new Technologies and External Relations of the Walloon Government. 
In July 2009, she was appointed Minister for Compulsory Education and Social Welfare of the French-speaking Community. On 16 July 2013, she resigned her ministerial duties for health reasons. On 25 May 2014, she was elected as a Walloon Deputy and is the Vice-President of the Economic Commission of the Walloon Parliament. 
After being appointed she stated: “I am very pleased and very proud to take on the Presidency of Liege Airport.” Referring to the airport she spoke of a “success story” which has brought Liege and the Belgian Walloon region to the international scene.
 
Challenges to be mastered
Looking ahead, she pointed at some significant challenges that need to be solved, namely airport security, relationships with the federal Belgian and local Walloon authorities (Belgocontrol, air traffic rights, etc.), the takeover of TNT by FedEx and the consequences resulting from this step, as well as the commercialization of the economic activity zones surrounding the airport. “Together with the entire board of directors, these are challenges I am preparing to take on,” she declared.
The Walloon Government and some private investors own Liege Airport. With an annual turnover (2015) of 649,829 tons, it is the eighth largest cargo airport in Europe.

Heiner Siegmund

Sharwath served K+N in different positions for 24 long years. His upcoming exit comes as surprise as the company’s air freight biz runs successfully, seen by the 2015 annual results. According to figures, the tonnage increased by 4.7 percent, totaling 1,250,000 tons, thereby cementing K+N’s position as the world’s second largest player in cargo, only surpassed by competitor DHL. 

Tim Scharwath, since 2011 member of the Management Board of Kuehne + Nagel International AG and responsible for global airfreight, decided to leave the company within the next twelve months in order to take on a new challenge, reads a K+N release. Under Scharwath’s stewardship, K+N focused on industry-specific air freight solutions, which resulted in significant market shares gained in the aerospace, pharmaceutical and perishables sectors.

In a statement, Kuehne + Nagel regrets Scharwath’s decision and will inform about the succession in due course.

Heiner Siegmund

Mike has been with the Group since 2007, when he joined to set up Air Partner’s freight office in Germany from scratch. In 2014 he was promoted from a business development position to Regional Freight Director – Europe. Mike will remain based in Air Partner’s German office and will report directly to Richard Smith, Head of Products, who previously held the role.
 
Mike has 20 years’ industry experience and prior to joining Air Partner, worked for the cargo charter airline African International as a Commercial Manager for seven years. He has also held management roles within an airport handling company as well as travel companies.
 
Steered by Mike, the German freight office has now become one of the leading brokers in Central Europe, working exclusively with freight forwarders. The office works across a number of sectors and has developed a notably large presence in the automotive industry in Europe.
 
Air Partner’s full year results for the year ended 31 January 2016, which were released on Thursday 28 April, reported that the Freight division delivered a 21% increase in gross profit for the period, with strong growth in the Group’s German and US businesses.
 
Commenting on his appointment, Mike said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time building up Air Partner’s European freight presence and am delighted to now be expanding my role across the Group. Richard and the team have built up an enviable global freight business, leaving me well placed to capitalise on opportunities within the industry.” 
 
Richard Smith, Air Partner’s Head of Products, said: “Mike has consistently achieved great results, as evidenced by the growth of the German office, and I have no doubt he will continue to do so as Air Partner further develops its freight offering.”
 
Heiner Siegmund

Is Cathay Pacific planning to exit the oneworld club and joining the rivaling Star Alliance instead? This question arises after both carrier's announcement to closely cooperate in future.
It can be assumed that IAG Cargo, American Airlines Cargo, LATAM Cargo and the other oneworld allies are not very amused after being informed about the Cathay-Lufthansa deal for aligning their cargo activities in two key markets.

Close cooperation
In their announcement, both carriers speak of an agreement aimed at establishing a highly integrated bilateral cooperation. This entails jointly network planning, sales, handling activities and the alignment of the IT saytems. By doing so, the world's busiest cargo hub Hong Kong and Frankfurt as Europe's number one gateway for air freight will be brought closer together, this strengthening one of the world's leading trade lanes. "Our jointly operated network will cover more than 140 direct flights between Hong Kong and 13 European destination," states Simon Lage, Director Cargo at Cathay Pacific.

Service enhancement announced
Their large number of direct connections to multiple European destinations "fits perfectly with Lufthansa's strength in Frankfurt and Europe through its dense feeder network," commented CEO Peter Gerber of LHC after signing the deal. He went on to say: "By joining forces, customers gain access to unique flexibility with more flights to choose from and a combination of feeder services and direct flights." Clients can expect faster flows of their shipments as result of the collaboration, Herr Gerber added.
According to Cathay Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo, their cooperation will also lead to service enhancements. For example, clients will be able to access the entire joint network via the booking systems of both carriers.
Joint handling, initially at the Frankfurt and Hong Kong hubs, will also make things easier for customers since there is only one point for exports drop off and import delivery, eads the carrier's release.

Cooperation starts in 2017
The deal becomes practical early next year, initially from HKG to Europe. Booking shipments in the eastbound direction will folow in the course of next year.
Both carriers emphasize that their activities will be carrier out in full compliance with all applicable laws, including the competition rules of the EU block and Hong Kong.
The agreement follows earlier deals Lufthansa Cargo inked with ANA Cargo and United  Cargo for joint transports between Japan and the European Union and the EU and North America respectively.
Until then it should be clear if Cathay remains being a oneworld member or if they decided to switch sides.

Heiner Siegmund

Up to now, the main commodities LCA handles, customs clears and distributes are flowers, fish and other perishables, live animals, dangerous goods and valuables. So basically the traditional range of air freight products. Eric delivers an illustrative example: “We handle the large majority of fish consignments flown in each night on board Icelandair’s Boeing 757 freighters and organize the intra-European distribution of these temperature critical goods to get them to the consignees as fast as possible.” Flower shipments are treated similarly. The same goes for Israel-harvested fruits and vegetables, but also artwork and valuables imported by individuals or traders, including unspecified commodities flown as general cargo to and from Liege, passing his facility at LGG airport. 

Fast flow of goods
After customs releases the imports, which according to Eric takes normally only a couple of minutes, they are loaded on trucks for onward transportation to their final destinations. “Actually, you can compare us with a lock opening the airside gate, getting the shipments in, sorting them and opening the landside door for having them trucked off,” he illustrates. 
Currently, LCA is an indispensable part of the broader service landscape offered by Liege Airport and its local clients. However, the 2002 founded forwarder and customs agent operating with access to LGG’s tarmac is still a rather small player, turning over two million euros per year, employing no more than nine staff. “The good news is that our revenues grew by ten percent in average the last four years,” he adds. That is more or less in line with Liege Airport’s turnover which according to data increased by nine percent per year.

Chinese trader opted for Liege as preferred e-Commerce hub
However, LCA’s role as niche player might change in the near future, if Eric’s distinct feelings for capturing new businesses is not deceptive. This will soon become clear if far-reaching plans materialize to set up a major warehouse within the airport’s fence for the sole purpose of handling e-commerce articles. Obviously, the project is already well advanced.
The background to this is that a Guangzhou, China-headquartered retail giant pushes for establishing a European air hub for imported commodities ordered electronically by private consumers. The choice fell on Liege Airport with LCA jumping on board as local partner, responsible for de-consolidating the shipments after their arrival and handing them over to distributers like DPD, GLS, DHL Express, Postal Services or other delivery companies covering the last mile in the fastest possible way. “The Chinese investor was looking for a reliable partner that provides the entire range of services from the arrival of an aircraft to the delivery to the buyers,” illustrates the manager. 

e-Commerce dedicated warehouse
According to Bruckmann, the physical operation will commence in August of next year, once a 10,000 square meter warehouse projected at Liege within the airport boundaries is operational. “Our Chinese partner wants us to manage the warehouse and all related services like customs clearance, trucking, and documentation, including of course all ground handling processes,” as he describes the range of duties. 
Should all go according to plan, e-commerce will become a second mainstay for his enterprise and an additional earnings pillar. And not only for his company, but the airport as well.
Tapping into this fast developing market and securing a big chunk of it for LGG is entirely in line with Liege’s CEO Luc Partoune who senses an important opportunity for attracting new business and developing his site into a leading cargo airport in Europe and e-commerce throughput. “We started rather small but are meanwhile ranked the number eight in cargo within Europe by tonnage,” Luc states. Last year, LGG turned over 650,000 tons of air freight.

SOWAER plays a major role as Liege developer
This venture from small to big is supported by the regional Walloon government and predominantly the Société Wallonne des aéroports – SOWAER – that holds 25 percent in LGG, with Aeroport de Paris and a local investment funds holding the remaining shares. It was SOWAER that together with local politicians and the airport management decided to spend € 350 million to relocate dwellers living near to the airport. This way, approximately 1,200 houses and pieces of land were bought by SOWAER over the years, preventing any protests against night flight operations by neighbors.  This step, taken in 1997 was visionary and became the founding stone of the Walloon airport, a former military air base as international cargo gateway. However, for those that refused to move in spite of the noise emissions created each night by TNT and other operators, SOWAER paid for additional noise protection measures, roughly 4,500 houses and buildings benefited from. Conversely, they had to commit to refrain from any legal proceedings to stop night flights or bring down operations to a minimum. States Pascale de Mieter, Commercial Manager Europe at Israeli carrier CAL Cargo Airlines: “The unrestricted night flight allowance is exactly the reason why we exited Germany years ago and switched our entire operations to Liege.”
Today, CAL has daily 747-400F flights to Tel Aviv and serves Liege-JFK also daily with B777F aircraft. In addition, their Boeing 747-400 freighters, equipped with a flip-up cargo door in the nose land twice a week in Atlanta, linking the Walloon Airport with Hartfield-Jackson International in the Georgian capital.
Germany is still CAL’s core market. “Around sixty percent of our tonnage flown out of Liege on the main decks of our freighters are generated there,” Pascale states. 

Heiner Siegmund

Perth International Airport, shortly before midday last Sunday: estimated 15,000 spectators and aviation enthusiasts had flocked to the airport’s Public Viewing Area on Dunreath Drive to welcome the arrival of the giant Antonov-225 Mriya on the aircraft’s first ever flight to Down Under.

AN-225 has been in the air since the 1980’s
The 600 ton aircraft which has 42 wheels on its landing gear was originally conceived in the 1980’s as a ‘on-top’ transporter of Russia’s space shuttle called the ‘Buran.’
Mriya, which translated means “dream” was meant to ferry the Buran placed on top of the aircraft, as was America’s space shuttle on the Boeing 747. The Russian shuttle program was phased out and the massive six-engine aircraft has since then been used for charter work, mainly for the transport of very heavy and over-dimensional machinery. The aircraft has a length of 84 meters and a wingspan of 88 meters and is said to be able to fly, when empty, up to 18 hours without having to refuel.
The Mriya’s sister ship, the Antonov AN-124 is somewhat smaller and Volga-Dnepr Airlines have most of these aircraft in service operating commercial and military charters worldwide including relief flights on behalf of humanitarian organizations in case of tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding or other natural disasters requiring immediate help to save lives.

Memorable event
Concerning the commercial Australian mission, the level of public interest in the arrival of the Antonov was unprecedented, and “Perth Airport worked closely with Atonov  to ensure everyone who came to see the aircraft got a good view on Taxiway Charlie this morning,” said Fiona Lander, Executive General Manager External Affairs, Perth Airport upon the landing of the freighter. “The sheer size of the An-225 was breathtaking, with the click of camera shutters audible over the roar of the six engines as it taxied past.”
"There were high expectations and the excitement was great," stated Ron Koehler, CEO of Schenker Australia Pty Ltd.
Responsible for managing the entire mission was DB Schenker’s subsidiary Karpeles Flight Services, a specialist for the chartering of aircraft. The demanding task was to both organize and secure the combined road and air transport of the large generator weighing 117 tons from the Czech Republic to the Worstely Alumina refinery in Western Australia. A complicated mission due to the extraordinary weight and size of the machine, which did not allow for any errors.

From Pilsen to Perth…
It all started on May 10 in the city of Pilsen, known worldwide for its famous beer, from where the generator was brought overnight by a special multiple-axles truck to Prague. Upon its arrival at the Czech capital’s Vaclav Havel Airport the massive piece was loaded on board the An-225 and – covered with a special canvas – welded on at more than 30 fixation points in the hull of the freighter. This way the slipping or shifting of the load in case of turbulence should be prevented, which could have exposed the crew and aircraft to an enormous risk.  
On its 14,000 kilometers long journey the six engine-propelled Mriya stopped over in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, Hyderabad, India and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before crossing the Indian Ocean to land in Perth.

…and onto Collie
The unloading of the aircraft took about 12 hours, involving a sophisticated system of ramps and cranes to remove the cargo from the main deck of the freighter. On behalf of DB Schenker Australia, the generator was finally trucked from Perth International in a four-hour drive to the final consignee located in Collie, Western Australia. 
This morning (17 May), the An-225 took off to Italy. On board the aircraft was a rotor weighing “only” 25 tons.

Heiner Siegmund / John Mc Donagh

Wolfgang has been with the Volga-Dnepr Group for seven years and has had responsibility in different managerial positions. Asked by CargoForwarder Global in a telephone call about the reasons that led him to leave the Group, he provides a very simple and convincing answer:
“I stood at a crossroad in my life where I had to decide to either continue my career within Volga and ABC for the next ten years or so, ending it there some day or to take on a new professional challenge.”

Now it became clear that he opted for the latter 
Speaking about his contribution as Head of Marketing and Development to the successive upswing of the Russian aviation group, he replies very modestly: “It wasn’t really me but the entire team that did a fantastic and highly professional job. This dedication resulted in ABC becoming the benchmark of the industry and Volga-Dnepr the global number one as capacity provider for transporting outsized and heavy cargo shipments.”

From being smiled at to growing respect
Whilst looking back, the former Panalpina manager stresses that although against all odds, it was the right decision by Volga owner Alexey Isaikin to establish AirBridgeCargo as line-haul arm of the charter enterprise, thus starting a second business avenue for capturing additional market shares. This has paid off until today and will as things stand continue doing so. “For my part I say chapeau to what Mr Isaikin established in the past and keeps on establishing,” Wolfgang applauds. “At first, many industrial players laughed at ABC, but meanwhile this has transformed into respect shown by many customer reactions.”
Looking ahead Wolfgang says that he is a born optimist that is always on the lookout for new opportunities. There is one point however where he leaves no doubt: “No matter what job I’ll do next, Moscow will remain being the centre of my life.” There, his wife and their five children abode.  

Heiner Siegmund 

Air New Zealand settles on price fixing suit
The class-action lawsuit between the U.S. and Air New Zealand which claimed unlawful price fixing in their cargo operations, has been settled.
The New Zealand national carrier has agreed to pay a sum of US$35 million although it still maintains that it is officially not liable to do so.
The carrier decided to “pay-up” and is quoted as saying the reason is that “rather than take the risk of a potentially very material commercial liability by continuing to defend its position.”
The class-action which was filed in 2006 by several freight forwarders was directed at many airlines, one of them being Air New Zealand. It claims that the carriers conspired together on cargo fuel and security surcharges in the period 2000 - 2006.
The settlement for ANZ to pay US$35 million is still subject to court approval and represents 2.8% of the $1.2 billion paid so far by a total of 28 airlines.

Lars Syberg is Cargolux’s new Global Logistics VP
The Cargolux Board of Directors has appointed Lars Syberg as its new Global Logistics Vice President.
Mr Syberg will take up his new position with the carrier on 6. June 2016. The position holds the responsibility for Ground Operations, Warehousing and Sales Activities.
Due to the importance that Cargolux has placed on integrated “door-to-door” activities the position to be held by Lars Syberg is aligned within CV’s Executive Committee.

Lar Syberg is 49 years of age and is a Danish national, married with two daughters.
His last position was with Zebra A/S where he was responsible for the steering of the company’s worldwide delivery network. Mr Syberg carries more than 30 years of experience in the logistics industry and previously held leading management positions with Moelnlycke Health Care and DSV Transport A/S. 

ACS increases revenues and profits
Air Charter Services (ACS) who claim to be worldwide leaders in passenger and cargo charter flights had their best year ever in 2015.
The company, which celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2015 reached revenues of US$480 million and the gross profit rose by 28 percent to US$60.2 million.
The company states that the positive results were generated by most of the 20 offices which are scattered over 6 continents.
The Russian results suffered somewhat however.
ACS completed more than 10,000 charter contracts in 2015 with a revenue reaching almost half a billion dollars, says Chris Leach, Chairman of ACS.
The company’s portfolio spreads from Air Freight Charter, Private Charters and Commercial Charters.
The Cargo Charter department profited from the port strikes at U.S. harbours during 2015 and enabled ACS to increase their air cargo charters by 36 percent with a gross profit margin of 35 percent.

IAG Cargo increases their Middle East capacity
The winter flight program of IAG Cargo will see the carrier increasing their cargo capacity to the Middle East by separating the current joint Abu Dhabi and Muscat service into two separate flights, as well as separating the joint Bahrain and Doha services.
All four destinations will be served singly as of start of the winter flight plan and this according to IAG Cargo will give an additional 83 percent capacity for their clients in the region.
Abu Dhabi will be served by the Boeing 787-9 series aircraft, which have a state-of-the-art air-conditioning system for better temperature control in the aircraft’s holds.
Bahrain, Muscat and Doha will continue to be served with the venerable Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
MCT operations will be five times weekly and AUH/BAH/DOH on a daily basis.

UK needs more collaboration to ensure air cargo growth
Nick Platts, Head of Cargo at London’s Heathrow airport is adamant about the fact that the UK air cargo community must be more influential in directing the country’s aviation policy.
He stated recently at the Future of UK Airports Seminar that “I think a community speaking with one voice would be an enormous benefit to the UK” - and added - “unfortunately I can’t see it happening as no one talks to each other.”
In his speech, Nick Platts showed Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as being a prime example of a community that has worked together to transform itself into what he terms as an ‘international benchmark’ airport.
An Air Freight Working Group has however been set up by the UK’s FTA and Alex Veitch. FTA’s Head of Global Policy sees this as a first move to see more action from industry and government to facilitate exports through the growth of air freight.
On the other side, Larry Coyne, CEO of Coyne Airways Ltd stated that his airline no longer operates out of the UK because it was easier to do so out of Amsterdam.
Still a long way to go in the UK before a realistic air cargo community can be in action.

Cargo at FRA shows strong growth in April
After a rather disappointing air cargo first quarter 2016, Fraport can report that cargo tonnages and revenues increased considerably in April.
Cargo volumes grew by 5 percent to reach 181,948 tons with the Far East growth being the main driving factor. Tonnages to and from this region went up in April by 9 percent.
Cumulative cargo volumes for the current year until the end of April grew by 0.5 percent although the first quarter results had shown a negative trend.
This, thanks to the good April showing.

John Mc Donagh 

Pharma industry still claims that ocean carriers have the better product
This was an important statement also made at the German Air Cargo Club meeting on 10. May where a joint Fraport Cargo and FRA Air Cargo Community presentation to the ACD members tried to convince the audience that FRA despite not yet having its CEIV Certification, is the leading airport of choice for pharma producers.

The presentation was not convincing to all in the audience
The fact that FRA Airport is a leading global logistics hub is not to be disputed.
In 2015, Germany’s largest airport and number ten in global air freight tonnages, handled more than 2.1 million tons of air cargo.
However, the airport, as does many of its competitors, lays much value on the increasing pharma production and winning a large share of ‘flown-pharma’ business to pass through its cargo handling facilities.
This at least is what Dirk Schusdziara, Fraport Area Manager for Air Freight and Joachim von Winning, FRA Air Cargo Community Managing Director, tried to make clear to their audience in a joint presentation.

CargoForwarder Global spoke with some members who indicated that they were not convinced that although FRA may well claim to be presently the largest pharma handling airport in Europe that the airport is not moving fast enough to cement this claimed position and convince the pharma industry to move more away from moving their products by sea freight.
The presentations, although informative, were not geared enough to forcing and convincing the FRA cargo community to speak and act as one voice in promoting the airport as ‘hub of choice.’

Stating that “what airports such as Amsterdam and Brussels have - we have had for a long time” - is not really convincing when one sees what the mentioned airports have achieved in the past two years compared to FRA with regards to cementing the cargo community together to speak and act as more-or-less one entity in promoting the airport’s value to the industry.

The Fraport presentation was too top heavy with subjects such as the takeover of 14 Greek airports, passenger figures and the ‘bad-boys’ in the Arabian Gulf states who are way ahead of Europe.
Maybe Fraport forgets that those very Gulf carriers have become an indispensable part of their business portfolio in FRA and it’s not them that’s the problem.

FAIR@Link is not the only answer
Some emphasis was laid on the importance of the recent Cargo Community System’s FAIR@Link process (CargoForwarder Global reported earlier this year) which is meant to standardize data flow between companies regarding the handling processes.
FAIR@Link is meant to speed up the handling process on the landslide through real-time information of cargo deliveries and subsequent loading and offloading at handlers warehouses.
This process has its values and it should be noted that it is still in its infancy stages and needs time and more input by all players.
Whether this is or will be the case, was a subject of internal discussion at the ACD meet.

FACC needs more local support
The FRA Airport Community now boasts a total of 38 members but some voice the opinion that there is far too little support from the community, especially from the forwarders, to really push a common understanding and action forward.
Dusseldorf Airport has already reached its CEIV certification and has invested around 3.5 million euros in renewing and upgrading their facilities.
What has been, or planned on investments in FRA, was not tabled at the ACD meeting.
In FRA, there are five airlines, one ramp handler, six cargo handlers and a disappointing number of only two forwarders who are in the CEIV mode.
Those members already on board and their support teams are trying hard to get others interested, but some say that the process is too slow and interest to little from those areas where it should be most noticeable.

The cold-chain market continues growing and the prognosis is that it will show a 37 percent increase between 2013 and 2019.
But, pharma movements by airfreight continue to lose ground to ocean freight simply because the ocean carriers have a more streamlined and easier to monitor supply chain. This they can ‘cold-heartedly’ take advantage of.

A lot of work still for the FRA Air Cargo Community. Not only to convince the pharma shippers of the location, but also to get the community to really act with one voice.

John Mc Donagh

The proposed deal with Qatar is only one of a series of “comprehensive agreements” the European Commission is keen on reaching with some of the fastest growing markets in the aviation sector, including the Gulf countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
Even if this aviation strategy was unveiled last December, the EU’s 28 national governments did not deliver the green light as fast as Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc had expected. Member states barely discussed the issue over the first quarter of 2016. The terrorist attacks against Brussels Zaventem airport and a metro station in Brussels on 22 March contributed to further postpone discussions among EU transport ministers.
Officials close to Ms Bulc explained that the meeting will aim to push forward an agreement to open up European skies to Qatar Airways, while promoting better access to the oil-rich nation for European flag carriers.
The Commission is now keen to bring the discussion back to the table. So does Slovakia, whose government will hold the rotating EU presidency next semester. The EC wants enough progress made to discuss mandates for the comprehensive agreements during the Transport Council on 7 June. This is three months later than the originally foreseen date.

Interests of Lufthansa and Air France-KLM at stake
Given the recent events, security concerns are expected to dominate most of the discussion among EU ministers. On top of that, member states such as France and Germany are in no hurry to sign a deal with Gulf nations, given the opposition of their legacy carriers Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. Both these nations and a few other member states are reluctant to open European skies to powerful airlines such as Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates whom they accuse of unfairly subsidising their air carriers.
In its December aviation strategy, the EU promised to address the issue of “subsidisation and unfair pricing practices” in the context of the negotiations with Gulf countries. Moreover, the document also said that “the Commission is considering proposing new EU measures to address unfair practices” from third countries and third country operators “as soon as possible in 2016.”

CLECAT warns of protectionist attitude
As a pre-emptive manoeuvre, Emirates sent a letter to several European governments warning of the “growing pressure” on the Commission by Paris and Berlin, which could end up damaging connectivity and tourism growth in Europe. “It has come to our attention that there has been growing pressure on the European Commission from the French and German Transport ministers to ensure conditions are virtually impossible for all sides to adhere to, thereby freezing Emirates’ flying rights as long as any negotiations are ongoing,” the letter says.

The European freight forwarders’ umbrella organisation CLECAT takes a similar position, stating that introducing protectionist measures in response to competition concerns vis-à-vis third countries would be counterproductive, unsustainable, and would only serve to limit connectivity and growth.

Marcel Schoeters in Brussels

Ali Babolsari takes up the reins
The new cargo Marketing & Sales Manager is no stranger to the aviation business.
Mr Ali Babolsari has taken up the reins at DUS Cargo and in an interview with CargoForwarder Global he stated that he is looking forward to the new challenge and is sure that he will be able to contribute further to DUS Cargo’s growth in the future.

Ali Babolsari was born in Tehran in 1981 and moved with his parents to Germany when he was just three years old.
Ali, who is a German citizen went to school in Dusseldorf and started his aviation career in 1981 when he moved into the so-called tourist sales and airline reservations sector.
In 2005, he then joined the general aviation scene where he gathered much experience in aircraft operations and handling.

The Iranian market is in his sights
Mr Babolsari, who also speaks fluent Farsi, the Iranian national language, also spent some time working for the Iranian charter carrier, Mahan Air and most recently, until their fold-up, as manager for the Libyan carrier, Afriqiyah Airways.

The recent new developments in the Iranian aviation sector are high on Ali’s list of priorities for expanding cargo operations at DUS Airport.
He is confident that DUS cargo can make inroads into this lucrative market in the future.
His knowledge of Iranian commerce and language abilities, will he thinks give him an ideal opportunity to try and place DUS Cargo into the future air cargo scene to and from Iran.

Mr Babolsari has much to accomplish at DUS Cargo in the future despite the fact that the airport’s cargo operation and sales has come a long way in the past few years.
He states that competition is tough and the cargo department has to continue to be on the outlook for new product sectors and an additional customer base.

We wish Ali lots of good luck.

John Mc Donagh

In a Singapore Exchange filing this week, SingPost said that Acra had asked SingPost for the complete Joint Special Audit Report dated May 3 “as it is commencing investigations into possible breaches of the Companies Act as highlighted in the Report.” SingPost had only disclosed a 52-page executive summary of the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Drew & Napier.
SingPost had in December 2015 announced that in addition to its regular auditors (PwC), it would appoint special auditors (Drew & Napier) to investigate corporate governance issues, which came to light when SingPost stated that none of its directors had an interest in three acquisitions of freight forwarding companies which SingPost made between January 2013 and January 2015. These involved a 62.5% equity stake in Famous Holdings (FHPL); a 100% stake in F.S. Mackenzie (FSM) through FHPL; and a 90% stake in Famous Pacific Shipping (New Zealand) (FPSNZ).
This statement turned out to be erroneous as then-SingPost board member Keith Tay was also the non-executive chairman and 34.5% shareholder of Stirling Coleman Capital, during these acquisitions. Stirling Coleman Capital was appointed by FHPL as financial arranger, and financial advisor for FSM and FPSNZ in these transactions.

Erraneous statement
In the executive summary of the audit report, auditors PwC and Drew & Napier said that the error had arisen out of carelessness on the part of SingPost staff and there was “no deliberate intention to conceal” Mr Tay’s interest in the company’s acquisition of FSM. Mr Tay resigned from his post as SingPost's lead independent director following the release of the special audit report.
The auditors also found that SingPost has "no prescribed policy, process or procedure for the evaluation and approval of M&A transactions". In practice, the M&A team adopts a process "based on broad internal guidelines as well as the work experience of its members", they found.
"We strongly recommend that SingPost should define standard procedures and guidelines for the declaration of directors’ interests," the auditors said as part of its recommendations.
In response, SingPost said that the Board had accepted the auditors' recommendations, and would implement them together with those from the broader Corporate Governance Review that is still ongoing.
Separately, corporate heavyweight Simon Israel took up the post of SingPost chairman last week, a move expected to lend stability to the firm, which has been suffering from a leadership crisis.
Mr Israel, a former executive director and president of Temasek Holdings and current chairman of Singtel, took over from Lim Ho Kee who stepped down last month.
SingPost is still looking to replace group CEO Wolfgang Baier, who resigned abruptly in December 2015.

Nol van Fenema

Sniffer Dogs to Increase FRA’s Cargo Tonnage

Since years, freight volumes have stagnated or even decreased at Frankfurt airport. Now the operator hopes to regain some of the lost tonnage that has migrated to AMS or CDG where shipments are handled easier and faster in compliance with security requirements. Sniffer dogs are FRA’s secret recipe for regaining market shares.
It was at the Masonic lodge “Unity No 1” at Downtown Frankfurt where the Rhine-Main operator rolled out its scheme to “bring back home our air freight.”

Unusual location for running a security conference on air freight
Indeed an extraordinary place, inaccessible for normal mortals unless they belong to the community of Freemasons.

 The 1894-96-built venue was picked by Lufthansa Cargo to carry out their 6th Security Conference, a biannual event tightly organized and brilliantly orchestrated by their Head of Security and Environment, Harald Zielinski and his entire team. 
Titled “Is REST Cargo a comprehensive means of controlling air freight efficiently,” Fraport’s newly appointed Head of Airport Security Erich Keil rolled out an optimistic vision. According to the manager, FRA’s annual throughput could increase by roughly 70,000 tons if security checks under the REST Cargo label were given the green light by the authorities. REST is the acronym for ‘Remote Explosive Scent Tracing’, describing a process for screening cargo shipments by taking air samples of an entire truckload, a single box or individual package and having explosive detection dogs analyzing them remotely.

Encouraging REST tests
The samples are brought to the canines accommodated in contamination-free buildings, where the dogs start doing their sniffing job to detect evaporating explosive molecules emitting from the packages even if they are completely wrapped in a plastic foil or if the contents are stowed in closed boxes.   
“The REST scheme for securing cargo is easy to perform, fast, reliable and cost-efficient,” Herr Keil assured the 130 attendees at the LH Cargo’s event. Particularly the massive timesaving gained this way makes this scheme highly attractive for forwarders and shippers. The snag is: In Germany the entire endeavor is still a pilot project, currently undergoing thorough inspections to prevent any malfunctioning. This way, the authorities want to make sure whether it works highly efficiently in daily cargo practice at airports like FRA. The status is that some “very encouraging tests” have been concluded, noted manager Keil. Next to come is a scientific investigation focusing on the technical requirements, not the dogs, announced Birgit Loga, Head of the Aviation Security Division at German regulator Luftfahrt-Bundesamt. “We support the fastest possible introduction of remote acting sniffer dogs but can’t predict the duration of the approval procedure,” she said.

Security patchwork EU
This provoked LH Cargo’s Head of Communication and moderator of the security conference Michael Goentgens to ask Mrs Loga how come that a scheme that obviously works well in two neighboring EU member states, namely France and The Netherlands, needs to be tested and approved anew in Germany. Wouldn’t it be appropriate for the LBA to exchange information and experience with the local authorities and airport officials gained in Paris and Amsterdam and adopt their practices?, he asked.
Loga’s sobering answer to this. “As LBA we have approached the national aviation authorities in both cases but they weren’t very supportive and remained tight-lipped.”
So much for combined security cooperation within Europe!

German air freight creates jobs – in AMS or CDG
No wonder in view of the masses of exports trucked from Germany across the borders to AMS and CDG day after day, nose-controlled by trained canines within minutes and loaded as secured freight in the holds or main decks of aircraft right after. That ups revenues and creates new jobs.
“Mainly due to REST Cargo, Frankfurt loses considerable air freight volumes each year to Amsterdam or Paris. This we expect to regain once REST Cargo is officially approved by the LBA,” hopes Fraport’s Erich Keil.
Operational differences like 24/7/365 traffic allowance at Amsterdam or Liege which conflict with Frankfurt’s night flight ban between 11 pm and 5 am which might be an important decision criterion for forwarders to opt for airport A or B was not touched upon in the presentation or during the panel discussion that followed right after Mr Keils appearance.

Heiner Siegmund