Market momentum for airfreight is carrying into the summer of 2017, with rates across 21 major east-west trade lanes up by 1.1 percent, year-over-year, to reach US$2.81 per kilogram. The latest Drewry’s East-West Airfreight Price Index indicates that, as load factors increase, demand for airfreight is outstripping new capacity coming onto the market. The latest numbers also provide a strong base rate to build on as the industry moves from the summer into peak season this fall

Qatar Airways to order Boeing 747-8 Freighters Online news reports suggest that Qatar Airways has ordered two Boeing 747-8 freighters from the US planemaker. News website SeekingAlpha cited comments by Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker suggesting that the Middle East Gulf carrier has ordered two B747-8Fs. SeekingAlpha added: "While the order is only firm when it is logged by Boeing, this is a positive sign for the jumbo jet program." CH-Aviation has reported that t

Swiss logistics company Kuehne + Nagel is riding the resurgence of airfreight and expanding its volumes across modes, as the company adds thousands of employees and expands its position in the perishables logistics sector with acquisitions in the United States and Kenya. Kuehne + Nagel’s logistics business is booming, especially on the airfreight side, where volumes were up 18 percent for the first half of 2017, compared with the previous year, with net turnover at the Switze

Swissport International’s Netherlands subsidiary was awarded IATA’s CEIV certification for pharmaceutical handling at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, allowing the Switzerland-based company to capitalize on the Pharma Gateway Amsterdam (PGA) program. The airport is a fast-growing hub for pharma shipments, and the PGA’s cargo community provides the sort of transparency that shippers have said they seek for temperature-sensitive commodities.Swissport said that they were, “develo

In light of last month’s decision by Saudi Arabia and its allies to impose a blockade on exports to Qatar, the Qataris appear to be ready to hold out until the cows come home — literally. Qatar is moving fast and sparing no expense in their efforts to cut Saudi Arabia out of the country’s food supply chain, confirming yesterday that the national carrier, Qatar Airways Cargo, was flying cows in for domestic dairy production, and that the bovine airlift would reach 4,000 head.

Panalpina did its best to present its lackluster second-quarter results as upbeat, but the Swiss logistics company is running up against shipper’s reluctance to pay higher rates, which pushing down yields. The company reported first-half gross profit down 9 percent, at US$707 million. Citing higher freight rates and ongoing margin pressure as evidence of a “challenging market environment,” Panalpina’s reported EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and consolidated profit

Echoing similar conclusions made by World ACD, Drewry and the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) confirmed that evidence of strong air cargo growth in May was no illusion – but may not necessarily be a sign of things to come. According to IATA’s latest figures, demand for air cargo in May was three times the five-year average, clocking a 12.7 percent growth rate, despite the history of May being a cooling-off period in a t

Freight forwarder Geodis has organised the transport of a newly newly-developed Group Rapid Transit (GRT) prototype autonomous vehicle to Singapore utilising AirBridgeCargo flights. The GRT, which measures 6 metres in length, 2.1 metres in width and has a height of 2.8 metres, travelled from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Singapore onboard AirBridgeCargo’s scheduled Boeing 747 freighter service. Ahead of the transport, the airline sent off-size cargo team to the production fac

Think about the last three seafood dinners you’ve had. Let’s say you ate fresh Coho salmon flown in from the Pacific Northwest, perhaps some tasty red snapper sourced from the Gulf of Mexico and some ahi tuna from Japan. Chances are, however, that one of those meals was mislabeled, and you actually ate some kind of mystery fish. Unsettling, isn’t it? But according to a recent study by the nonprofit group Oceana, the above scenario has likely been true for the last decade. Abo

Turkish Cargo has announced another new freighter service into Africa, with the launch of an Airbus A330F to Kano in Nigeria, in addition to its Lagos freighter calls. The Kano freighter follows the announcement that Turkish will also launch additional freighter calls to Johannesburg in South Africa and Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. Source: http://www.aircargonews.net/news/airlines/freighter/single-view/news/turkish-adds-freighter-flight-to-kano-in-nigeria.ht