Atlas Air, Inc., a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAWW) today announced an Atlas Air 747-8F departed from Washington Dulles International Airport carrying tons of humanitarian and relief supplies for earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.

The two companies, along with the Turkish Embassy, are working together to expedite this relief mission to support the critical needs of thousands of people impacted by this natural disaster. Atlas Air is providing the aircraft and crew and Turkish Airlines is collecting clothes, shoes, medical supplies and other essentials.

“Through our partnership with Turkish Airlines, we are honored to contribute air freight capacity to deliver critical supplies to this region where they are needed the most,” said John Dietrich, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Air Worldwide. “We are moved by the heroic work of first responders and humanitarian organizations to provide relief to the communities impacted by this natural disaster. On behalf of our 5,000 Atlas employees around the world, we are grateful for this opportunity to show our support.”

LATAM Cargo closes Valentine's Day season with positive numbers, increasing by 16% the transportation of flowers from Colombia and Ecuador, compared to the Valentine's season in the previous year, exporting a total of 17,910 tons of this product.

The high demand for flowers triggered by the celebration of this day, prompted the LATAM Group's cargo unit to double the usual frequency of flights from these countries, thus more than doubling the number of tons of flowers transported regularly to the North American market.

To prepare for the growing demand that occurs during this season, LATAM Cargo focused its efforts on providing the air capacity and frequencies needed by its clients, complemented with new cold storage facilities to maintain the ideal temperature required for the flowers to reach their destination in optimal conditions. Along with this, the company increased its staffing in Miami, the main arrival station for these flowers, to ensure an agile and convenient delivery for its clients.

"In 2022 we increased our fleet to 16 freighter aircraft, in addition to increasing our cold storage capacity in Colombia, which this season allowed us to strengthen our offer and thus provide greater transportation capacity for this Valentine’s Day. These results are a reflection of our efforts and collaborative work with our customers to create robust solutions that allow us to continue supporting the growth of the flower industry in Colombia and Ecuador," said LATAM Cargo's International Commercial Director for South America, Claudio Torres.

More than 300 take-offs from Quito, Bogota and Medellin took place during the Valentine's Day season, from January 18th to February 8th, to transport the most representative flowers from these countries to North America, Europe and Oceania.

Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the peak periods for flower exports from Colombia and Ecuador. For this reason, every year LATAM Cargo turns its efforts to meet the high demand that brings this key season for the business.

In the case of Colombia, roses, carnations and chrysanthemums were the main flowers transported this year from the departments of Antioquia and Cundinamarca. The number of tons transported of this product grew by 11% compared to Valentine's Day last year, a positive result for the company considering the heavy rains that affected the production of the flower sector in the country.

On Ecuador’s side, the number of frequencies grew by 50% this season, compared to last year's Valentine's, which allowed exporting more than 7,000 tons of flowers, from which 80% were roses, followed by gypsophilas, to be transported to the main global markets.

Transporting over 4,000 tonnes of flowers all around the world over a two-week period is a logistical prowess that only few airlines can achieve.

And Qatar Airways Cargo is certainly at the top of the list. Exported from two main areas, Latin America (Ecuador and Colombia) and Africa (Uganda and Kenya), the flowers are travelling to 5 major international destinations: USA, Amsterdam (for distribution across Europe), Australia, the Middle East and Japan.

To satisfy the significant demand during this peak time, Qatar Airways Cargo is intensifying the frequency of its flights to increase capacity. This translates into 10 additional B777 freighter flights from Nairobi to Liege and 10 additional flights from Quito to Amsterdam and Miami, on top of the regular cargo and passenger flights. In addition, the carrier is also using road transport services from European airports to Amsterdam where logistics are set up for major consumer countries.

Ensuring that this fragile cargo is handled with the utmost care and delivered on time not only requires a great deal of planning and preparation from the Qatar Airways Cargo team but also a very high degree of expertise and experience. Qatar Airways Cargo has indeed been involved in the transportation of flowers from Nairobi for over 10 years and will be the largest cargo operator there by Valentine's Day 2023. Moreover, always innovating to perfect its level of service, the carrier has implemented an elaborate temperature-controlled forwarding system to guarantee that flowers arrive fresh at their final destination. Because the Valentine’s Day period necessitates considerable coordination to arrange charters with the authorities and to manage the extra volumes and flights, close and constant contact with customers to ensure proper planning of shipments on the respective flight days is also essential.

Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo commented: “In a constantly evolving market, Qatar Airways Cargo has always been able to improve its offering to meet new needs. The launch of The Next Generation, which is accompanied by a new vision of business, is proof of this. Today, in the very demanding period of Valentine’s Day, we are proud to put our expertise and efficiency at the service of our customers.”True to its motto “Moved by People”, Qatar Airways Cargo can be trusted to deliver impeccable service and to guarantee that love will prevail on this special day.

Air Canada Cargo today announced that it has become a member of the Pharma.Aero cross-industry collaboration platform.

Working with other key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical transportation sector, Air Canada Cargo will contribute to and benefit from the group's knowledge and expertise to further develop its handling of pharmaceutical shipments.

“As we continue to expand our freighter fleet and with the continued enhancements to our cold chain handling capabilities, this participation in a new avenue for critical insight into pharmaceutical shipments is an important step forward. Pharma.Aero will increase our ability to collaborate with an ever-growing list of industry experts to share ideas and gather knowledge on ways to further strengthen our expertise in shipping this vital cargo,” said Matthieu Casey, Managing Director – Commercial at Air Canada Cargo.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Air Canada Cargo to our Pharma.Aero global community. As a Canadian, and as a Chairman of Pharma.Aero, I am proud to see Canada enlarging its footprint in our organization, as it is one of the leading countries in Life Science manufacturing. It is our vision and mission, as a cross-industry organization, to have a strong presence on all continents, especially in North America, to get different perspectives of our industry and to offer worldwide visibility to our new members and partners,” said Trevor Caswell, Chairman of Pharma.Aero Board of Directors.

In addition to the cold chain facility, Air Canada Cargo also utilizes an extensive list of industry recognized active containers, including live-monitored, temperature-controlled certified aircraft containers, like the Envirotainer Releye RLP and larger RAP, as part of the AC Absolute solution.

The relationships between ‘arrogant’ container lines and their retailer, manufacturer and other shipper customers must be repaired if supply chain efficiency is to be restored after the chaos of the Covid years, according to leading freight and shipping experts.

Bjorn Vang Jensen, Executive Director, International Transport at Cummins, and formerly Global Head of Logistics at Electrolux and VP Advisory Services at Sea-Intelligence consultancy, said logistics and freight procurement officers would, understandably, find it difficult to “forget and move on”.

But he urged them to do exactly that, despite “the mind-blowing arrogance that almost every single carrier displayed toward shippers as they broke their promises” over the last two years when BCOs (Beneficial Cargo Owners) suffered a perfect storm of historically high freight rates, rolled cargo, customer service failures and the worst global liner schedule reliability ever seen.

Speaking on episode 2 of The Freight Buyers’ Club podcast, produced with the support of Dimerco Express Group, Jensen told host Mike King that shippers must work closely with container lines if they want to deliver on their own promises to customers and avoid further disruption in the future.

“As an operator, yes, you're tasked with saving money, but you are mostly tasked with generating or creating supply chain systems and networks and platforms that can stand the test of time,” he said.

“We're in an industry with short cycles and long memories. Never forget there will come a time when you're no longer in the driver's seat. Get that PTSD, and that vengeance, and that thirst for revenge out of the system, and then move on and revert to being reasonable. It will stand you in good stead.”

Jon Gold, VP for Supply Chain and Customs Policy at the National Retail Federation, also called on shippers to be measured in their approach to container lines. “One of the biggest lessons coming out of the pandemic is the need for better collaboration and better partnerships,” he said.

He called on retailers and other shippers intent on setting up more resilient chains or diversifying sourcing of product away from China to explain their new strategies to carriers to enable them to plan ahead.

“This is where you’ve got to have the carrier talking to their clients to understand what these new [trade] patterns are,” he added.

Advice on ocean contract negotiations

Jensen advised shippers negotiating contracts with container lines that, while no size fits all, a mix of contract lengths and multiple ocean freight partners was a prudent strategy as freight rates fell.

 “If you're an SME or a medium or small shipper, I think you would do well to have a good mix of forwarder and direct carrier contracts right now,” he said. “That was not a strategy that I have ever pursued [before], but I am pursuing it now.”

He added: “Rather than going back to a carrier every month going, ‘The rate just dropped by another 50%, can I have it?’ you can achieve that by having monthly rate adjustments with a forwarder for part of the volume, and then with the carrier you can have different rate adjustments.”

Suitable options, he suggested, might include using an index-linked contract or reviewing terms every three months.

After Maersk and MSC announced they would dissolve the 2M Alliance, Jensen also scotched talk that a break-up of the alliance system could deliver lower costs and more competition for shippers.

He said the make-up of alliances had evolved many times previously and would do so again. They “will not go away”, he added, because operating a full network is very difficult for any single carrier and the alliance system enables lines to optimise capacity, which also works to the advantage of shippers.

“I've never understood those shippers who feel like alliances are evil and, market manipulating and all the other nonsense,” he added. “If people really want to see trouble in the global supply chain, by all means, get rid of the alliances.

“And by the way, your rates are going to go north swiftly as well, for obvious economic reasons.”

Jettainer and VRR, the leading provider of ULD devices, are celebrating their long-standing collaboration with the 100th air horse stall.

The global leader of ULD management, Jettainer, which handles approximately 100,000 ULDs in 500 locations around the world, is constantly refining its service and product portfolio to meet the specific needs of its customers. Its collaboration with ULD manufacturer VRR since 2010 has played an important role in this successful approach.

“We feel very proud that Jettainer is still coming to VRR for its containers after more than a decade of doing business,” says Ben Lakerveld, Sales Manager of VRR. “They deliver top-of-the-line services so we have to deliver top-of-the-line containers. To do so, we also have to keep listening and innovating.”

Until 2019, Jettainer bought mainly HMJ stalls from VRR. It then switched to the collapsible version, which can be folded for lower-deck transportation on return flights. Most of their horse stalls are leased to their parent company, Lufthansa Cargo AG, which provides individualised transportation for Live Animals.

“Every year, our customers fly a four-digit number of horses to all corners of the world,” says Marcus Bezold, Head of Global Handling Performance Management at Lufthansa Cargo AG. “We appreciate Jettainer and VRR's horse container solutions because they guarantee comfortable travel with minimum stress and maximum safety.”

The designs of VRR’s air horse stalls rely heavily on input from equine transporters, and Lufthansa Cargo AG is one of those important collaborators. The airline’s experience in transporting horses by air has helped VRR greatly over the years to engineer quality and innovative containers like the HMR and HML.

“The collaboration with VRR is exceptional and their products meet latest standards. What we like about the collapsible horse stall,” explains Frank Mühlenkamp, Director Global Operations at Jettainer, “is that it cuts down the cost of empty ULD repositioning without compromising the well-being of the horses. It really helps us and our customers maximise fleet utilisation.”

Automation has the potential to exponentially increase efficiency, profitability, and safety in the logistics and manufacturing sectors. So far, the lack of a robust, yet flexible navigation technology has limited the scope and scale of automation in material handling operations.

Furthermore, the AMR manufacturing sector is extremely competitive. Most of its players rely on navigation technologies like 2D LiDAR SLAM or magnetic line following: proven in the field but limited in performance.

To gain a competitive advantage, many AMR manufacturers are looking into new technologies; but often they lack the resources, time, expertise, and talent to develop them.

This industry landscape is now changing with the arrival of the VSLAM navigation technology developed by Sevensense Robotics.

The Alphasense Autonomy Evaluation Kit accelerates the development and deployment of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) while improving their performance and expanding their operational capabilities.

“We observed that many AMR manufacturers considered Alphasense Autonomy as an option to incorporate 3D Visual Autonomy capabilities into their offering but integrating, testing, and validating the fit of this navigation technology in their own vehicles and their use cases still required more expertise and time than they were able to invest without any in-house validation of the technology.

The Alphasense Autonomy Evaluation Kit offers them an off-the-shelf option to easily and quickly test Alphasense Autonomy and take a generational technological leap forward”, says Gianluca Cesari, CBDO at Sevensense Robotics.

Dutch tank storage company Vopak is acquiring the shares of Gunvor Petroleum Antwerp from commodity trader Gunvor Group Ltd (“Gunvor”), giving it access to the Gunvor concession in the Antwerp port area.

Vopak is committed to sustainably redeveloping the site. For example, together with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, the company will focus on joint development/implementation to support renewable energy. This is another important step towards a climate-neutral economy.

The site is some 105 hectares in size and offers deep-sea, river, road and rail access, as well as pipeline connections to Northwest Europe. The adjacent and future pipelines are suitable for transporting i.a. propylene, ethylene, CO2 and hydrogen.

Vopak will reconfigure the concession with the primary aim of making a positive contribution to the decarbonisation of the industrial cluster on the Antwerp port platform. Where necessary, soil remediation will take place in close consultation with internal and external experts and authorities. Furthermore, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and Vopak will continue their discussions to structure their common strategic ambition, which is to jointly develop a new green energy hub.

Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp-Bruges: “As Port of Antwerp-Bruges, we’re very pleased that Vopak has found expansion opportunities on the Gunvor site. This Dutch global player has been an established value on the Antwerp port platform for many years and will continue to focus on green ammonia, sustainable fuels and finer chemical products at the new site.Not only does this allow Vopak to continue to grow within our port in line with the strategy of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, but we’re also demonstrating how, as a port, we’re shaping the energy transition together with businesses.”

Annick De Ridder, Vice-Mayor of the City of Antwerp and President of the board of directors of Port of Antwerp-Bruges: "The collaboration with Vopak fits perfectly with Port of Antwerp-Bruges' ambition to become the energy gateway to Europe as a 'green port'. That this global player that has been anchored in our port for years can now sustainably expand within Europe's largest petrochemical cluster is excellent news. In this way, the Dutch company Vopak makes Flanders' economic engine continue to turn swiftly."

Patrick van der Voort, President Europe & Africa, Royal Vopak: “We’re very pleased to have access to this prime location in Europe’s leading petrochemical cluster. It offers us a unique opportunity to implement our strategy, forge new partnerships and support the industry in its decarbonisation by developing critical infrastructure. The site’s extensive size, strategic location and connectivity to Northwest Europe offer unparalleled opportunities.”

Shahb Richyal, Global Head of Portfolio, Gunvor: "Since rescuing GPA from insolvency in 2012, Gunvor has been committed to operating the refinery and terminal as a responsible tenant and employer in the Port of Antwerp. Over many years of operations, Gunvor invested considerably in the asset, and even through the mothballing process and subsequent cessation of all activities sought to ensure that all stakeholders and employees were treated fairly, and that the environment remained respected. By reaching an agreement with Vopak for the acquisition of the shares of GPA, Gunvor is ensuring the site will have a new future under responsible leadership".