Lufthansa Cargo
Contact info
-
Frankfurt Airport
Gate 25
Building 451
Frankfurt
D-60546
Germany
Tel: +49 (69) 6969 1123
Fax: +49 (69) 6969 1185
lhcargo@dlh.de
www.lufthansa-cargo.com
Senior Management
| Chairman & CEO - Lufthansa | Wolfgang Mayrhuber |
| Chairman - Lufthansa Cargo AG | Carsten Spohr |
| Marketing & Sales - Lufthansa Cargo AG | Dr. Andreas Otto |
| Finance & Human Resources - Lufthansa Cargo AG | Dr. Roland Busch |
| Operations - Lufthansa Cargo AG | Karl-Heinz Kopfle |
Ownership
Brief Profile
Lufthansa Cargo is the freight division of the Lufthansa Group. As well as offering air freight services, Lufthansa Cargo provides additional logistics services including the arrangement of ground transportation for customers' air freight.
Lufthansa Cargo operates a fleet of 19 Boeing MD11F freighters. In addition to its own freighter services, the company manages the cargo capacity of its parent's passenger aircraft as well as marketing the belly capacity of all passenger aircraft operated by Lufthansa Passenger Airlines and the capacities of Jade Cargo International from Europe.
It operates from a hub in Frankfurt and from major bases in Cologne and Munich, Germany; New York; and Shanghai.
Lufthansa Cargo's global network is served by cargo and passenger aircraft and by commissioned truck companies. The company is also a member of the WOW alliance, which includes the cargo units of Japan Airlines, SAS, and Singapore Airlines.
In 2008, the company had revenues of 2.9bn.
Strategy
2009
One of Lufthansa Cargo's strategic focal points lies on strengthening market access to the growth regions in China. The company has had a successful presence in China for a long time through its equity investment in the Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal (PACTL). Lufthansa Cargo is also well positioned in the booming economic region on the Pearl River Delta in China, due to its stake in the International Cargo Center Shenzhen (ICCS) and shares in the cargo airline Jade Cargo International.
The company's involvement in China has given Lufthansa Cargo a good platform from which to benefit from future economic growth and also to service traffic flows from Asia to other regions.
2008
Deutsche Lufthansa AG's cargo unit planned to build its own freight alliance combining its Chinese unit Jade Cargo and Swiss World Cargo with Aerologic, which it owned along with Deutsche Post AG. The new group, which was expected to be ready for operation in 2010, would have 36 airfreight planes and the use of freight space in 400 passenger planes.
Lufthansa Cargo wanted to grow asset-light so the joint foundation of a new cargo airline with the Deutsche Post World Net subsidiary DHL Express fitted into this approach.
In October 2007, Lufthansa Cargo moved its freighter traffic from Cologne to Leipzig, where DHL Express had set up its European express hub.
The new company AeroLogic was set to commence operations from Leipzig in 2009, deploying 11 new Boeing B777-200LRF cargo aircraft. This joint venture strengthened Lufthansa Cargo's position in the increasing competition between cargo companies and also with respect to integrators such as FedEx and UPS.
2009
September - Lufthansa was threatening to close its fleet of freighter aircraft if restrictions on night flights were imposed on its hub at Frankfurt. The CEO of Lufthansa Cargo was quoted commenting to Reuter's journalists just before the weekend that it might no longer pay to have its own cargo fleet. He was responding to a German court judgement on the service limitations around the expansion of Frankfurt airport. In order to calm opposition to the growth of the airport, politicians in the State of Hesse agreed to limit the number of night flights to just 17. Lufthansa challenged this condition, but the court rejected the airline's objection stating that the local politicians had the right to agree to such limitations.
The problem for Lufthansa cargo specifically was that it would receive few if any of the allotted 17 slots, with passenger services invariably being higher up the queue. This would severely curtail the viability of Lufthansa's freight hub at Frankfurt and therefore Lufthansa's freighter fleet.
Lufthansa had been unusual amongst major airlines in its commitment to cargo services but also in the degree of reliance it placed in cargo aircraft. Almost half of its capacity was in its fleet of 19 freighters with the rest in belly-freight. Therefore any move away from freighters would be a significant change in corporate strategy as well as having a sizeable impact on the air freight market. This suggested that its comments may in part be a threat designed to sway the politicians of Hesse as a much as a real assessment of Lufthansa's future fleet options.
It was unclear what implications any reduction in the freighter fleet would have on Lufthansa's other freight operations, such as AeroLogic, its joint venture with DHL which also operated its own aircraft but whose hub was based in Leipzig, in eastern Germany.
2008
In the second quarter, Lufthansa Cargo and Krasnoyarsk Airport signed an agreement on strategic collaboration. This would enable Lufthansa Cargo to use the Siberian airport of
Krasnoyarsk for stopovers on its flights to and from Asia from the middle of 2009.
2007
Lufthansa Cargo's aim is to generate average annual growth of five per cent in the next few years by expanding its partnerships and taking advantage of any expansion in the airfreight market. Lufthansa Cargo's focus is on the Asian growth markets, first and foremost China and India. The company had several aims for 2007:
- Do its utmost to bring about a practicable nightflight ruling at Frankfurt Airport.
- Focus on standard cargo/BUPs (Bulk Unitization Programme), and express freight.
- Continue modernisation of buildings and technologies at the Frankfurt location and work on improving infrastructure.
- Increase the presence of Lufthansa Cargo at Frankfurt Airport's CargoCity Sόd.
- On the international front, intensify partnerships.
In the 2007 financial year, Lufthansa Cargo anticipated an operating profit well in excess of earnings in 2006 which were depressed by non-recurring items. Operating earnings are to be boosted yet further at this higher level in 2008.
Strategic History
During the past decade Lufthansa has been transformed from a functionally structured monolithic airline company into an aviation group with several business segments.
| Lufthansa Portfolio Management |
 |
| Source: Lufthansa |
The Passenger Transportation Business segment is the Group's central business segment in terms of both core competencies and size. The relevance of the other business segments depends on the extent to which they reinforce the competitiveness of the passenger business by providing supportive functions for essential production factors and infrastructures. This determines the course of development and their lasting affiliation to the Group.
| Focus on Passenger Business |
 |
| Source: Lufthansa |
Lufthansa Cargo has focused its products and processes on the needs of the shippers and they have worked to reduce the complexity of the offer with fewer products, fewer product and process options and quick and easy to use booking systems.
The premium products have been expanded to include the fast-growing standard segment and the share of load units pre-constructed by the shipper has been increased considerably. This allows cost reductions with sustained increases in production quality.
As Europe's largest cargo airport, Frankfurt is to be expanded and developed further and Lufthansa Cargo still assumes practicable night-flight regulations for Frankfurt airport.
The freight company responded to the structural changes in the airfreight industry with a strategy entitled "Excellence + Growth" launched in early 2004. As a result extensive activities have been initiated, in particular the re-alignment of the company as a process-oriented organisation with pronounced customer orientation. Within the framework of "Excellence + Growth", administration and management have been reduced. By the end of 2005, around 400 jobs had been cut.
The focus lies on cost reductions when purchasing services and on network optimisation, sales growth, improving revenues and pay settlements.
Customers
During 2005 Nippon Express Co. Ltd became a new member of the Lufthansa Cargo Global Programme. Twelve worldwide active shippers belong to this customer loyalty programme with which Lufthansa cargo conducts around 45% of its business.
The companies included: ABX, DHL Global Forwarding, EGL, DHL Exel Supply Chain, Geologistics, Hellmann, Kuhne + Nagel, Nippon Express, Panalpina, Schenker, UPS, UTI.
The focus of this group is on growing together in the market, creating synergies in sales, reducing transaction costs and pushing important subjects such as automation of business processes.
Finances
2008
2007
In March 2008 one of the market's leading players, Lufthansa Cargo, still appeared optimistic about its own prospects, despite recent suggestions in some quarters of tougher times to come in 2008 for the international air cargo industry.
During a briefing held in Frankfurt, Germany, to discuss what the German carrier claimed were its generally strong 2007 operating results, senior executives suggested that Lufthansa Cargo was expecting to continue that "positive trend" in 2008. "In fiscal 2008, Lufthansa Cargo expects to build on the good operating results which it returned in 2007."
On the financial side, those "good operating" results for 2007 included a 66% jump in the organisation's operating profit, compared with the previous year, to 135.6m, even though revenue dropped by just under 4% to 2.74bn.
Traffic-wise, Lufthansa Cargo transported 1.8m tonnes of freight and mail in 2007, an increase of 2.6% on the previous year. The carrier's overall cargo load factor was up by 1.4 percentage points to 69.1%.
However, Lufthansa Cargo's senior management also referred, directly or indirectly, to a range of problems confronting the industry. Inevitably, there was mention of "uncertainty in the international finance markets and high oil prices". They also admitted that Asia's share in total traffic revenue was down "owing to declining yields".
One key element of Lufthansa Cargo's approach to dealing with such problems had been strict cost control - the workforce was trimmed again in 2007 and major efforts had been made to improve the fuel use efficiency of its 19 MD11 freighters.
Another was its strategy of combining capacity from several companies under one roof, including that of its own freighter operations, the bellyhold space on the 400 aircraft of parent passenger airline Lufthansa, Sino-German joint all-cargo carrier Jade Cargo International and the recently-formed AeroLogic joint venture (with DHL Express) cargo carrier. Such a set-up, claimed Lufthansa Cargo, provided the organisation with great flexibility when it came to matching capacity with demand.
The big question, of course, was if the general air freight market did suffer the sort of slowdown recently suggested by the International Air Transport Association for example, would such strategies be sufficient to enable Lufthansa Cargo to buck the trend?
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |||
| Revenues | 2563.60 m | 2437.60 m | 2350.00 m | 2165.40 m | 2468.50 m | 2752.50 m | 2844.90 m | 2736.10 m | 2907.00 m | ||
| Operating Profit | 227.50 m | 65.00 m | 640.00 m | 36.00 m | 52.00 m | 108.00 m | 81.50 m | 135.60 m | 164.00 m | ||
| Margin | 8.87 % | 2.67 % | 27.23 % | 1.66 % | 2.11 % | 3.92 % | 2.88 % | 4.96 % | 5.64 % | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa Cargo, Last update: 13/03/2009 | |||||||||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa Cargo |
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | |||
| Passenger Transportation | 18393.00 m | ||
| Logistics( Lufthansa Cargo) | 2907.00 m | ||
| MRO | 3717.00 m | ||
| IT Services | 657.00 m | ||
| Catering | 2325.00 m | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 06/04/2009 | |||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | |||
| Africa | 6.10 | ||
| South America | 8.70 | ||
| Europe | 11.90 | ||
| North America | 24.50 | ||
| Middle East | 2.10 | ||
| Asia Pacific | 46.70 | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | |||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
Note: Revenues from 2001-2004 converted at 1=$1.21 Revenues for 2005 and 2006 converted at 1=1.47. 2007 Revenue converted at 1=$1.58. Revenues for 2008 converted at 1=$1.28610.
|
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |||
| Revenue | 2949.00 m | 2844.00 m | 2615.00 m | 2987.00 m | 4058.00 m | 4195.00 m | 4311.00 m | 3739.00 m | ||
| Volume | 7081.00 RTKm | 7158.00 RTKm | 7089.00 RTKm | 7961.00 RTKm | 7829.00 RTKm | 8103.00 RTKm | 8451.00 RTKm | 8283.00 RTKm | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | ||||||||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
2008
In March 2009 the Lufthansa Group announced that it had generated revenues totalling 24.9bn, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%. The traffic revenue rose by 13.8% to 20bn. Besides the full consolidation of SWISS in the first half of 2008, this was mainly due to the increased passenger figures with currency adjusted higher average revenues in the Passenger Transportation business segment. During the reporting period, the Group's operating income increased by altogether 12.1% to 27bn.
Operating expenses rose to 25.6bn during the past year, mainly as a result of the rise in fuel costs to 5.4bn. This was equivalent to an increase of 39.3%. This increase was due to price and quantity-related factors, as well as the change in the scope of consolidation with the full consolidation of SWISS in the first half of 2008.
The Group recorded an operating result of 1.35bn in 2008, 24m less in comparison with the record figure in 2007. The decline can mainly be attributed to the negative developments in the Passenger Transportation business segment. The Group posted a result of 599m. Last year this figure was at 1.7bn, however, it included 503m of profit from the sale of the shares in Thomas Cook, as well as book gains of 82m from the repurchase of own stock by WAM Acquisition S.A.
Lufthansa's capital expenditure during the reporting period totalled 2.2bn, of which 1.3bn were spent on the expansion and modernisation of the fleet and 214m were spent on the acquisition of a minority stake in the JetBlue Airways Corporation on 22 January 2008. Operating cash flow totalled 2.5bn.
2007
In March 2008 the Lufthansa Group reported revenues for 2007 22.4bn representing growth of 13%. Traffic revenue increased by 14.4% to 17.6bn. As of the third quarter of 2007, the figures also included the first time consolidation in the Group accounts of SWISS International Air Lines for the July to December period.
Lufthansa posted an operating result of 1.4bn for 2007. This represented an increase of 63.1%. The increase by two percentage points in comparison with the previous year reflects the good performance in all the business segments.
The Group posted book gains of about 503m from the sale of its shares in Thomas Cook AG. The Group result consequently rose to 1.7bn (803m).
Lufthansa invested a total of 1.4bn in 2007, of which more than 1.1bn were invested in the purchase of new aircraft.
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |||
| Revenue | 15200.00 m | 16690.00 m | 16971.00 m | 15957.00 m | 16965.00 m | 18065.00 m | 19849.00 m | 22420.00 m | 24870.00 m | ||
| Operating Result | 1042.00 m | 28.00 m | 718.00 m | 36.00 m | 383.00 m | 577.00 m | 845.00 m | 1378.00 m | 1354.00 m | ||
| Margin | 6.86 % | 0.17 % | 4.23 % | 0.23 % | 2.26 % | 3.19 % | 4.25 % | 6.14 % | 5.44 % | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | |||||||||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
2006
2005
In the 2005 financial year the logistics group were able to implement higher prices and thus stabalise average revenues. They improved also because of the fuel price surcharges by 10.8%. As a result the logistics group increased traffic revenue by 10.2% at 2.6bn. sales increased from 2.5bn to 2.8bn (+11.5%). Revenue from partial chartering to other airlines also grew to $54.6m. Together with other segment income of 144m, total segment income grew to 2.9bn.
Segment costs grew disproportionately and increased by 6.9% to 2.7bn. Due to the extreme fuel price increases, material costs grew by 11.3% to 1.8bn. Charter costs also rose considerably because of the additional charter requirements for the DHL J/V.
In the 2005 fiscal year the Logistics Group posted operating results of 108m which was a 74m improvement on the previous year. The measures for minimising costs in their "Excellence + Growth" strategy were critical to this result. The segment result of 152m was also considerably better than the previous year when only 59m was achieved.
2004
In April 2005 Lufthansa Cargo reported an operating profit of 33.5m in 2004, an improvement of 50m on 2003 when it made an operating loss of 16m. Turnover grew strongly by 14% to 2.47bn, tonnage rose 10.7% to 1.75m tons of cargo and mail, and volumes increased 12.3% to 7,961 freight ton kilometers transported (FTKs). As a result, the load factor improved by 1.4 percentage points to 67%. Growth was driven by the recovering world economy, the DHL intercontinental joint venture launched last spring, the takeover of US Airways' freight capacity on ex-Europe flights, rising sales through the WOW alliance network and new cargo management contracts for several regional passenger airlines. But profits were hit by a 36% rise in fuel costs to 332m and the continued rise in the euro, in which the airline has 40% of its revenues but 62% of its costs. Moreover, average yields dropped as much as 10%.
For 2005, Lufthansa Cargo chairman Jean-Peter Jansen said growth would be lower than in 2004 due to the slow German air cargo market, rising fuel costs, the high euro exchange rate and continuing pressure on yields because of imbalanced traffic flows. CFO Stephan Gemkow said the airline hoped for improved profits and noted yields had been stabilized in recent months. The airline will focus this year on further revenue improvement and cost reduction measures under its Excellence + Growth program that is designed to contribute 233m to the bottom line by the end of 2006. This includes reducing staff levels by the equivalent of 480 full-time jobs by end-2006.
On plans for cargo cooperation with Swiss Worldcargo as part of the Swiss acquisition by Deutsche Lufthansa, Jansen said the two sides would seek the highest possible level of synergies but did not disclose any firm plans. The much smaller Swiss Worldcargo, whose financial results are not disclosed, generated revenues of CHF 442m in 2004. It transported 208,165 tonnes, generated traffic volume of about 1.14bn FTKs and achieved a load factor of 86.3%. In addition to marketing bellyhold capacity on Swiss passenger aircraft, it offers freighter capacity in cooperation with several international airlines, including Korean Air Cargo. Based on 2003 world air cargo market share figures, Lufthansa Cargo (7%) and Swiss Worldcargo (1.3%) would jointly still remain behind the Air France-KLM group, the new international air cargo market leader with a combined market share of about 8.8%.
Lufthansa Cargo also announced that the new Chinese airline Jade Cargo International, in which it owns 25%, would launch scheduled flights within China and to Asian destinations from its Shenzhen base this autumn with three freighter aircraft. The freighter type has not yet been decided. The planned launch in spring 2005 with charter flights had to be delayed due to changes to Chinese aviation laws.
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2007 | |||
| Passenger | 12667.00 m | 14798.00 m | ||
| Freight & Mail | 2687.00 m | 2770.00 m | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | ||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||
| Germany | 3.20 % | 3.00 % | 3.10 % | ||
| The Americas | 29.70 % | 29.40 % | 32.70 % | ||
| Africa/Middle East | 7.70 % | 7.90 % | 7.80 % | ||
| Europe | 10.30 % | 9.80 % | 9.90 % | ||
| Asia Pacific | 49.10 % | 49.90 % | 46.50 % | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa Cargo, Last update: 13/03/2009 | |||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa Cargo |
2006
In March 2007 the Lufthansa Group reported revenues of 19.8bn in 2006, representing growth of 9.9 per cent. Traffic revenue increased by 10.4 per cent to 15.4bn. There was a significant rise in the average yields during the reporting period. An increase of 5.2 per cent was registered across the board for all traffic segments.
Other operating income dropped by 9.4 per cent to 1.4bn, in comparison to last year. when higher book gains of around 245m were included, mainly due to the sale of shares in Amadeus and Loyalty Partner.
The operating expenses rose by 6.9 per cent to 20.3bn with the significantly higher cost of kerosene again a major cost factor. A total of 3.4bn was spent on fuel during the reporting period, equivalent to a year-on-year rise of 26 per cent or 693m.
The Lufthansa Group improved its operating profit for 2006 by 46.4 per cent to 845m and the Group result after tax rose by 77.3 per cent to a new record level of 803m. Investments increased to 1.9bn and, as during the previous years, could once again be financed entirely from cash flow.
2005
In March 2006 Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest airline, reported that operating profit was 577m in calendar year 2005, up 51 percent from 383m the previous year.
The German carrier credited strong passenger growth in Asia and a doubling of cargo earnings that outweighed soaring fuel prices. It expects this year's profit to match or exceed 2005 results.
Operations
Lufthansa Cargo has a fleet of 19 Boeing MD-11 freighters and serves a global network of destinations with its freighters, passenger-aircraft belly capacities and road trucking services. The bulk of the tonnage is trans-shipped through the Lufthansa Cargo Center at Frankfurt Airport.
Lufthansa Cargo employs 4,655 people throughout its global operations and is headquartered in Frankfurt in Germany.
Lufthansa Cargo offers capacities on its own 19 MD-11 freighters as well as the capacities at Jade Cargo, at AeroLogic in Leipzig and the belly capacities on some 400 passenger aircraft operated by Lufthansa and SWISS. These are supplemented by capacities at the Lufthansa Cargo Charter Agency, cargo:counts GmbH, the partner airlines and worldwide road-feeder services.
Lufthansa Cargo has further airline cooperation agreements with SAS Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Japan Airlines Cargo, Air China Cargo, Eva Air Cargo, Lan Cargo and South African Airways Cargo.
| Lufthansa Cargo Destinations |
 |
| Source: Lufthansa |
| Freighter Destinations in China |
 |
| Source: Lufthansa Cargo |
| European Freighter Gateways to China |
 |
| Source: Lufthansa Cargo |
|
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |||
| Load Factor | 65.60 % | 67.00 % | 65.00 % | 67.70 % | 67.40 % | 62.90 % | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | ||||||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
2008
Traffic to and especially from America developed positively in the first half-year. Negative exchange rate effects from the US dollar and declining volumes were more than made up for in the rates. However, it was not possible to stabilise the load factor in 2008. It sank by 6.2%. Traffic revenue also increased, by 12.8% compared with the previous year.
In the Europe traffic region capacity was reduced by 12.7% year on year, which stabilised the load factor. Traffic revenue nevertheless declined by 7.6%.
Traffic flows to and from Asia were varied. This was the result of the sharp economic downturn in the region. Asia was also characterised by a structural and growing imbalance in traffic flows. The fall in sales could not be made up for by capacity adjustments and the load factor therefore fell by 2.6%. Sinking average yields and adverse currency effects were offset by rising fuel surcharges, and traffic revenue improved by 4.5%.
2007
Competition was becoming particularly intense in Asia, Lufthansa Cargo's most important market, with increasing overcapacity and a decline in average yields that have reinforced the imbalance in traffic flows.
The second most important market after Asia is Europe, which Lufthansa Cargo serves using the freight capacities of Lufthansa Passenger Airlines and pan-European road transport. Due to short transit times, freight from its customers could be sent to any continent from the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and Leipzig mainly over night.
North America average yields were remaining relatively stable despite the property crisis and a flattening of growth as it built up and sold its capacity to the USA.
2006
Lufthansa Cargo carried 1.76m tonnes of freight and mail in 2006, an increase of 1.3%. Sales rose on slightly reduced capacity by 3.5%, with the result that the cargo load factor grew by 2.7% to 67.7%. Overall utilisation of capacity on passenger and cargo aircraft was up by 1.4% to 72.1%.
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |||
| America | 463000.00 | 501000.00 | 483000.00 | ||
| Asia Pacific | 461000.00 | 477000.00 | 466000.00 | ||
| Africa/Middle East | 108.00 | 103.00 | 114000.00 | ||
| Europe | 727.00 | 724.00 | 634000.00 | ||
| Export to Excel Source: Lufthansa, Last update: 13/03/2009 | |||||
|
|
| Source: Lufthansa |
2010
February - Lufthansa Cargo was under threat from a four day strike by its own pilots and that of its parent company, Lufthansa. The German carrier, which was one of the world's largest air freight carriers, had weathered the recession better than many of its rivals, however the threatened industrial action could have been a significant blow to its business. It was also part of a wave of labour unrest hitting many of the established airlines as they attempted to restructure their cost base in the face of a severe recession in the sector.
The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, was threatening to bring all of its 4,500 members out on strike (Monday, 22 February), until Thursday of that week over a dispute concerning the use of non-German subsidiaries. These subsidiaries offered Lufthansa the option of cheaper wage costs and the union fears Lufthansa would increasingly use them instead of services operated by German staff. The pilots' union was demanding that all Lufthansa pilots were given the same pay and conditions, something which the company was not very willing to do. Instead it had offered its pilots in the German part of Lufthansa job security until 2012.
The airline had said that the strike could cost it as much as 100m. It was also considering legal action to stop the strike going ahead. Lufthansa says that although subsidiaries such as Lufthansa Cargo would be affected, operations by its non-German companies would not, enabling a proportion of flights to operate as normal.
The impact of such as strike on the air freight market worldwide would be significant. Although certainly not occupying a dominant position, Lufthansa provided substantial capacity in many airfreight routes such as Europe to China. The effect of a sudden withdrawal of this capacity was likely to push-up rates aggressively. The beneficiaries of this would be other air freight carriers, although freight forwarders may be left scrambling for space.
The direction of the market out of the Asia Pacific region had been uncertain after the big increases in volumes and rates prior to Christmas. The Lufthansa strike may have acted to continue driving up rates, if only in the short-term.
2009
September - Lufthansa was threatening to close its fleet of freighter aircraft if restrictions on night flights were imposed on its hub at Frankfurt. The CEO of Lufthansa Cargo was quoted commenting to Reuter's journalists just before the weekend that it might no longer pay to have its own cargo fleet. He was responding to a German court judgement on the service limitations around the expansion of Frankfurt airport. In order to calm opposition to the growth of the airport, politicians in the State of Hesse agreed to limit the number of night flights to just 17. Lufthansa challenged this condition, but the court rejected the airline's objection stating that the local politicians had the right to agree to such limitations.
The problem for Lufthansa cargo specifically was that it would receive few if any of the allotted 17 slots, with passenger services invariably being higher up the queue. This would severely curtail the viability of Lufthansa's freight hub at Frankfurt and therefore Lufthansa's freighter fleet.
Lufthansa had been unusual amongst major airlines in its commitment to cargo services but also in the degree of reliance it placed in cargo aircraft. Almost half of its capacity was in its fleet of 19 freighters with the rest in belly-freight. Therefore any move away from freighters would be a significant change in corporate strategy as well as having a sizeable impact on the air freight market. This suggested that its comments may in part be a threat designed to sway the politicians of Hesse as a much as a real assessment of Lufthansa's future fleet options.
It was unclear what implications any reduction in the freighter fleet would have on Lufthansa's other freight operations, such as AeroLogic, its joint venture with DHL which also operated its own aircraft but whose hub was based in Leipzig, in eastern Germany.
August - Lufthansa Cargo added a range of destinations in the USA and southern Europe to its network. The network extension included Athens, Greece and the airline had commenced a once-weekly flight on Thursdays ex Frankfurt using an MD-11F. From there, it will fly via Mumbai to Hong Kong.
In addition, the routing Frankfurt - Istanbul - Frankfurt would be served five times a week after a short stoppage and on Saturdays, an additional stopover in Athens would be implemented. The A300F freighter used offered a capacity of 40 tonnes. As previously it would continue serving Athens with belly capacities on Lufthansa passenger aircraft and ad-hoc road services from Frankfurt and Munich Airports.
From August, Lufthansa would launch twice-weekly flights out of Frankfurt to Seattle on the US West Coast on Thursdays and Saturdays. They would be routed through Seattle en-route to Los Angeles.
Additionally Lufthansa Cargo was expanding its services to South America with a daily connection to Viracopos/Brazil. New flights on Mondays would also be available to Bogota/Colombia, raising the frequencies to the southern coast of South America to thrice-weekly. An additional second stopover weekly in Curitiba would come into the timetable from August.
Finally Lufthansa Cargo would be offering a once a week connection to the Mexican city of Guadalajara (GDL). The flight would operate from Frankfurt via Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Guadalajara and again via Dallas back to Frankfurt.
"The newcomers to the network in Europe, the USA, South and Middle America will strengthen the position of Lufthansa Cargo in those markets and offer our customers attractive connections to strong growth regions," commented the Senior Vice President Network and Product Management at Lufthansa Cargo AG. "Moreover, they show how fast and flexibly we are harnessing opportunities in a difficult market environment so as to emerge from the crisis as a reliable and future-proof partner for our customers."
January - Lufthansa Cargo confirmed previously-indicated plans to put many of its staff on short-time working.
In a statement the German air cargo carrier said about 2,600 ground employees in Germany would be put on short-time working from March 1. It reported that a company agreement to that effect had been signed in Frankfurt on February 12 by the Lufthansa Cargo Executive Board and the Works Council. "The envisaged measures will enable the company to adapt its staffing capacities flexibly to accommodate declining demand in the air cargo business," it stated.
Lufthansa Cargo said that under the terms of the agreement, which had been concluded for an initial period of 12 months until February 28, 2010, working hours for all ground staff (including non-pay-scale employees) would be reduced by 20%. Staff on short-time working would be guaranteed 90% of their last net pay.
The Lufthansa Cargo Executive Board Member Finance and Human Resources, commented: "As soon as the air cargo market picks up again, we can relax the measures. If, however, the demand situation becomes more acute, we can adjust the short-term working measures upwards."
Lufthansa Cargo said corresponding negotiations were currently being conducted with representatives of the carrier's cockpit staff. In addition, senior executives and members of the Executive Board would take a voluntary pay cut with the introduction of short-term working.
January - Lufthansa Cargo was set to introduce short-time working in response to the global slump in that traffic and resulting cutbacks in its own freighter service operations.
In a statement issued the German air cargo carrier said its Executive Board had reached an agreement on that move with the company's Works Council. The details of a corresponding company accord were to be hammered out by a negotiating commission "as soon as possible".
The Lufthansa Cargo Chairman, stated: "Short-time would affect around 2,600 employees of the Lufthansa cargo carrier in Germany. The envisaged measures will allow the company to adapt staffing capacities flexibly to accommodate declining demand.
"Demand for air freight capacities has fallen sharply, worldwide. The production halt in diverse industries has hit the entire international logistics business - and especially the air cargo industry.
"After scaling back our freighter capacities, flexible adjustment of staffing capacities has become inevitable in the company's present situation. We are nevertheless confident that we will be able to safeguard all jobs at Lufthansa Cargo."
Lufthansa Cargo pointed out that its freight tonnage had "plummeted" by 21.4% in December compared with December 2007. "Demand was still at a low level after the turn of the year owing to longer works holidays over Christmas, production cutbacks and short-time work in an array of industries."
2008
December - Lufthansa Cargo was cutting its global freighter capacity by about 10%. In a separate development, the German organisation was taking over the marketing of most of the ex-Asia freighter flights operated by Chinese joint venture carrier Jade Cargo International*.
In a statement Lufthansa Cargo said it was "flexibly adapting capacity to declining demand". "Freighter capacities are to be reduced by around 10% on January 1, 2009."
Simultaneously, continued Lufthansa Cargo, the carrier would reduce its cooperation with World Airways, which up to now had operated two MD-11Fs and a B747-400F on its behalf. "Those routes will in future be served by B747-400ERF aircraft in the fleet of the German-Chinese air freight carrier Jade Cargo International."
Lufthansa Cargo Chairman said the German operator was adapting capacity "in the face of increasingly difficult economic conditions and a distinct falloff in demand". "We will continue operating all our 19 MD-11 freighters, while utilising the capacity adjustments to further improve our quality, reliability and punctuality."
Against the background of current market conditions, stated Lufthansa Cargo, it and Jade Cargo International would step up their cooperation at the beginning of 2009. "The crane-emblemed carrier (Lufthansa Cargo) is taking over the marketing of the bulk of flights operated ex-Asia by its subsidiary (Jade) from January 1, 2009. It has been responsible for marketing Jade Cargo capacities ex Europe since March 2008."
Lufthansa Cargo pointed out that from mid-2009, it would also have access to capacity on the new B777-200LRF freighters in the fleet of new DHL Express/Lufthansa Cargo joint venture carrier AeroLogic. That venture would begin operations with a delay of several months due to delayed aircraft deliveries from Boeing.
*Lufthansa Cargo has a 25% stake in Jade Cargo International and Chinese carrier Shenzhen Airlines 51%. The other 24% is owned by German financial institution DEG.
December - Lufthansa Cargo announced the planned launch of a new multimodal AirShip service from Europe to a number of destinations in Australia on January 1.
The German carrier said shipments flown daily from Europe to Shenzhen (China) and Hong Kong could in future be shipped on from there by sea to the Australian metropolises of Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
"Fast and seamless transition of cargo shipments from aircraft to ship is guaranteed by new AirShipCentres in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Transport from start-to-finish will be operated under a single air waybill number," stated Lufthansa Cargo.
Lufthansa Cargo Vice President Europe/Africa explained that AirShip transport was an addition to the carrier's td.Pro service for general cargo. "With it, we are offering customers a reliable, high-quality transport solution to Australia, which ideally combines the time and cost advantages of air and sea freight," he claimed.
Lufthansa Cargo Vice President Asia-Pacific, added: "Simultaneously, we are accommodating growing demand on the Australian continent and strengthening the cargo hub in Shenzhen of our Jade Cargo International subsidiary."
Lufthansa Cargo said shipments currently took between six and eight weeks on the sea route from Europe to Asia. "The AirShip service reduces transit time for Lufthansa Cargo customers substantially to between 14 and 18 days. With the multimodal transport solution, they profit additionally from lower costs for tied-up capital and insurance."
August - Lufthansa Cargo announced two new but unrelated developments - the imminent integration of the business activities of current 100% subsidiary cargo counts GmbH and an expansion of its security measures in the US.
Commenting on the first move, Lufthansa Cargo stated that at the beginning of 2009, it would take over responsibility for the business activities of cargo counts GmbH, including its staff and customers. Within the context of a merger with Lufthansa Cargo, continued the carrier, the supplier of total cargo management would be dissolved at the end of the year.
The chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo, commented: "Through the integration of cargo counts we are provided with operational synergy effects and will further increase the economic efficiency of Lufthansa Cargo Group."
Lufthansa Cargo originally hived off cargo counts as an independent company in September 2003. Its customers mainly include tourist airlines like Condor or Sun Express. In addition, cargo counts markets the capacities of Italian airline AirOne and of Croatia Airlines. Customers of Lufthansa Cargo also have access to those networks.
Regarding security measures in the US, Lufthansa Cargo said it would "shortly" install state-of-the-art explosive trace detection systems at all the destinations it served in that market − New York; Newark, NJ; Boston; Philadelphia; Washington, DC; Detroit; Charlotte; Orlando; Miami; Houston; Chicago; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Atlanta; Denver; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Los Angeles.
Lufthansa Cargo pointed out that in 2007, the US Congress had mandated that within three years, all cargo transported on passenger aircraft must be 100% screened. The regulation was to be implemented in phases: 50% of all shipments must be checked by February 2009 and all shipments by August 2010.
Lufthansa Cargo said it would be utilising the new equipment ahead of that schedule, from the third quarter of 2008. Additionally, the carrier has transformed its bases in Chicago and Los Angeles into 'security hubs'.
August - German carrier Lufthansa Cargo issued a statement claiming that operations at its main hub, Frankfurt, were "running smoothly without major delays" despite the indefinite strike action by some freight handling staff, Lufthansa passenger ground service personnel and aircraft cabin crew, which began earlier this week.
Outside Frankfurt, Lufthansa Cargo admitted there were "major problems" at Hamburg airport "because of the relatively high participation in the walkout there" but claimed the strike had so far had only a "little impact" on its other stations in Germany. The cargo organisation also stated that its MD11 freighter operations out of both Frankfurt and Leipzig had so far operated normally, with no cancellations or delays, and it expected that pattern to continue both last night and today.
However, during the course of yesterday there were signs that the strike, organised by the ver.di trade union in support of a pay claim, was having an increasing impact on Lufthansa's passenger services, with a number of German domestic, intra-European and longhaul flights being cancelled. Commenting on the impact of that on bellyhold cargo operations, Lufthansa Cargo stated yesterday that it had to date re-booked cargo on earlier or later flight connections or switched shipments to road feeder services in its German and European network.
Lufthansa Cargo also stated that in light of the strike action, Lufthansa's passenger division had adapted its flight schedules for the next five days and issued a special timetable for German domestic and European connections. "This ensures that 90% of all Lufthansa flights in the German and European network will take place. A special timetable for longhaul services is in the offing."
Regarding specific cargo activities at Frankfurt, Lufthansa Cargo said embargos on the handling of selected products there, including live animals and valuables, remained imposed or had been prolonged. For example, an embargo on the transit/export movement of tropical fish and general movement of day-old chicks had been extended to August 5. The carrier added that that there was no embargo on Cool/td and classic perishables cargo which were being accepted worldwide as usual
Late yesterday, there were news agency reports that the ver.di union had resumed talks with Lufthansa in a bid to resolve the dispute.
Lufthansa Cargo chairman commented: "Lufthansa Cargo will press ahead firmly with the e-freight project and expressly further paperless cargo transport. With the help of this initiative, we intend to accelerate processes for the benefit of our customers, create cost-efficient structures and generally advance the cause of the airfreight industry."
Lufthansa Cargo stated that in cooperation with customers, it would now make preparations for the first paperless shipment and put in place the required processes. The aim, said the German carrier, was to facilitate the first paperless transport from Germany at the end of this year.
The 'e-freight' project was initiated as part of IATA's 'Simplifying the Business' initiative in 2004. In November 2007, it was trialled worldwide in a pilot phase in six markets. On completion of the pilot phase, IATA named further countries for that project, including Germany.
According to IATA, an average 38 documents are produced for each single air freight shipment worldwide - enough to fill 39 B747 freighters annually. Theoretically, suggested IATA, an electronic solution could save the international air freight industry in the region of US$1.2bn.
March - Lufthansa Cargo and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) signed up to even closer co-operation with the launch last week of the latter's 'e-freight' project in Germany.
At a meeting in Frankfurt, the two initiated a further trial phase of the IATA worldwide initiative aimed at eliminating the need to transport paper documents for air cargo shipments. Lufthansa Cargo said it would take over the project management in Germany and oversee the effective implementation of the necessary processes by all the stakeholders in the logistics supply chain.
The 'e-freight' project is said to signify a major step towards process simplification in the air cargo industry. "The IATA initiative will allow us to handle all the paperwork in the entire supply chain electronically and make it more environment-friendly," observed Markus Witte, the designated project manager at Lufthansa Cargo. "E-freight will furnish cargo carriers with better data quality. It will improve supply chain efficiency and customer service at lower cost."
The e-freight project was initiated as part of the IATA 'Simplifying the Business' initiative in 2004 and trialled in a pilot phase in five markets during 2007. The findings obtained in the trial phase are now to be translated into practice in other major markets, including Germany, pending completion of the project by 2010.
In a separate development, Lufthansa Cargo also announced that with the planned introduction of the carrier's 2008 summer timetable on March 30, its flight programme, particularly to Asia, would be substantially expanded. New services would include two direct freighter flights per week to Beijing. "For the first time, the cargo carrier's MD-11F service from Frankfurt to Shanghai and Seoul will be operated non-stop," it stated.
Other plans, announced Lufthansa Cargo, included adding two new destinations in China. From the end of March, Nanjing would be served five times a week from Frankfurt, and from June, Shenyang would get a thrice-weekly service from Munich. Both routes would be operated with A340-300 passenger aircraft offering an average bellyhold cargo capacity of about 17 tonnes.
Lufthansa Cargo planned to expand its market position in the special freight segments 'live animals', 'valuable cargo', 'airmail' and 'temperature-sensitive goods'. To this end, it was bundling its competencies into separate units. The new Competence Centers gave Lufthansa Cargo customers access to specialist teams.
The Competence Centers allowed Lufthansa to focus more closely on the quality of the individual segments and to offer its customers a product that was tailored to requirements.
2007
March - Lufthansa Cargo increased its freighter frequencies to Dallas, Sao Paulo and Shanghai and added a new destination to Lahore and a direct connection from Cologne through the East Midlands (UK) to Wilmington (USA). Cargo customers also benefited from additional belly capacities that came on stream from Lufthansa's introduction of passenger flights to Busan (South Korea) in combination with Seoul and extra frequencies to Caracas, Denver and Shanghai.
Lufthansa Cargo raised frequencies to Dallas from two to three times weekly; Sao Paulo was served by six flights weekly from Frankfurt, and frequencies to Shanghai were increased from eight to nine weekly. Los Angeles was served twice a week.
Lufthansa Cargo also operated scheduled flights to and from Lahore in Pakistan. New in the timetable was a direct connection from Cologne through East Midlands (UK) to Wilmington (USA). This service was operated within the framework of the existing intercontinental joint venture with DHL.
2005
September - Lufthansa Cargo increased its activities in the North American market and focused its efforts on significant service improvements and a stronger orientation towards the needs of its airfreight customers, via a "Gateway ConceptQ".
Lufthansa Cargo had two sales areas in the United States - Los Angeles and New York. The company decided to manage its operations in the Americas via four gateways: New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. In South America - as before - Sao Paulo was the gateway. At each gateway, a sales manager and a production manager was made responsible for a clearly defined geographical region. Due to this new allocation of responsibilities, Lufthansa Cargo stationed new sales managers in Chicago and Atlanta.
Assets
| Aircrafts | |
|---|---|
| MD-11 (Freighter) | 19 |
| Employees | |
| Total | 4655 |
Products And Services
Express
- Time definite
- Capacity Guarantee
- Quality Assurance / Proactive Communication
- Tracking
- Electronic booking channels
- BUP (Bulk Utilisation Program) shipping
- Road Feeder Service.
Fresh Service
- For shipments requiring some degree of temperature control: fruits and vegetables, flowers, plants, fish, seafood, meat and dairy products
- Transit-storage in a protected and temperature-controlled environment: Perishable Centres are located at large hubs including Frankfurt, Miami, Nairobi and Cairo
- Temperature-controlled air transportation
- Fresh-to-Door transportation: cool trucks operate from the company's transit hub at Frankfurt to destinations across Europe.
AirShip Service
- A 'one-stop' international multi-modal AirShip service from Europe to Australia
- Direct and daily connections to the company's hubs in Shenzhen and Hong Kong which are in turn linked to the largest Australian seaports of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Special Services
- Care/td - for all hazardous goods shipments
- Cool/td - for temperature sensitive goods
- Safe/td 1 - security transport for valuable freight
- Safe/td 2 - secure transport for theft-endangered goods
- Live/td - for the transportation of animals
- cd.Solutions - the option to have a standard forwarding solution for direct delivered within Germany and Europe developed.
Airmail
Mergers Acquisitions
2010
February - Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Airlines had agreed to step up cooperation between their two companies in the airfreight sector. Under the new agreement, the flow of cargo traffic through the hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna would be optimised. Both companies' global distribution activities would be merged and their product portfolios and production processes harmonised.
In future, the two companies would jointly route their cargo traffic through the Vienna hub which would boost freight flows. Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Cargo would also integrate their freight handling and distribution activities in Austria. In all other countries worldwide, freight activities would in future be amalgamated under the aegis of Lufthansa Cargo.
The CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, commented: "Vienna Schwechat will become a central European hub for Lufthansa Cargo - comparable to our German hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. Thanks to Austrian's excellent route network, Lufthansa Cargo customers will also be able to take advantage of direct flights to destinations in all corners of the globe."
The Chief Commercial Officer Austrian Airlines, noted: "This marks a further step in the reorganisation of Austrian Airlines. Our cargo business will benefit from the new structure. We will lower our costs and improve our product portfolio. At the same time, we will be able in future to provide our customers with a globe-spanning network and the extensive product portfolio of the world's largest air cargo alliance."
The measures will take effect on 1 July 2010.
2009
June - time:matters formed a partnership with LOT Polish Airlines. The new partnership would enable time:matters to access additional flights for the transport of same day shipments to Poland. Presently it could access just under twenty connections per day to and from Poland whilst following the agreement the amount of possible flights has doubled. Already this year time:matters had forged agreements with Brussels Airlines and Cebu Pacific Cargo.
The expansion of the time:matters' same day route would benefit companies based in Poland and in the Baltic states as well as international corporate clients that maintain business relations in these regions. The expanded use of Polish airports for the transport of European same day shipments reduces transport times to and from Poland and to cross-border destinations. It also created more flexible cut-off times and led to the partial or in some cases even complete elimination of transit flights via Frankfurt or Munich that were once necessary.
"The cooperation with LOT Polish Airlines offers our customers greater flexibility as well as an increased frequency for flights to and from Poland," says the Country Manager of time:matters Poland. "The new partnership provides us with a considerable advantage in terms of time and enables significantly later cut-off times, which is highly beneficial for our customers," he adds.
The Director of Cargo and Mail at LOT Polish Airlines, emphasises: "We are pleased to have gained a partner such as time:matters, which specializes in same day services. This addition to our portfolio represents a considerable added value for our customers."
2008
December - German airline group Lufthansa made significant progress with its move to acquire European scheduled carrier Austrian Airlines. On the cargo front, both carriers were major players in Central and Eastern Europe markets among others.
The supervisory boards of the two airlines had approved Lufthansa's plans to initially acquire the 41.56% share in Austrian Airlines AG held by Φsterreichische Industrieholding AG (ΦIAG).
"This share package is to be acquired at a price of 366,000," stated Lufthansa. "In addition, a debtor warrant will be arranged, of which Lufthansa will pay a sum of up to 163m depending on Austrian Airlines' economic performance and the Lufthansa share outperforming its competitors."
Lufthansa said that in the course of the period specified by Austrian takeover law, it would also make a public takeover bid to Austrian Airlines' free float shareholders. The company was applying to the Austrian Takeover Commission for an extension of the notification period to the longest permissible time.
"The bid price will correspond to the average weighted market price of the Austrian Airlines share over the six months preceding this announcement. Subject to an examination by the Takeover Commission, this figure will be 4.44 per share. In total, some 215m will be offered to private and institutional free float shareholders as part of the takeover bid."
Lufthansa pointed out that execution of those contracts was subject, inter alia, to the conditions precedent of anti-trust approval and the approval of a 500m restructuring grant to be made by the Republic of Austria, both of which must be granted by the EC (European Commission). "Furthermore, Lufthansa must hold 75% of the shares in Austrian Airlines - including those transferred by ΦIAG - after the end of the regular acceptance period for the public takeover bid."
Lufthansa said that following acquisition, Austrian Airlines would remain a "broadly independent" airline with its head office in Austria, its own brand, fleet and crew, and would be managed as a profit centre in the Lufthansa Group. "Lufthansa has agreed to maintain Austrian air traffic infrastructure to the greatest possible extent, taking into consideration the needs of Vienna as a business location," it added.
2006
September - DPWN/DHL and Lufthansa applied to establish a joint venture cargo airline called 'Newco'. The two companies approached the German Cartel office which regulated competition in German markets for permission to establish the new company.
2005
In 2004, 50.9m passengers travelled with Lufthansa to 176 destinations, 9.2m with SWISS to 70 destinations.
The Lufthansa Group employs about 90,000 employees and operates a fleet of 377 aircraft (consolidated fleet). The SWISS Group with 7,900 employees operates 80 aircraft (total fleet).
Anticipated timetable
| Date | Action |
| March 2005 | Acquiisition of minority shareholding in SWISS |
| May 2005 | Public takeover offer to the free-float shareholders |
| 3rd Quarter 2005 | Acquisition of shares in SWISS of up to 49% after receiving cartel-law clearance from the European Commission |
| October 30th 2005 | Gradual operative integration from the 2005/06 winter flight schedule |
| 2006-2007 | Complete takeover of SWISS after securing traffic rights |
Alliances
-
Brussels Airlines
2009
March -time:matters, formed a partnership with Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines. The latter was based in Brussels-Zaventem and had an extensive international route network.
Germany-based time:matters stated that through the new partnership, it could draw on additional flights to European destinations such as Munich, Zurich or Brussels for the transport of its sameday shipments. It could now access 852 additional direct flights from Brussels to 44 European sameday air stations per week.
"This translates into an increased route frequency that enables time:matters to offer its customers an even more comprehensive sameday service, due to greater flexibility when selecting the fastest connections and the significant reduction of transport times," claimed time:matters.
The special logistics provider said the expansion of the sameday route network benefitted its customers in Belgium and throughout the rest of Europe. "The use of Brussels Airport as an additional hub for the transport of European sameday shipments also in part significantly reduces transport times to and from Belgium as well as to cross-border destinations. Therefore, a sameday shipment from Warsaw to Maastricht can be flown via Brussels, instead of via Frankfurt and Amsterdam, as was previously the case. This in turn decreases the transport time by two hours to merely four hours."
Time:matters added that the partnership was also a great advantage in terms of the direct connections that Brussels Airlines flew to from its headquarters in Brussels, "which completely eliminate transit flights via Frankfurt or Munich that were previously necessary".
-
Descartes Systems Group Inc
2008
October - Lufthansa Cargo AG has extended for a further three-year term its electronic booking contract with Descartes GF-X Exchange. With the contract renewal, the Canadian Descartes Systems Group will remain a key constituent in Lufthansa Cargo's global, web-based electronic booking channels.
-
Global Logistics System Europe GmbH
2009
Global Logistics System Europe GmbH was founded in 1990, when Air France, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines launched a global communications system with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information between airlines and cargo agents. The result was "Global Logistics System Europe Company for Cargo Information Services GmbH," operating under the trademark TRAXON Europe. TRAXON India and Global Logistics System Asia Pacific were later added to the group.
The headquarters of TRAXON Europe are located in Frankfurt am Main, with an additional office in Paris. TRAXON India has its headquarters in New Delhi, with offices in Bombay, Bangalore, Calcutta and Chennai. Global Logistics System Asia Pacific has headquarters in Hong Kong, with additional offices in Seoul and Tokyo.
-
Global Partnership Programme
2007
October - US based forwarder Expeditors joined eleven other globally active forwarders in signing up as a new member of Lufthansa Cargo's Global Partnership Programme.
According to Lufthansa Cargo, the aim of the Global Partners programme is to harness synergy effects, reduce transaction costs and spur progress on major industry issues such as automation of business processes. Expeditors also benefit from Lufthansa Cargo's customer support team.
Lufthansa Cargo's Global Partnership Programme generates more than 40% of its business with the eleven other Global Partners, which are ABX, Agility, DHL, EGL, Global Forwarding, Hellmann, Kuehne+Nagel, Nippon Express, Panalpina, Schenker, UPS and UTi.
-
HYACT
2008
January - Lufthansa Cargo established a further joint venture air freight handling company in China. The new venture, in the north China business metropolis of Tianjin, was with Tianjin Airport Hua Yu Air Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (HYACT).
The freight subsidiary of German airline group Lufthansa took a 46% holding in HYACT. The other partners were Taiwanese investor Hwa-Hsia International Holding Ltd (HHIH) with 49% and Tianjin Airport International Logistics Joint Stock Co Ltd (TAIL) with 5%.
Management of the new handling joint venture would be in the hands of Ulrich Huesson. He was previously senior manager of customer relations and operations at the International Cargo Centre Shenzhen (ICCS).
Lufthansa Cargo added that previously, the Tianjin region's international air freight had for the most part been handled at Beijing International Airport. However, that gateway was reaching the limits of its capacity. "At the latest with the start of the Olympic Summer Games 2008, it is planned to shift the handling of freighters to Tianjin."
Lufthansa Cargo was already represented in Shanghai with a 29% holding in Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (PACTL) and in ICCS in the southern Chinese Pearl River Delta with 50%. In addition, Jade Cargo International, in which Lufthansa had a 25% stake, served important economic centres worldwide from Shenzhen with six B747-400 freighters.
-
Jade Cargo
2009
Following the delivery of the final aircraft in January 2008, the Jade Cargo International fleet consisted of six Boeing 747-400ER freighters. The company had been active in the Yellow River delta since January 2008. This is the site of Lufthansa Cargo's equity investment in the handling company Tianjin Aircargo Terminal Ltd. (TAT) and the Chinese boom region around the ambitious freight hub Tianjin, which is served by Jade Cargo International.
2008
March - Lufthansa Cargo and Chinese joint venture airline Jade Cargo International were to extend their co-operation from March 30 when the new 2008 summer timetable goes into effect.
Announcing that development, Lufthansa Cargo said it would then be responsible for marketing the air freight capacity of its Sino-German cargo subsidiary on routes from Europe to Asia.
The blocked space agreement would apply to all Jade's routes ex-Europe, it continued, and be valid throughout the forthcoming summer timetable and the 2008/2009 winter schedule. Under the terms of that new co-operation agreement the marketing and sales partnership between Jade and Swiss WorldCargo would be transferred to the German carrier.
Taking over Jade's capacities ex-Europe will enable Lufthansa to expand its services and offer customers direct flights from major economic centres in Europe to the Pearl River Delta region and Shanghai.
Jade completed its fleet expansion as planned. The integration of Jade's capacities into Lufthansa Cargo's product portfolio on European routes will give customers access to an extensive network. On routes to Asia, Jade - operating under the umbrella of the Lufthansa Cargo group - will offer non-stop flights on routes that were previously only served indirectly via the Frankfurt hub.
Jade, which is based in Shenzhen, south China, flew to that Chinese gateway and Shanghai Pudong from five European points - Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brescia, Luxembourg and Stockholm. From Shenzhen, Jade provided connections to Osaka and Seoul. As part of the capacity expansion, Frankfurt and China's Tianjin Airport would be integrated into Jade's route network.
Jade was jointly owned by Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (24%).
2007
July - Lufthansa Cargo was set to start marketing Jade Cargo's capacities on the Sweden-Germany-Shenzhen route.
February - Jade Cargo added four more destinations to its flight schedule with the delivery of its third freighter. Jade Cargo International took delivery of the new B747-400ER freighter from Amentum Capital, an Ireland-based aircraft lessor.
Destinations served by Jade Cargo were Shanghai-Pudong, Luxembourg, Leipzig and Stockholm. Jade Cargo International added two weekly flights from Shenzhen to Leipzig, routed back via Stockholm, as well as a weekly link between Shenzhen and Luxembourg. One additional flight per week from its Shenzhen hub to Amsterdam increased the connectivity between the two airports to six flights per week. With its two new weekly services from Shanghai-Pudong to Amsterdam, Jade Cargo offered in total twelve weekly frequencies between the major Sino-European markets. The expanded network served ten destinations including the already established services to Barcelona, Brescia, Osaka and Seoul-Incheon.
Jade Cargo International's fourth aircraft, a Boeing 747-400ERF, was due for delivery in May. Jade Cargo International ordered a total of six aircrafts of this type, which would enter into service successively until January 2008. The Jade Cargo International fleet was based at Baoan International Airport, Shenzhen in Southern China.
2006
Chinese cargo carrier, Jade Cargo International, is a joint venture with Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (24%). The company launched operations directly after taking delivery of its first Boeing 747-400ERF freighter in August of 2006. Based in China's Pearl River Delta, the carrier has ordered a total of six Boeing 747-400ERF aircraft, which would go into service successively through to January 2008.
-
Leipzig/Halle Airport
2008
December - Lufthansa Cargo announced that it was joining forces with Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding* in a bid to jointly develop Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport "into one of the most efficient in Europe".
With that objective in mind, stated Lufthansa Cargo, the two companies had signed an agreement on a strategic partnership. "Among the key objectives of the agreement are plans to increase space at the airport conducive to the long-term strategic development of Lufthansa Cargo in Leipzig as well as joint efforts to raise efficiency, security and environmental protection at the airport."
Lufthansa Cargo Board Member Operations said that along with Frankfurt (Germany), Leipzig/Halle Airport was the carrier's most important freighter hub and one which it intended to expand gradually. "Our partnership with Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding is a milestone in that policy and it underlines our long-term strategy. The aim of the cooperation is not only to identify opportunities and advantages for the benefit of our joint customers but also to position ourselves better against the competition through closer cooperation."
The CEO of Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding, said that at a time of "immense, forthcoming challenges amid the current global economic situation", a long-term strategic alliance between strong and globally active partners was important to the central Germany economic region.
Lufthansa Cargo pointed out that under an intercontinental joint venture with DHL Express, it had connected Leipzig/Halle Airport with logistics centres in Asia and the US since 2007. "In continuation of that cooperation, the Aerologic cargo carrier founded by the two joint venture partners and based at Leipzig/Halle is scheduled to begin operations with new freighters of the B777-200LRF type in 2009, thereby raising the importance of the airport as a global air freight hub," it added.
*Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding is a state-run company charged with furthering the development of airports in central Germany. Aside from Leipzig/Halle Airport, its other subsidiaries are Dresden International, PortGround and EasternAirCargo.
-
Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd. (PACTL)
2009
Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd. (PACTL) is a Sino-German joint venture, founded in 1999. Its three shareholders are Shanghai Airport (Group)Co., Ltd. (51%), Lufthansa Cargo AG (29%) and JHJ Logistics Management Co., Ltd. (20%) and it is one of the top Cargo Terminals in the world.
-
Tianjin Airport Hua Yu Air Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (HYACT).
2008
January - Lufthansa Cargo established a further joint venture air freight handling company in China. The new venture, in the north China business metropolis of Tianjin, was with Tianjin Airport Hua Yu Air Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (HYACT).
The freight subsidiary of German airline group Lufthansa took a 46% holding in HYACT. The other partners were Taiwanese investor Hwa-Hsia International Holding Ltd (HHIH) with 49% and Tianjin Airport International Logistics Joint Stock Co Ltd (TAIL) with 5%.
Management of the new handling joint venture will be in the hands of Ulrich Huesson. He was previously senior manager of customer relations and operations at the International Cargo Centre Shenzhen (ICCS).
"In an area of around 90,000 sq m, in spring 2008 Lufthansa Cargo, together with its partners, will start operations of a modern freight centre at the airport of Tianjin," stated the German carrier. "With an annual capacity of approximately 360,000 tonnes, the centre will be characterised by the most advanced technology and security standards. Future growth can be accommodated in an expansion area of an additional 140,000 sq m."
Lufthansa Cargo added that previously, the Tianjin region's international air freight had for the most part been handled at Beijing International Airport. However, that gateway was reaching the limits of its capacity. "At the latest with the start of the Olympic Summer Games 2008, it is planned to shift the handling of freighters to Tianjin."
Lufthansa Cargo was already represented in Shanghai with a 29% holding in Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (PACTL) and in ICCS in the southern Chinese Pearl River Delta with 50%. In addition, Jade Cargo International, in which Lufthansa had a 25% stake, served important economic centres worldwide from Shenzhen with six B747-400 freighters.
-
Unisys Corporation
2008
November - US-based Unisys Corporation announced that Lufthansa Cargo would join Unisys-operated Cargo Portal Services (CPS), a leading electronic booking and shipment management service for the air cargo industry.
Unisys said the German carrier's participation in CPS will give its air cargo clients a free, web-based facility to manage bookings through a neutral portal.
"We are able to offer our clients the choice to manage their shipments online via the CPS platform," stated Lufthansa Cargo.
"We know that our freight forwarder clients want a choice of channels on which to make electronic bookings and that there is a strong demand for Lufthansa Cargo to be online via the shipment booking portal CPS."
CPS was an electronic booking and Cargo 2000-accredited shipment management service for the air cargo industry. It was designed in cooperation with major carriers and forwarders and was operated by Unisys.
-
DHL Express
2010
January - AeroLogic, the joint venture cargo airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, was expanding its network, following delivery of two additional aircraft last month. The company was now introducing new daily flights from Leipzig to Hong Kong, four of them non-stop, and weekend flights from Frankfurt to Atlanta and Chicago during the current winter schedule. The new additional destinations and increased frequency of nonstop flights would help both parent companies to strengthen the service offerings to their customers. Demand for Europe to Asia and Europe to US remained stable, despite the weakened world economy, and was expected to increase in the mid term.
DHL Express, commented on the network expansion: "AeroLogic's new routes offer excellent opportunities for DHL Express. Trade between Europe and Asia remained at a high level during the recent crisis, indicating a structural demand in both regions for the other's products and commodities."
Lufthansa Cargo, added: "With destinations in North America we can now further expand our dense network to the United States. Especially on weekends we see a high demand for capacity from and to our hubs in Atlanta and Chicago. With the Boeing 777 the Lufthansa Cargo Group can now offer its customers three different freighter types: the MD-11 of Lufthansa Cargo, the Boeing 747-400 of Jade Cargo International and AeroLogic΄s Boeing 777."
AeroLogic took delivery of two additional B777F aircraft in December and with a fleet of four was currently the largest operator of the B777F worldwide. The B777F was the most efficient and environmentally friendly long range wide-body freighter aircraft available. AeroLogic expects to expand its network with two new routes to Asia and the U.S. with the delivery of four additional B777F aircraft in 2010 (planned for June, July, September and December). With these aircraft, the airline could expand its route system to include further destinations and would achieve its originally planned network size and reach in the beginning of 2011.
2009
June - AeroLogic, the joint venture cargo airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, shrugged off the economic downturn and officially started operations. The airline received delivery of its first Boeing 777F aircraft as well as an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the German Aviation Authority (LBA). The airline will serve new air routes between Europe and Asia, flying cargo for customers of its parent companies.
AeroLogic was established to offer air transport services on the Europe-Asia trade lane, which the company expected to grow by approximately 5% annually in the medium term. The airline would initially serve the express routes Leipzig - Bahrain - Singapore - Delhi - Leipzig on weekdays and the cargo routes Leipzig - Tashkent - Hong Kong - Tashkent Leipzig on weekends. By 2010, the airline would gradually expand the network to offer new direct connections to most of Asia's major cities.
AeroLogic would operate with eight leased brand new B777F freighters, the first four of which were expected to be delivered this year. These were capable of non-stop flights from AeroLogic's home base Leipzig, Germany, to key Asian growth markets, reducing transit times.
"The new airline shows a strong commitment of both partners to extend their services for their customers and to establish a new strong global player in the industry," said the chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. "In light of an inevitably recovering market, the strengthening of vital trade lanes through the cost-efficient shared use of the most modern freighter aircraft currently available must be viewed as a smart investment," said the chief executive officer of Deutsche Post DHL. "We are making available to our customers the most efficient air freight capacity in the market," DHL added.
Cargo capacities would be marketed individually by the two partners. In addition to the Europe - Asia routes, in the future it would also serve Lufthansa Cargo's EU-North America routes. The first commercial flight of AeroLogic was scheduled for June 29, 2009.
May - US aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported the delivery of the first B777 freighter aircraft to Deucalion Capital and its customer AeroLogic GmbH on May 12.
Boeing explained that AeroLogic, formed in 2007 and based in Leipzig, Germany, was a new cargo company joint venture between German carrier Lufthansa Cargo and DHL Express and would operate a fleet exclusively comprising the new B777F. Deucalion Capital and customer AeroLogic currently had eight B777Fs on order, it added.
The managing director of AeroLogic, commented: "The B777F is the perfect airplane for a start-up cargo operation such as ourselves; its combination of reliability and efficiency will allow us to quickly establish the company as a leading force in the industry."
According to Boeing, the B777F is the world's longest-range twin-engine freighter and features the lowest trip cost of any large freighter, with high cargo density and a 10ft (3.1m) interior height capability that complements the B747 freighter family. Providing cargo capacity normally associated with larger airplanes, continued Boeing, the B777F could fly up to 4,885 nautical miles (9,045kms) with a full payload of 226,800 pounds (103 tonnes).
2008
September - Following completion of an interim solution realised in cooperation with DHL, Lufthansa Cargo AG reported that it was initiating the next stage in the development of its air freight handling at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany "and thus securing long-term growth at its second-largest German freighter hub".
The German carrier stated that to coincide with the launch of operations of new cargo carrier AeroLogic in spring 2009, Lufthansa Cargo would shift its cargo handling activities into Leipzig/Halle's World Cargo Centre. That facility, which was built in 2007 by Garbe Logistic, would ensure fast and efficient handling processes. From then on, PortGround GmbH, a subsidiary of airport operator Mitteldeutsche Airport Holding, would assume responsibility for Lufthansa Cargo's handling services at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
"By moving into the World Cargo Center, we aim to secure options for long-term growth," said Lufthansa Cargo. "Following the Federal Administrative Court ruling, we are adhering to our strategy of expanding Leipzig into an air freight hub with Lufthansa Cargo's and AeroLogic's freighter fleets."
In order to achieve that objective, Lufthansa Cargo would invest at short notice in staff and handling equipment.
Lufthansa Cargo said its move into the World Cargo Center marked an important step in the expansion of Leipzig as an air cargo base. "If dynamic market growth is sustained, Lufthansa Cargo plans to build its own terminal at the airport," it concluded.
January - DHL Express created a joint venture cargo airline with Lufthansa Cargo, a move which was in line with the company's worldwide aviation strategy to build a "virtual global airline".
More specifically, the global express operator, part of German logistics group Deutsche Post World Net, claimed that development should enable it to substantially improve overall delivery performance in both directions between Europe and Asia (including China) - the main target sector for AeroLogic's B777-200 long range freighter operations when they begin in 2009 - and offer customers in those markets "very economic" solutions.
"We decided we needed to take a step ahead to provide industry-leading service levels on Europe-Asia trade lanes," explained DHL. "The only way we could do that was to offer a dedicated aircraft network and using this particular type of freighter will enable us to trim transit times vey significantly. The percentage of traffic in both directions between Europe and Asia that we are able to pick up and deliver on the other Continent before noon on the second day will increase to something like 80%."
AeroLogic, which was capitalised at 50m, will be based near Leipzig in Germany which will also be its main European hub. The company takes it name from the established co-operation between DHL and Lufthansa Cargo, albeit with changed corporate colours (grey and yellow).
As flagged up when plans for the airline were first officially outlined last September, AeroLogic will initially operate a fleet of 11 new, 103-tonnes revenue payload capacity B777-200LRFs. The first four were scheduled for delivery in 2009, with four more to follow in 2010, two in 2011 and the final one in 2012. AeroLogic will lease the first eight aircraft from a company called Deucalion Capital VII Limited which was advised and managed by German financial institution DVB Bank AG.
The two partners in the new joint venture airline planned to share the capacity on its freighters. DHL will take the major share on weekdays to support its Europe/Asia operations. At weekends, Lufthansa Cargo will take over primary responsibility for utilising the capacity, mainly on routes to/from Asia and North America.
2007
October - Lufthansa Cargo inaugurated its flight operations to and from Leipzig/Halle. With 21 weekly frequencies within the framework of the inter-continental joint venture with DHL Express, since the beginning of the winter timetable Lufthansa Cargo links the European continent with logistics centres in Asia and the USA.
Lufthansa Cargo was setbuild a new logistics centre at Leipzig/Halle Airport by spring 2009. The investment involved in this development amountedo about 25m.
As of spring 2009, Leipzig/Halle Airport would become the home airport of the new joint freight airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo. With eleven new freighters of the type Boeing 777-200 LRF, the airline would mainly serve destinations in Asia, but also in the USA.
September - DPWN and Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced that they were going to found a joint cargo airline through their subsidiaries DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo. The new company, based in Leipzig, in which DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo would each hold a 50% stake, would have the legal form of a private limited company. It would focus on transporting airfreight and express shipments into and out of Asia. Flight operations with new aircraft of the Boeing 777 type to commence from Leipzig/Halle Airport in April 2009.
The new cargo carrier would initially operate with eleven new Boeing 777-200LRF aircraft. The aircraft would be leased and are scheduled for delivery from February 2009. The cargo capacities of the new airline would be utilised by Lufthansa Cargo und DHL Express. The two partners would continue market and handle those capacities independently.
Pending the granting of traffic rights, the new airline would gradually expand its route network from the summer schedule 2009. On weekdays, it would serve Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Bombay, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Nagoya, Almaty, East Midlands and Milan. At weekends, it would fly to Shanghai, Astana, Singapore, Bangkok, Sharjah, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York.
Aside from pure airfreight traffic, the two companies would each alone be responsible for warehousing and trans-shipment at Leipzig/Halle Airport. DHL Express would handle its express shipments in the newly built cargo centre. Lufthansa Cargo would shortly build its own logistics centre nearby.
Management of the new airline would be taken over by Dr. Thomas Papke, formerly Lufthansa Cargo, and Thomas Pusch, previously at DHL. The name of the new company and its branding would be decided at a later date.
June - DHL and Lufthansa Cargo planned to form an air cargo venture.
The company, provisionally called NewCo, would operate an intercontinental cargo fleet running both express and classical freight deliveries to destinations in North America and the Middle and Far East.
Lufthansa Cargo was set to transfer all of its Cologne/Bonn freighter flights to Leipzig in conjunction with the opening of a new DHL cargo hub in the city.
March - DHL and Lufthansa Cargo underwent negotiations to create a new partnership. A secret process was believed to have included Emirates SkyCargo, Cargolux and Lufthansa Cargo. The selection of the preferred partner was later concluded, with Emirates and Cargolux eliminated.
DHL and Lufthansa were expected to enter a period of intense negotiations to establish exact details.DHL elected not to follow UPS and FedEx by investing in its own fleet of wide body freighters, but instead created partnerships with large cargo carriers to guarantee capacity.
2004
Aside from operating a night-flight network with DHL Worldwide Express, Lufthansa Cargo stepped up co-operation with the express and courier company on intercontinental routes in March 2004.
February - DHL and Lufthansa Cargo announced a new joint venture which saw them collaborate on five new intercontinental routes. The tie up was an extension of the existing relationship which was already in existence, known as Aerologic GmbH, which focuses on time sensitive healthcare cargo.
The new operations would involve the sharing of capacity on routes which link DHL's air hubs in Stansted, Cologne and Brussels with destinations in the USA, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific Rim. Although there was the potential to utilise the space for DHL Danzas Air & Ocean volumes, it was envisaged that the majority would be used by DHL Express.
Lufthansa Cargo was careful to stress that although the carrier was happy to provide and share capacity with DHL, the relationship was limited in scope. Lufthansa was unlikely to risk alienating its other forwarding clients through a more strategic partnership. For the same reason an acquisition by DHL would seem to have been equally unlikely.
DHL selected Leipzig-Halle in 2004 as the preferred site at which to establish a European hub operation.
Lufthansa Cargo and DHL have been jointly operating services under their Aerologic partnership since early 2004. From October the German carrier discontinued its Cologne operations and transfered them to Leipzig.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Hermes Logistik
2009
October - Lufthansa Cargo and Hermes Transport Logistics announced that they were increasing their level of cooperation. Since early August, Lufthansa had handled the logistics of all incoming shipments arriving at Leipzig Airport for the wholly-owned subsidiary of the otto group. Aside from handling all imports, Lufthansa Cargo was responsible for arranging and loading truck transports to the Hermes bases at Haldensleben und Altenkunstadt. In future, the freight would be flown direct to Leipzig/Halle by Boeing 777 freighters in the fleet of Lufthansa Cargo's AeroLogic joint venture or be trucked by road from Frankfurt to the Hermes bases.
"Our extreme flexibility and deployment of low-emission Boeing 777 freighters make a convincing case," said the Lufthansa Cargo Vice President Handling Germany. "Our network, customised to our customers' requirements, guarantees the fastest connections, high cost-efficiency and a host of synergy effects." Eckhardt Fechtner, General Manager Hermes Transport Logistics, added: "Shorter transit time for shipments and the environmental benefits resulting, among others, from fewer road service transports within Germany are major competitive gains for Hermes Transport Logistics. We are delighted to cooperate with Lufthansa Cargo at our most important distribution centre in Germany."
Hermes Transport Logistics imported more than 14,000 tonnes of airfreight to Germany annually, principally from the Far East. The shipments consist largely of textiles.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Shanghai Airport Group
Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd. (PACTL)
PACTL, founded in 1999, is a Sino-German Joint Venture. The three major stakeholders are Shanghai Airport (Group) Co., Ltd. (51%), Lufthansa Cargo AG(29%) and JHJ Logistics Management Co. Ltd. (20%).
The company offers the following services out of PVG:- Cargo and mail handling
- Special cargo handling (DG, VAL, AVI etc)
-
Document handling
-
Cargo inquiring
-
ULD control
-
ULD pallet / container handling
-
Customs control
-
Truck/ Air Transfer Service
- Other bespoke services
2007
December - Shanghai Pudong Airport handling service provider PACTL (Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co Ltd) has for the first time handled more than 1m tonnes of air freight in a calendar year. PACTL, in which German carrier Lufthansa Cargo has a 29% holding, is thus responsible for almost 50% of the total tonnage at that Chinese airport.
Since its foundation in 1999, PACTL has developed into the second largest independent cargo terminal operator in China and is said to be one of the fastest-growing service providers for air freight handling. The other partners in PACTL were Shanghai Airport Group and JHJ Logistics Management which hold 51% and 20%, respectively.
Besides its involvement in PACTL, Lufthansa Cargo also had a holding in a handling company at the south China Pearl River Delta (Shenzhen Airport International Cargo Terminal/ICCS; 50%). In addition, airline Jade Cargo International, in which Lufthansa Cargo had a 25% holding, served important economic centres worldwide with a total of five B747-400 freighters from Shenzhen.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Xinbang Logistics Co.,Ltd.
2008
Lufthansa Cargo provides Xinbang clients with global air services.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Air Canada Cargo (AC Cargo Limited Partnership)
2008
The two companies are members of the Star Alliance.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Air China
1994
Since 1989, Lufthansa Airlines and Air China have had a code-sharing relationship. In 1994, this relationship was strengthened by the establishment of a Maintenance, Repair and Operations Company (MRO) called AMECO, between the two companies.
AMECO provides MRO services to the major air carriers such as United Airlines, that land at Beijing airport. In addition, Lufhansa and Air China have a 50/50 sharing of freight capacities betwen Germany and China.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Alaska International Airports System
2007
Lufthansa Cargo were operating out of Fairbanks between 1992 and 2006, switching it's stopover point to Astana, Kazakhstan.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Cathay Pacific Cargo
2007
Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa Cargo cooperate on cargo flights and offer a joint twice-weekly freight flight between Hong Kong, Frankfurt and London.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
DB Schenker Logistics
2008
September - Lufthansa Cargo AG and DB Schenker reported that they had despatched the first paperless air freight shipment from Germany.
In a joint statement, the two organisations announced that right on time the item of freight on board Lufthansa flight LH712 had left Frankfurt heading for the South Korean capital of Seoul. As a result, the first e-freight transport had started a month earlier than originally planned.
The chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo commented: "With paperless freight transport, together with our customers, we move the industry forward, because e-freight not only improves the data quality but, above all, also increases efficiency and in addition spares the environment."
The DB Schenker chairman member of the Deutsche Bahn management board for transportation and logistics added: "In the Netherlands, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and the UK, DB Schenker has already successfully introduced paperless air freight handling."
Lufthansa Cargo and DB Schenker said that following the successful maiden flight ex-Germany, which was prepared in close cooperation with the German authorities and customs, the use of e-freight was planned to be gradually increased on the route between Germany and Korea. Over the next few months, Lufthansa Cargo wanted to extend e-freight to further German stations and markets in Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
Lufthansa Cargo had been the 'lead carrier' and project coordinator of the IATA (International Air Transport Association) e-freight project for Germany, which involved a number of leading forwarders and airlines. The IATA e-freight project was initiated in 2004 within the framework of the association's 'Simplifying the Business' programme.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Deutsche Post DHL
2008
The Airmail Center Frankfurt GmbH (ACF) is a joint venture between Fraport AG, Lufthansa Cargo AG, and Deutsche Post AG. The airport company and the airline each contribute 40% of the business capital, and Deutsche Post AG is responsible for the remaining 20%.
The ACF handles over 400 tons of international airmail daily, arriving in Frankfurt on more than 400 flights. The ACF uses a high performance tilt tray sorting system for distributing letters, parcels, and packages in containers and bags to flights departing daily to approximately 300 destinations worldwide.
2007
September - As had been rumored for several months, DPWN/DHL and Lufthansa had applied to establish a joint venture cargo airline called 'Newco'. The two companies had approached the German Cartel office which regulated competition in German markets for permission to establish the new company.
Lufthansa, which previously had made no comment on the suggestion that the two companies were creating such a joint venture, confirmed that the two companies were working together but otherwise made no further comment to the press. DHL and Lufthansa already work together in Express operations across the Atlantic and 'Newco' will expand this to the freight sector.
It is expected that 'Newco' will commence operations from the Leipzig/Halle air cargo hub facilities which DPWN in particular has invested in heavily. It appears that the new airline will start in 2009.
2005
March - DHL and Lufthansa Cargo established the LifeConEx joint venture, based in Miramar (Florida). The company was the first specific provider for the life science industry to offer temperature-controlled specialist transportation services in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare and medical technology.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
DHL Global Forwarding/Freight
2006
DHL Global Forwarding and Lufthansa formed a strategic partnership to develop air cargo security procedures for handling high value and high risk products.
2005
March - DHL Danzas Air & Ocean and Lufthansa Cargo founded a new joint-venture company to be called LifeConEx. Based in Florida, USA the company claims that it would be the only industry-specific provider of integrated end-to-end temperature controlled transportation solutions for the Life Science Industry.
Customers of the life sciences industry cover pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare services including medical devices. The joint venture is designed to improve order- to-deliver cycle times and help customers reduce total supply chain costs.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
DSV A/S
2008
December - Denmark-based DSV's move up the world league table of international forwarding and logistics service providers was highlighted by an announcement that it was to be admitted to the Global Partnership Programme of German carrier Lufthansa Cargo AG.
Commenting on that development the Vice President DSV Air & Sea Holding, said: "DSV has in recent years evolved into one of the world's leading logistics groups. Lufthansa Cargo has consistently supported our progress by listening to our requests and adjusting to the kind of company we are, backed up by individuals in the global Lufthansa network."
Lufthansa Cargo said that over the years, its Global Partnership Programme had developed into a "solid platform for stability and growth". "Alongside joint sharing in worldwide growth in the air freight market, the programme is geared to increasing closer cooperation and the inter-meshing of capacity planning as well as operational processes and systems."
Lufthansa Cargo stated that about 50% of its business was generated with the carrier's twelve Global Partners. In addition to newest member DSV, they included Agility, CEVA, DHL Global Forwarding, Expeditors, Hellmann, Kόhne + Nagel, Nippon Express, Panalpina, DB Schenker, UPS and UTi.
According to the Lufthansa Cargo statement, DSV had offices in more than 55 countries all over the world and together with partners and agents offered services in more than 110 countries. Worldwide annual turnover in 2008 was expected to be 5.2bn.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Emirates Airline
The companies are Dnata Cargo partners.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
EVA Air
2009
Lufthansa Cargo operates bilaterally with the cargo airline EVA Air.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Fraport
2008
The Airmail Center Frankfurt GmbH (ACF) is a joint venture between Fraport AG, Lufthansa Cargo AG, and Deutsche Post AG. The airport company and the airline each contribute 40% of the business capital, and Deutsche Post AG is responsible for the remaining 20%.
The ACF handles over 400 tons of international airmail daily, arriving in Frankfurt on more than 400 flights. The ACF uses a high performance tilt tray sorting system for distributing letters, parcels, and packages in containers and bags to flights departing daily to approximately 300 destinations worldwide.
2006
September - Fraport AG and Lufthansa Cargo AG agreed on a strategic partnership for further developing Frankfurt Airport (FRA) as an air cargo hub. The strategic partnership, which goes beyond previous selective cooperation at the operational level, would ensure joint planning of the overall airline-airport system and would intensify further the system partnership of the world's second-biggest cargo airline and Europe's biggest cargo airport.
The common goal would be realised both in strategic and operational areas:
- Joint modernisation of CargoCity North (FRA)
- Developing a concept for efficiently interlinking Frankfurt's CargoCity North and CargoCity South areas
- Joint strategy for quality leadership based on the international Cargo 2000 standard
- Joint partnership model with government agencies for optimising work flows (e.g. German Customs) and joint representation of interests on the national level, including more intensive cooperation within the German Air Transport Initiative
- Joint strategy to attract more internationally active and distributing companies, thus strengthening the attractiveness of the FRA hub
- Joint investments and utilisation of synergies in international growth markets
- Coordination and better dovetailing of security processes and philosophies to generate a higher level of security and concurrently optimise the speed of processes on the ground. The goal is to make Frankfurt the world's most secure air cargo hub.
At the same time, Lufthansa Cargo AG and Fraport AG stated that they would stick to their previously declared differing positions regarding the future ban on nighttime flights at Frankfurt Airport. As part of its application for capacity expansion, Fraport AG has applied for a ban on scheduled nighttime flights.
Lufthansa Cargo regarded the ban as a threat to the basis for successfully conducting its business activities and is calling for a "feasible nighttime flying arrangement". Nevertheless, both partners expressed their interest in the long-term development of Frankfurt Airport on the basis of the zoning approval for capacity expansion to maintain its growth opportunities and vital role in the airfreight market.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Grand Power Logistics
2008
April - Grand Power Logistics Group Inc. announced that due to high demand, its wholly owned Hong Kong based subsidiary, Grand Power Express International Limited (GP Express), had signed a charter service agreement with Lufthansa Cargo Charter, the handling agent for World Airways Inc. in Hong Kong.
The charter service agreement covered World Airways Inc.'s 16 flights from Hong Kong to Los Angeles from May to July, 2008. The Boeing 747-440F aircraft had a maximum of 100 tons or 682 cbm's capacity with 1 stop. Under the charter service agreement GP Express will share the space equally with another major international air freight company. Items for export will include high value, time sensitive goods. Charter flights to the United States represent the growing expansion of Grand Power's strategy to increase margins in its air freight business.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA)
2008
From HKIA, Lufthansa operate passenger flights to Frankfurt and Munich, as well as cargo flights to Almaty, Astana, Bahrain, Calcutta, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Sharjah, and Tashkent.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Incheon International Airport Corporation
2008
Lufthansa operate passenger services to Busan, Frankfurt, and Munich and cargo services to Bahrain, Kτln/Bonn, Leipzig out of Incheon International Airport.
Lufthansa Cargo operates services out of Incheon International Airport.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
JAL Cargo (Japan Airlines Corporation)
As part of a code-share agreement with JAL, DLH offers 14 return-flights per week on European routes. Destinations include Narita, Kansai, Frankfurt.
2005
July - As part of the collaboration with its WOW alliance partner Japan Airlines Cargo, Lufthansa agreed to use the Japanese airport Nagoya, to fly MD-11 cargo aircraft twice weekly from Frankfurt.
Lufthansa Cargo was the first European freight air carrier to offer a direct connection from Europe to Nagoya. Nagoya is an important centre of the car manufacturing and automotive supplies industries. SIA Cargo launched new services to South Africa, with the introduction of a twice weekly service from Brussels to Johannesburg using a Boeing 747-400 Mega Ark freighter. The service operated in one direction between Brussels-Johannesburg-Singapore and Dallas-Brussels-Johannesburg-Singapore. The freighter services from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Dallas to Brussels were timed to connect with the new Johannesburg schedule.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Kuehne + Nagel
2007
The tendency of airlines to outsource their in-flight management or other parts of the supply chain and logistics is still in evidence. This trend opens up additional market opportunities for a full-service provider like LSG Sky Chefs.
"SkylogistiX", a joint venture with Kόhne + Nagel launched in autumn 2007, strengthened LSG Sky Chefs' service portfolio as it gets access to Kόhne + Nagel's worldwide network of distribution centres and warehouses.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Los Angeles World Airports
2006
Lufthansa operations in and out of LAX in 2006 amounted to:
- 239,665 departing passengers
- 234,938 arriving passengers
- 18,242 US tonnes of air freight
- 227 US tonnes of air mail.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Narita International Airport Corporation
2008
Lufthansa operates passenger flights out of Narita International Airport through the Star Alliance partnership. It also operates cargo services out of the airport.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
SAS Cargo
2008
SAS Cargo joined forces with Lufthansa Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Japan Airlines Cargo for the transportation of goods. Together they are known as WOW and they serve 523 destinations in 103 countries.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Singapore Airlines Cargo Pte Ltd
2006
Lufthansa Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and SAS Cargo founded the WOW cargo alliance in 2000 for the purpose of establishing the world's leading airfreight logistics system. Together with Japan Airlines Cargo, which acceded to the alliance in July 2002, WOW commands a fleet of 43 freighters and can call on the belly capacities of more than 760 passenger aircraft, many of them wide-body jetliners. Its global route network encompasses 523 destinations in 103 countries on five continents, and links the world's major business centres.
In addition to the WOW cargo alliance, Lufthansa Cargo cooperates with an array of other cargo carriers; it has co-operation accords with Air Canada Cargo, Air China, Cathay Pacific Airways Cargo, Eva Air Cargo, Korean Air Cargo, LanChile Cargo, Air New Zealand Cargo, South African Cargo and US Airways.
Aside from operating a night-flight network with DHL Worldwide Express, Lufthansa Cargo stepped up co-operation with the express and courier company on intercontinental routes in March 2004. It is also active in the Chinese strategic core market. It has a stake in and operates jointly with a partner a security palleting facility at a terminal at Shanghai Pudong Airport. In a joint venture with the Shenzhen Airport operator, it opened the ICCS cargo centre at the Airport in September 2004. In partnership with Shenzhen Airlines, and with backing from the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, Lufthansa Cargo founded the Chinese cargo carrier - Jade Cargo International - based in Shenzhen in October. The Chinese carrier was scheduled to begin operations in mid-2006.
Click here to view alliance concern details -
Singapore Airport (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS))
2008
Lufthansa operate cargo-only flights our of Singapore Changi Airport.
Click here to view alliance concern details - UTI Worldwide
Sister Concerns
-
Air Madrid
2006
June - Lufthansa signed an agreement with AirMadrid to market and manage the cargo operations of the Spanish airline.
Founded in 2003 Air Madrid has operated a network between Spain and destinations in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador. It also has limited services within western and central Europe. AirMadrid plans to add Sγo Paulo, Miami, Los Angeles and London to its route network and to raise frequencies on its existing routes to Buenos Aires, Rome and Paris.
For Lufthansa Cargo the collaboration with AirMadrid would strengthen its presence in the key markets in South America. As part of the cooperation agreement, Lufthansa Cargo would open five new handling stations in Latin America.
-
cargo counts GmbH
2008
August - Lufthansa Cargo announced two new but unrelated developments - the imminent integration of the business activities of 100% subsidiary cargo counts GmbH and an expansion of its security measures in the US.
Commenting on the first move, Lufthansa Cargo stated that at the beginning of 2009, it would take over responsibility for the business activities of cargo counts GmbH, including its staff and customers. Within the context of a merger with Lufthansa Cargo, continued the carrier, the supplier of total cargo management would be dissolved at the end of the year.
The chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo, commented: "Through the integration of cargo counts we are provided with operational synergy effects and will further increase the economic efficiency of Lufthansa Cargo Group."
Lufthansa Cargo originally hived off cargo counts as an independent company in September 2003. Its customers mainly include tourist airlines like Condor or Sun Express. In addition, cargo counts markets the capacities of Italian airline AirOne and of Croatia Airlines. Customers of Lufthansa Cargo also have access to those networks.
May - German air freight specialist cargo counts (subsidiary of German carrier Lufthansa Cargo AG) appointed SP Aviation Services Inc as its new general sales agent (GSA) for Turkey.
The latter, which was headquartered in Istanbul and also opened a new office in Izmir, would be solely responsible for marketing the air freight capacity of cargo counts' partner airlines. The main carrier, besides Condor, Croatia Airlines and euroAtlantik, is the Turkish holiday airline SunExpress.
According to cargo counts, SP Aviation Services fought off competition from several internationally-established companies to win the tender. "With our bases in Istanbul, Antalya and Izmir we can guarantee cargo counts a high degree of customer proximity in Turkey, which is a growth market," said Nursel Gueven, director sales and marketing at SP Aviation. "Our local proximity to SunExpress will also simplify sales and handling enormously and enable us to respond quickly and flexibly to all our customers' wishes."
Cargo counts GmbH, which is based in Hattersheim, close to Frankfurt Airport since its founding in 2003 has provided total cargo management for various airlines.
March - A co-operation agreement between cargo counts and German-Turkish airline SunExpress was to be extended by a further three years, the former announced.
Under that deal, SunExpress would market its cargo capacity exclusively via cargo counts until 2011. The agreement encompassed sales, marketing, cargo handling, accounting, IT and controlling as well as flight data, yield and capacity management. Cargo counts specialised in total cargo management and has co-operated with SunExpress since its founding in 2003.
To date, working in partnership with SunExpress, cargo counts said it had handled more than 6m kilos of freight, with the volume rising each year. Fresh vegetables for the German market accounted for the bulk of cargo transported from Turkey, it added.
SunExpress operates a fleet of 14 B737-800s and three B757-200s with a total capacity of more than 51,000 kilos. In the new summer timetable, the airline will offer 680 flights per week, 328 of them on international routes.
In addition to its home base Antalya and a second hub in Izmir, SunExpress was setting up another base in Istanbul. From there, the airline would serve the German destinations of Hanover, Cologne and Berlin. Overall, flight frequencies to Germany would be significantly increased. Other major European cities, such as Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo and Paris, would be served mainly from Izmir.
2007
cargo counts is a 100% subsidiary of Lufhansa Cargo. For airlines whose core business is passenger transport, cargo counts provides freight management solutions such as warehouse logistics and flight data management.
-
Condor
2008
Lufthansa Cargo markets the belly capacities of passenger flights operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine, Condor and Spanair.
-
Handling Counts
2007
Handling counts is an independent handling company founded by Lufthansa Cargo. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo, it started work initially at the Frankfurt location. However, the intention ultimately is for the company to operate nationwide in the German market. With an initial workforce of 100 employees, Handling Counts GmbH performs services for Lufthansa Cargo AG and, in addition, utilises the market opportunities existing at Frankfurt Airport. To that end, the company actively participates in tendering for handling services required by airfreight forwarding agents and airline companies.
The declared objective is to become one of the top 3 warehouse logistics service providers based in Frankfurt/Main.
-
Jettainer GmbH
2009
Lufthansa Cargo owns a 67% stake in Jettainer Gmbh, a specialist in load device management.
-
Lufthansa Cargo Charter Agency GmbH
2007
Lufthansa Cargo Charter is a 100 % subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo with the head office in Kelsterbach. Lufthansa Cargo Charter became an independent business in 2001, and is a specialist for non-standard cargo requirements.
A specialist for out of the ordinary cargo requirements it acts as a neutral broker and selects not only Lufthansa aircrafts to meet client's requirements.
-
Lufthansa CityLine
2008
Lufthansa Cargo markets the belly capacities of passenger flights operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine, Condor and Spanair.
-
Spanair
2008
Lufthansa Cargo markets the belly capacities of passenger flights operated by Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine, Condor and Spanair.
-
Swiss International Air Lines AG
2007
March - Lufthansa announced that the incorporation of SWISS was progressing more rapidly than expected. Overall synergies totalled more than $263m and were significantly higher than the amount originally forecast.
-
time:matters GmbH
2009
June - time:matters formed a partnership with LOT Polish Airlines. The new partnership would enable time:matters to access additional flights for the transport of same day shipments to Poland. Presently it could access just under twenty connections per day to and from Poland whilst following the agreement the amount of possible flights has doubled. Already this year time:matters had forged agreements with Brussels Airlines and Cebu Pacific Cargo.
The expansion of the time:matters' same day route would benefit companies based in Poland and in the Baltic states as well as international corporate clients that maintain business relations in these regions. The expanded use of Polish airports for the transport of European same day shipments reduces transport times to and from Poland and to cross-border destinations. It also created more flexible cut-off times and led to the partial or in some cases even complete elimination of transit flights via Frankfurt or Munich that were once necessary.
"The cooperation with LOT Polish Airlines offers our customers greater flexibility as well as an increased frequency for flights to and from Poland," says the Country Manager of time:matters Poland. "The new partnership provides us with a considerable advantage in terms of time and enables significantly later cut-off times, which is highly beneficial for our customers," he adds.
The Director of Cargo and Mail at LOT Polish Airlines, emphasises: "We are pleased to have gained a partner such as time:matters, which specializes in same day services. This addition to our portfolio represents a considerable added value for our customers."
May - time:matters and Jetpak, said to be the Nordic market leader for time-critical express logistics solutions, recently announced the development of a joint flight network specifically for the transport of time-critical spare parts.
"This represents a clear advantage over the previously independent networks, as customers benefit from an expanded network that includes additional destinations, a significantly extended area for pick-ups and deliveries as well as shortened delivery times," claimed time:matters.
According to time:matters, which is 48% owned by German carrier Lufthansa Cargo, the two partners' new "dense and high-frequency in-night network" connects Central European commercial centres with northern European points such as Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki, as well as remote areas like Hammerfest in northern Norway or Oulu in northwest Finland.
"With points of departure such as Maastricht, Erfurt and Baden (Karlsruhe), there are now excellent opportunities to provide fast service from the Benelux region and all of Germany for customers with delivery needs throughout the Nordic countries. Furthermore, due to time:matters service to and from Italy, it is also possible to provide in-night transport and delivery services from northern Italy to the Nordic region."
The German company continued: "Time-critical spare parts can thus be transported during the night from a spare parts warehouse (European Distribution Centres) to their destination within as little as 12 to 14 hours. The service also enables the latest possible pick-up (up to 7pm) and the earliest possible drop-off times (from 7am), for example by using designated pick-up and drop-off points (PuDos).
"Therefore, it is for example possible to ensure that a component, which is urgently needed for the repair of a defective magnetic resonance tomograph in Falun, central Sweden, is picked up at the spare parts warehouse near Frankfurt, Germany at 6:30pm and is already at the respective clinic's disposal at 8am the next morning."
March -time:matters, formed a partnership with Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines. The latter was based in Brussels-Zaventem and had an extensive international route network.
Germany-based time:matters stated that through the new partnership, it could draw on additional flights to European destinations such as Munich, Zurich or Brussels for the transport of its sameday shipments. It could now access 852 additional direct flights from Brussels to 44 European sameday air stations per week.
"This translates into an increased route frequency that enables time:matters to offer its customers an even more comprehensive sameday service, due to greater flexibility when selecting the fastest connections and the significant reduction of transport times," claimed time:matters.
The special logistics provider said the expansion of the sameday route network benefitted its customers in Belgium and throughout the rest of Europe. "The use of Brussels Airport as an additional hub for the transport of European sameday shipments also in part significantly reduces transport times to and from Belgium as well as to cross-border destinations. Therefore, a sameday shipment from Warsaw to Maastricht can be flown via Brussels, instead of via Frankfurt and Amsterdam, as was previously the case. This in turn decreases the transport time by two hours to merely four hours."
Time:matters added that the partnership was also a great advantage in terms of the direct connections that Brussels Airlines flew to from its headquarters in Brussels, "which completely eliminate transit flights via Frankfurt or Munich that were previously necessary".
2008
September - time:matters opened a branch office in Belgium.
The branch concerned was located in Mechelen, a city halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. time:matters, which was headquartered in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main, said that with the establishment of the new Belgian branch, it was represented in six European countries - Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands. In addition, the organisation operated a branch office in Singapore which was responsible for the Asia Pacific region.
The company said it saw demand for its transport solutions for extremely time-critical shipments in the Belgian market arising mainly in the automotive, high-tech and pharmaceutical and life science industries.
"Shipments throughout Europe and beyond can be transported and delivered 'sameday', meaning that very same day," stated time:matters. In order to achieve that, continued the logistics service provider, the company could draw on its dense 'Air-Rail-Road transport network' which numerous partners belonged to − for example airlines such as Lufthansa, Swiss or Air Berlin and rail organisation Deutsche Bahn.
"Due to this network, important spare parts for car manufacturing can, for example, successfully be delivered from Vigo (Spain) to the Belgian city of Brussels within four hours, where they arrive just in time to prevent production from coming to a standstill at a car assembly plant."
August - International courier, sameday and emergency logistics service provider time:matters announced that it had gained Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany), a business unit of Siemens AG, as a customer for the time-critical spare parts logistics segment. The logistics provider, part of German airline group Lufthansa, said it had entered into a cooperation agreement with retroactive effect from April 1, 2008.
As part of that agreement, continued time:matters, it had taken on spare parts supply in Scandinavian countries as well as in Italy for Siemens Healthcare, one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry. "Siemens Healthcare manufactures and distributes a wide range of live-saving and vital high-tech equipment for clinics and doctors' offices − such as diagnostic systems and therapy equipment, but also complete IT solutions," explained time:matters.
The logistics company said that following Fujitsu Siemens Computers, time:matters had within a short time been able to gain another corporate customer from the Siemens Group for its logistics services. "For instance, time:matters maintains a special 'in-night network' for Siemens Healthcare which ensures that spare parts for sensitive medical equipment can be transported overnight from the spare parts warehouse to the place that they are needed - within 12 to 14 hours," it stated.
"Therefore, it is, for example, possible to ensure that a component, which is urgently needed for the repair of a defective magnetic resonance tomograph, is picked up at the spare parts warehouse at 1830 hours and is already at the respective clinic's disposal at 0800 hours the next morning. In addition to the 'in-night service', other services can also be implemented and are selected according to the individual needs of each specific case of application."
July - Time:matters, the special service provider for courier, sameday and emergency logistics which is part of Lufthansa, announced that it had gained Fujitsu Siemens Computers GmbH (Munich) as a customer for the 'time-critical spare parts logistics' segment.
The logistics provider said that following the successful completion of a pilot phase that started in December 2007, it had taken on Fujitsu Siemens Computers' time-critical spare parts supply for areas of Europe, with effect from April 1 this year. It described Fujitsu Siemens Computers as the leading European IT infrastructure provider and market leader in Germany..
Time:matters said its established special speed solutions for especially urgent or particularly important shipments had served as the basis for logistics solutions that were adapted specifically for Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
A combination of road and air transport would be utilised for the high-speed transport of urgently needed spare parts from the central warehouses in Germany to Fujitsu Siemens Computers operations at German and European destinations.
The service allows for a multitude of different types of solutions as they are needed for various distinct situations: it therefore arranges customers according to zip code area or a specific time for each individual place of delivery, which represents the latest possible delivery time. One of the main service elements of the logistics solution is the option to, within Europe, combine an extremely late pick-up of the spare part in the evening with a particularly early delivery the next morning.
June - Lufthansa Group courier, sameday and emergency logistics provider time:matters opened a branch office in Singapore.
The new operation, time:matters (Asia Pacific) Ltd, would serve as the organisation's headquarters in east and southeast Asia as well as for the Pacific area and would be accountable for on-site customer service. Following the establishment of European branches in Switzerland and Austria, Poland and the Netherlands, the new site in Singapore was time:matters' first Asian branch office. Up to now, the company had been represented locally by sales agents from German parent company Lufthansa Cargo in more than 20 Asian cities. The company said the number of time:matters' own offices on the Asian continent would be increased in the coming months.
"With the establishment of the branch office in Singapore, time:matters is taking into account that the need for extremely fast, yet at the same time highly reliable, logistics solutions is increasing worldwide − especially on intercontinental routes − which particularly applies to the Asia-Pacific region," stated the company.
"Manufacturing processes that are characterised by the increasing outsourcing of individual production steps as well as the continual reduction of storage, also cause logistics − especially in the Asia-Pacific area − to be faced with new challenges with regards to speed and punctuality. time:matters orients itself towards these requirements."
January - time:matters, part of German airline group Lufthansa, was continuing its strategy of internationalisation with the takeover of Dutch express logistics provider JNE. Effective during January, 100% of the shares in JNE Netherlands BV had been transferred to Time:matters Holding GmbH although no details of the financial side of the deal were being made public.
As a result of the acquisition, the founder and former owner of JNE, Ben Hofs, had been appointed managing director of the new Dutch Time:matters subsidiary. He would be assisted by the co-managing director, Dr Arne Schulke, chief financial officer of the German Time:matters Holding. All the employees of JNE had been taken over by the new company.
Whereas previously the expansion concentrated on organic growth in the form of the setting up of its own sales offices and subsidiaries (2006: first foreign subsidiary in Zurich; 2007: further dependencies in Shanghai, Vienna and Warsaw), Time:matters had now taken over an established company for the first time.
The integration of the Benelux countries in the Time:matters network was an important step in the frame of its internationalisation. The region, in which, for example, numerous European distribution centres had been established, provided great potential for time-critical replacement parts logistics - a segment, which was increasingly gaining in importance for Time:matters.
2007
January - It was announced that Buchanan Capital Partners had taken out a majority stake in time:matters, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo AG. The new ownership structure is designed to expedite the expansion of the company, which specialises in express logistics services. Neither company has disclosed details of the transaction.
Since its spin-off from Lufthansa Cargo in 2002, time:matters GmbH has grown profitably, posting two-digit increases in yearly revenues. To finance further growth, Lufthansa sought an equity partner willing to invest in the company in the framework of a buyout. Lufthansa Cargo re-invested in a 49% stake in the logistics specialist.
2006
time:matters delivers urgent shipment quickly, directly and reliably. It develops individual transport concepts and arranges for the shipping process from start to finish based on its worldwide air-rail-road network as well as its long-standing cooperations with partners such as Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and Swiss World Cargo.
Major Contracts Listing
Information Systems
-
ASTRIT
Name: ASTRIT Vendor: Description: Allows the customer to check on the status of shipments and any td.Services that have been booked with a phone call - via ASTRIT, a computerised telephone information service. An e-mail or fax whichever is preferred with an up-to-the-minute status report.Capabilities: - information about shipment and td.Services
- additional menu options (repeat function, request for booking information)
- possibility to authorise and thus make bundled inquiries concerning individual AWB lists
- automatic forwarding of lists to e-mail address or fax number
- information about shipment and td.Services
-
TrackIT
Name: TrackIT Vendor: Description: Technology to enable tracking of shipments.
Capabilities: - enter AWB number for immediate access to standard information.
- personalised tracking via myCargo provides further information to help with subsequent planning.
- enter AWB number for immediate access to standard information.
Regions
-
Africa Other Related Countries
-
Asia Pacific Related Countries Other Related Countries
-
Australia
Australia: 2008 News2008
November - Qantas reported last week that it had entered a Deed of Settlement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to settle its liability in Australia resulting from price fixing conduct within its freight division and had agreed to pay a fine of A$20m.
The Australian carrier said the settlement with the ACCC followed its settlement in the US in late 2007. Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the agreement, once accepted by the Federal Court, settled the liability in Australia for the airline and all its current employees.
"Qantas is one of the first airlines to settle its liability in Australia. Qantas apologises unreservedly for the conduct of the employees involved. All Qantas employees are expected to comply with the law and we take any failure to comply very seriously," continued Dixon.
"Since being advised of the allegations in May 2006, Qantas has cooperated fully with investigations by the ACCC and all other relevant antitrust regulators. Similar investigations, involving more than 30 other airlines, continue in Europe and other jurisdictions and could take another two years to complete. Qantas will continue to cooperate with the ACCC and other antitrust regulators on these investigations." Dixon explained that the illegal conduct had involved the imposition of fuel surcharges in the international air cargo market between 2000 and 2006, pursuant to a methodology initially created and published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and subsequently published by Lufthansa Cargo and other carriers.
"Antitrust immunity was sought by IATA for industry-wide imposition of the same surcharge. The immunity was subsequently refused. However, the industry continued to impose the surcharge," added Dixon.
-
China
China: News2006
June - The Chinese cargo carrier Jade Cargo International announced that it would begin operations at the beginning of August 2006, immediately after delivery of its first freighter, a Boeing 747-400ERF.
Initially Jade Cargo International would serve Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) and Seoul Incheon (ICN) each three times a week from its cargo hub in Shenzhen (SZX), Southern China.
Through its truck network, Jade Cargo International has close links to Hong Kong (HKG) and Guangzhou (CAN) airports. The all-cargo carrier also provides regular trucking services connecting all major European airports with Amsterdam, its European gateway.
Jade Cargo's second Boeing 747-400ERF freighter was due for delivery in November 2006. The airline, which is based in China's Pearl River Delta, ordered a total of six aircraft of this type, which would enter service successively until January 2008.
Management commented that the air cargo carrier would rapidly expand its route network and serve intra-Asian, European and American destinations.
Jade Cargo International was founded as a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines (51%), Lufthansa Cargo (25%) and DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (24%).
It was only in December 2005 Jade Cargo International announced that the all-cargo joint venture between Lufthansa Cargo and Shenzhen Airlines founded in October 2004 had been pushed back again. Jade hoped to receive the first of six new 747-400ERFs in June 2006. Further aircraft would arrive during 2007.
First routes were due to be intra-Asian services to Nagoya and destinations like South Korea and India. Jade was originally expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2005. Further expansion to Europe was expected with the introduction of the third aircraft, with service to North America following after the fourth arrives. The airline was recruiting pilots.
According to Lufthansa, there were no plans for Jade to absorb some of its cargo flights but this would not be ruled out for the future.
Also in December 2005 Lufthansa Cargo announced that it was to include a further Chinese city in its timetable, this time Chengdu in the southwest of the country. The capital of Szechwan province, with a population of around 3m, is a centre of the Chinese electronic and chemical industry.
The German cargo carrier would serve Chengdu jointly with its long-standing joint venture partner Air China Cargo. The services would be flown bi-weekly through Peking by a Boeing 747 freighter. The other four cities served by Lufthansa are Hong Kong, Peking, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
-
Hong Kong
Hong Kong: News2007
March - GAC Hong Kong signed a one-year capacity purchase agreement with Lufthansa Cargo for the movement of cargo between Hong Kong and Europe.
Under the agreement, GAC Hong Kong would be assured space allocation and more competitive rates from Lufthansa Cargo, increasing its weekly capacity. In return, GAC would commit to transporting airfreight cargo on the airline.
The agreement was secured by GAC Hong Kong and GAC's Global Purchasing Unit (GPU) based in Thailand.
-
India
India: News2007
June - Lufthansa Cargo was in talks with other carriers beyond Jet Airways over a possible cargo partnership, although the result of establishing a dedicated Indian freighter operation seemed unlikely.
Since late last year Lufthansa Cargo had been in talks with India's Jet Airways, which had for some time been considering launching dedicated cargo services itself.
Lufthansa Cargo claimed to be the Indian cargo leader in terms of frequency and capacity. It served Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad using 25 dedicated freighters and the belly capacity of its 42 weekly Indian passenger services from Frankfurt and Munich.
-
Malaysia
-
Pakistan
Pakistan: News2006
June - Lufthansa Cargo revealed that since the beginning of this year, it had airfreighted more than 3,000 tonnes of footballs. According to the carrier, in the run up to the World Cup, the demand had been huge.
The centre of the football-manufacturing industry was Sialkot, a city in Pakistan on the fringes of the Jammu-Kashmir region. In 2005, 63m footballs were made there by more than 200 producers. Balls transported by sea totalled 90%, with the remainder by air, particularly when there were delays in production. Lufthansa Cargo trucked the uninflated balls from Sialkot to the nearby city of Lahore or to Karachi.
The German cargo carrier has had a presence in Pakistan since the 1970s. Its strong market position was further strengthened last December through its cooperation with Swiss WorldCargo on the Karachi-Zurich route.
-
Singapore
Singapore: News2008
June - Lufthansa Group courier, sameday and emergency logistics provider time:matters opened a branch office in Singapore.
The new operation, time:matters (Asia Pacific) Ltd, would serve as the organisation's headquarters in east and southeast Asia as well as for the Pacific area and would be accountable for on-site customer service.
Following the establishment of European branches in Switzerland and Austria, Poland and the Netherlands, the new site in Singapore was time:matters' first Asian branch office. Previously, the company had been represented locally by sales agents from German parent company Lufthansa Cargo in more than 20 Asian cities. The company said the number of time:matters' own offices on the Asian continent would be increased in the coming months.
"With the establishment of the branch office in Singapore, time:matters is taking into account that the need for extremely fast, yet at the same time highly reliable, logistics solutions is increasing worldwide − especially on intercontinental routes − which particularly applies to the Asia-Pacific region," stated the company.
"Manufacturing processes that are characterised by the increasing outsourcing of individual production steps as well as the continual reduction of storage, also cause logistics − especially in the Asia-Pacific area − to be faced with new challenges with regards to speed and punctuality. time:matters orients itself towards these requirements."
-
Australia
-
Central & Eastern Europe Other Related Countries
-
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Related Countries Other Related Countries
-
Russian Federation
Russian Federation: News2008
April - Lufthansa Cargo, AiRUnion and Krasnoyarsk Airport in Russia signed a 'memorandum of understanding' about a strategic cooperation.
"In the document it is agreed that the signatories will together create all operational and commercial prerequisites in order that Lufthansa Cargo can make use of the Siberian airport in Krasnoyarsk as a stopover point for its flights to and from Asia," stated the German carrier.
It said Krasnoyarsk Airport and the service companies operating there had promised to implement corresponding measures and to make the necessary investments. "The measures to be implemented include, among other things, the upgrading of the instrument landing system to the so-called ICAO category II, which makes trouble-free use of the airport possible even in adverse weather conditions. This modernisation should be completed and officially certified by the end of 2008."
Lufthansa Cargo said that within the following five months, all further preparatory work should be completed, so that it would then start regular flight operations via Krasnoyarsk. "Lufthansa Cargo will make several flights to the Siberian airport in June 2008 for test purposes," it added.
2007
November - Russia banned Lufthansa Cargo flights from its air space for reasons that were not immediately apparent. It was suggested that the ban may be linked to negotiations concerning fees for 'over-flight' rights but there was no confirmation of this. There was also a rumour that Russia was pressurising the German authorities, and Lufthansa, to move its re-fuelling station from Kazakhstan to Siberia.
The German Government moved quickly and strongly against Russia, initially banning Russian Cargo flights into Germany and appealing to other EU states for help in confronting Moscow. The ban on Russian cargo flights seemed to have been lifted.
The ban on Lufthansa Cargo disrupted services not only into Russia but also to China and Central Asia. Lufthansa operated a cargo hub in Kazakstan, which acted as a refuelling stop to service South East Asia and Chinese destinations. The ban did not halt services to these locations but added an estimated three hours to the flight time. The effect of the ban would be severe on Lufthansa's China services in particular as the critical pre-Christmas period approaches.
There were suggestions that the sudden refusal to renew Lufthansa permit for over-flights was related to negotiations to phase out over-flight fees which generated Aeroflot and elements within the Russia state an estimated 200m a year. However, relations between Russia and Germany had been marked by these types of incidents, with the Kremlin ordering an interruption in oil supplies to German oil refineries preceded last year by problems in the supply of natural gas to a number of central European countries.
July - Lufthansa was set to shift operations to Moscow Domodedovo International Airport. All flights from Sheremetyevo would be relocated as early as the summer of 2008. The majority of the members of Star Alliance including Swiss, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Singapore Airlines, Spanair and Thai Airways, would operate under one roof in Moscow.
-
Russian Federation
-
Global
Global: News 2004-20062006
Since the end of October, Lufthansa Cargo had been flying to Los Angeles using its own freighters. Flights took off from Frankfurt twice a week bound for California with an intermediate stop at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
In addition, frequencies would increase on other routes. Both New York (JFK) and the growth market of Asia would benefit from more frequent flights to Osaka, Seoul and Hong Kong. Together with Air China Cargo, additional capacities were being offered for Shanghai and Peking.
Increased frequencies operated by Lufthansa passenger aircraft also added more freight capacity, such as on flights to Calcutta, India. The international airport in the Kazak capital, Astana, was a notable newcomer in the route network. Within a very short period of time, Astana had grown into the airline's second largest hub with more than 40 departures and arrivals weekly.
Since August 2006, all Lufthansa Cargo freight flights to and from Japan and China have operated via Astana. This meant shorter transport times for the customer, fewer complications since there was only one stop and improved stability in Asia services.
2004
September - the conversion of Lufthansa Cargo's main hub at Frankfurt into a top-security hub was completed. Sophisticated surveillance technology, gates and barriers have turned the complex into one of the most closely guarded and secure air cargo centres in the world. It has received C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism) certification from the US customs authority which enables Lufthansa Cargo to expedite customers' shipments to the US.
Lufthansa Cargo plans to use co-operation with partners to exploit opportunities as the industry becomes 'global'. China is a key market. Besides expanding its cooperation with Cathay Pacific and introducing services to Guangzhou, Lufthansa Cargo has signed a joint-venture agreement with Shenzhen Airport, which is the fourth-largest airport in China, to build a cargo centre there. Lufthansa Cargo also announced that the new Chinese airline Jade Cargo International, of which it owns 25%, would launch scheduled flights within China and to Asian destinations from its Shenzhen base this autumn with three freighter aircraft.
There are also plans for cargo cooperation with Swiss Worldcargo as part of its Swiss acquisition. The much smaller Swiss Worldcargo, whose financial results are not disclosed, generated revenues of CHF 442m in 2004. It transported 208,165 tonnes, generated traffic volume of about 1.14bn FTKs and achieved a load factor of 86.3%. In addition to marketing bellyhold capacity on Swiss passenger aircraft, it offers freighter capacity in cooperation with several international airlines, including Korean Air Cargo.
Since the summer of 2004, DHL and Lufthansa Cargo have worked in partnership and have been able to increase the frequency of connections between the American, European and Asian markets.
Global: News 2007-20082008
Lufthansa Cargo expanded its capacity this year, primarily by means of the extended route network at Lufthansa Passenger Airlines and new freighter destinations. Beijing, Mexico and Toronto were included in the flight plan for the first time in 2008, for instance.
In cooperation with the Lufthansa Cargo Charter Agency flights also took place to Curitiba in Brazil. In addition to 19 of its own planes, Lufthansa Cargo also deployed three chartered wide-bodied and two short-haul aircraft in the reporting year.
2007
November - Rapid hikes in air freight fuel surcharges over the last year prompted increased logistics industry discussion about the switching - actual or potential - of more traffic from that mode to sea freight.
Some businesses have of course always moved backwards and forwards between the two modes, depending on shipper requirements at the time. This year though, a number of airlines operating in the Asia-Europe and Asia-North America markets, in particular, publicly voiced concern that a more general switch from air to sea freight had become apparent.
However, not all senior airline cargo industry executives totally agreed with that view. Speaking at a Lufthansa Cargo press briefing headed 'Meet the Trends' held in Frankfurt, that carrier's executive board member product and sales, played down such suggestions.
He said that he was not sure that there was a threat coming from sea freight yet, but believed that on a worldwide basis, air freight would not be threatened by sea freight.
He went on to say that there might be some exceptions, particularly if a company was based in a big hub like Dubai where there were major air and sea gateways were close together.
Joining in the discussion, the principal and managing director of German consultancy Aviainform, suggested it was important to realise that when it came to forecasting new markets, for example, the value of products which might be suitable for shipment by air was lower than many people might suppose.
He commented that previous research of trade patterns had suggested that commodities with a value greater than US$16 per kilo could potentially be transported by air. However, it had not only been proven on its side but also with clients of Boeing Commercial that in particular markets where there were either no reliable or late official figures and/or no sources such as IATA CASS, this rule worked out fairly precisely when it comes to determining future (air freight) potential.
One example of a market or trade lane in that context, he suggested, was that between mainland China, specifically the Yellow River and Pearl River regions, and Central Africa.
-
Middle East Other Related Countries
-
North America Related Countries
North America: News2005
September - Lufthansa Cargo announced that it was stepping up its activities in the North American market and focusing its efforts on significant service improvements and a stronger orientation towards the needs of its airfreight customers, via a "Gateway Concept.
Lufthansa Cargo had two sales areas in the United States - Los Angeles and New York. Lufthansa Cargo started to manage its operations in the Americas via four gateways: New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. In South America - as before Sao Paulo is the gateway. At each gateway, a sales manager and a production manager is responsible for a clearly defined geographical region. Due to this new allocation of responsibilities, Lufthansa Cargo stationed new sales managers in Chicago and Atlanta.
Every gateway station has its own regional distribution network, which concentrates on secondary markets and smaller customers, in an effort to capitalise on niche markets with a good yield trend.
-
Canada
Canada: News2008
August - German carrier Lufthansa Cargo announced the planned introduction of non-stop freighter connections to Toronto, Canada, from September.
The airfreight subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group intended to operate twice-weekly MD-11F services to the Canadian metropolis on Lake Ontario offering around 90 tonnes of freight capacity on each flight. The aircraft would return to the carrier's home hub at Frankfurt via Atlanta, US. Lufthansa Cargo added that further Germany-Canada cargo capacity was available in the bellyholds of Lufthansa passenger aircraft on flights to Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.
Lufthansa Cargo added that with the new flights to Toronto, the carrier was again serving a station in Canada with its own freighter service for the first time since 2000. The flight ex-Frankfurt to Toronto will be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Return flights will leave Toronto early on Wednesday and on Sunday morning.
2005
November - Lufthansa Cargo and the airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss WorldCargo announced that they were to join forces in Canada. The two companies would conduct joint local business operations from January 2006.
Swiss WorldCargo would assume additional responsibility for Lufthansa Cargo's operations in Montreal, while Lufthansa Cargo, headed by Country Manager Ralph Tietjen, would take charge of Swiss WorldCargo's Toronto operations. The combined capacities would be offered via three Lufthansa Group hubs in Zurich, Frankfurt and Munich.
-
Mexico
Mexico: News2007
October - Lufthansa Cargo announced it would in future be operating freighter services to Mexico City. The new route was due to come on stream in January 2008 in the winter flight schedules. At the start of winter services on 28th October, the cargo carrier in the Lufthansa Group also increased frequencies to New York, Chicago and the South Korean capital Seoul. It additionally laid on new cargo capacities for its customers to Orlando in the belly hold of Lufthansa passenger aircraft.
Lufthansa Cargo would serve the Mexican capital, pending the granting of traffic rights, twice weekly with MD-11 freighters. Freighter stopovers in Dallas, Texas, would at the same time raise services there to four traffic days weekly.
Customers of Lufthansa Cargo would also in future have access to new freight capacities on Lufthansa passenger aircraft following the inclusion of Orlando in the Lufthansa passenger traffic route network. This new destination in Florida would be served five days a week with the Airbus A330.
-
United States
United States: News2008
November - US-based Unisys Corporation announced last week that Lufthansa Cargo would join Unisys-operated Cargo Portal Services (CPS), a leading electronic booking and shipment management service for the air cargo industry.
Unisys said the German carrier's participation in CPS will give its air cargo clients a free, web-based facility to manage bookings through a neutral portal.
"We are now able to offer our clients the choice to manage their shipments online via the CPS platform," stated Lufthansa Cargo.
"We know that our freight forwarder clients want a choice of channels on which to make electronic bookings and that there is a strong demand for Lufthansa Cargo to be online via the shipment booking portal CPS."
CPS was an electronic booking and Cargo 2000-accredited shipment management service for the air cargo industry. It was designed in cooperation with major carriers and forwarders and was operated by Unisys.
-
Canada
-
South America (Latin America) Related Countries Other Related Countries
-
Argentina
-
Brazil
Brazil: News2008
July - German carrier Lufthansa Cargo increased its capacity ex-Frankfurt to the Brazilian metropolis of Curitiba. An established flight on Saturdays, introduced last October, had been augmented with an additional connection at 2240 hours on Wednesdays. It would be operated with a B747-400 freighter by World Airways.
The freighter connections to Curitiba were run jointly by Lufthansa Cargo and its Lufthansa Cargo Charter (LCC) subsidiary, which charters the air freight capacity. The Saturday flight from Frankfurt via Sao Paulo/Viracopos was marketed by Lufthansa Cargo, while LCC was responsible for the route ex-South America. The additional routing to Curitiba on Wednesdays is marketed entirely by Lufthansa Cargo.
"We are delighted to be offering customers, in cooperation with Lufthansa Cargo Charter, a regular service to Curitiba and, simultaneously, further expanding our strong position in South America," stated Lufthansa Cargo.
Lufthansa Cargo additionally served the South American market with its own freighter flights to Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo/Viracopos, as well as with belly capacity on Lufthansa passenger aircraft flights to Sao Paulo/Guarulhos, Caracas and Buenos Aires.
-
Argentina
-
Western Europe Related Countries Other Related Countries
-
Austria
Austria: 2010 News2010
February - Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Airlines had agreed to step up cooperation between their two companies in the airfreight sector. Under the new agreement, the flow of cargo traffic through the hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna would be optimised. Both companies' global distribution activities would be merged and their product portfolios and production processes harmonised.
In future, the two companies would jointly route their cargo traffic through the Vienna hub which would boost freight flows. Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Cargo would also integrate their freight handling and distribution activities in Austria. In all other countries worldwide, freight activities would in future be amalgamated under the aegis of Lufthansa Cargo.
The CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, commented: "Vienna Schwechat will become a central European hub for Lufthansa Cargo - comparable to our German hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. Thanks to Austrian's excellent route network, Lufthansa Cargo customers will also be able to take advantage of direct flights to destinations in all corners of the globe."
The Chief Commercial Officer Austrian Airlines, noted: "This marks a further step in the reorganisation of Austrian Airlines. Our cargo business will benefit from the new structure. We will lower our costs and improve our product portfolio. At the same time, we will be able in future to provide our customers with a globe-spanning network and the extensive product portfolio of the world's largest air cargo alliance."
The measures will take effect on 1 July 2010.
-
Belgium
Belgium: News 20092009
March -time:matters, formed a partnership with Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines. The latter was based in Brussels-Zaventem and had an extensive international route network.
Germany-based time:matters stated that through the new partnership, it could draw on additional flights to European destinations such as Munich, Zurich or Brussels for the transport of its sameday shipments. It could now access 852 additional direct flights from Brussels to 44 European sameday air stations per week.
"This translates into an increased route frequency that enables time:matters to offer its customers an even more comprehensive sameday service, due to greater flexibility when selecting the fastest connections and the significant reduction of transport times," claimed time:matters.
The special logistics provider said the expansion of the sameday route network benefitted its customers in Belgium and throughout the rest of Europe. "The use of Brussels Airport as an additional hub for the transport of European sameday shipments also in part significantly reduces transport times to and from Belgium as well as to cross-border destinations. Therefore, a sameday shipment from Warsaw to Maastricht can be flown via Brussels, instead of via Frankfurt and Amsterdam, as was previously the case. This in turn decreases the transport time by two hours to merely four hours."
Time:matters added that the partnership was also a great advantage in terms of the direct connections that Brussels Airlines flew to from its headquarters in Brussels, "which completely eliminate transit flights via Frankfurt or Munich that were previously necessary".
Belgium: News 20082008
September - Time:matters this month opened a branch office in Belgium.
The branch concerned was located in Mechelen, a city halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. Time:matters, which was headquartered in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main, said that with the establishment of the new Belgian branch, it was now represented in six European countries − Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands. In addition, the organisation operated a branch office in Singapore which was responsible for the Asia Pacific region.
The company said it saw demand for its transport solutions for extremely time-critical shipments in the Belgian market arising mainly in the automotive, high-tech and pharmaceutical and life science industries.
"Shipments throughout Europe and beyond can be transported and delivered 'sameday', meaning that very same day," stated time:matters. In order to achieve that, continued the logistics service provider, the company could draw on its dense 'Air-Rail-Road transport network' which numerous partners belonged to − for example airlines such as Lufthansa, Swiss or Air Berlin and rail organisation Deutsche Bahn.
"Due to this network, important spare parts for car manufacturing can, for example, successfully be delivered from Vigo (Spain) to the Belgian city of Brussels within four hours, where they arrive just in time to prevent production from coming to a standstill at a car assembly plant."
-
Germany
Germany: News 2005-20062006
December - Lufthansa Cargo announced it was stepping up its investment in aviation security by expanding its Munich base into a security hub by summer 2007. It additionally further developed the Frankfurt security hub into a showcase station for new security technologies. The Lufthansa Cargo station in Johannesburg has also being converted and equipped with modern security technology.
New security measures had been introduced in the cargo complexes at Munich and Frankfurt Airports from January 2007. Lufthansa Cargo had equipped both centres with a combination of x-ray and explosives detection systems.
Lufthansa Cargo also tightened security precautions in Johannesburg. Aside from structural conversion work at the South African station, additional alarm systems and a new security service improved the overall security situation.
Conversion work in Johannesburg and implementation of new security technologies in Munich and Frankfurt began in 2006 and were completed in summer 2007.
October - representatives of Lufthansa Cargo AG, Fraport AG, investors Rheinische Grundbesitz & Beteiligungs AG, Bensheim, and the Hessian Ministry of Environment, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection attended a ceremony that heralded the commencement of construction of a new animal station at Frankfurt Airport.
By the end of 2007, the departments responsible for animal transport should be accommodated in an approximately 3,750sq m gross floor area facility on the 7,150sq m site. The building was scheduled for completion in early 2008.
2005
November - Lufthansa AG announced that it was planning to transfer 6 of 19 cargo aircraft from Cologne, Germany and Brussels, Belgium to Leipzig, Germany, because one of its major clients DHL is planning to be based there. Lufthansa Cargo was also looking into transferring some of its cargo fleet based in Frankfurt to Leipzig because of government plans to prohibit night flights in Frankfurt from 2009.
Germany: News 2007-20082008
June - Lufthansa Cargo laid the foundation stone for a new freight centre in CargoCity South, Frankfurt Airport. The new 'Lufthansa Cargo Service Centre', which would have warehouse capacity of about 20,000 sq m and more than 8,000 sq m of office space, was designed to augment the German carrier's existing 'Lufthansa Cargo Centre' in Frankfurt's CargoCity North area.
Lufthansa Cargo said the new handling facility, which was scheduled to commence operations in autumn 2009, would principally handle mail shipments from medium-sized forwarders and partner airlines. Simultaneously, it would accommodate the German and the European sales organisations of Lufthansa Cargo, which were previously housed in Kelsterbach.
The new facility signally affirms Lufthansa Cargo's commitment to its home base in Frankfurt/Main, Europe's biggest cargo airport. Once the legal go-ahead for a final ruling on practicable night-flight arrangements was obtained, it would press ahead firmly with plans for building a new Lufthansa Cargo Centre in the north of the airport.
2007
February - Lufthansa Cargo Center Manager announced that the Lufthansa Cargo Center at Frankfurt Airport posted a new transhipment record in the 2006 business year. During the year, the centre handled shipments totalling about 1.58m tonnes, an increase of around 4.5% on the previous year.
In total, about 2.1m individual shipments passed through the Lufthansa Cargo Center in CargoCity North in the twelve months. Those shipments were moved into and out of Frankfurt Airport on aircraft operated by Lufthansa Cargo and its partners, in the belly holds of Lufthansa passenger aircraft and within Europe also by trucking services.
The Lufthansa Cargo Center (LCC) was opened in 1982. It is one of the world's biggest airfreight transhipment centres. About 80% of all shipments airfreighted by Lufthansa Cargo pass through the hub.
January - the Lufthansa Group airlines reported a 3.1% rise in passenger numbers year-on-year to 3.6m. Capacity was increased by 2.6%, while sales grew by 0.8%.
At Lufthansa Cargo the trend experienced in previous months continued. In January, the company transported 123,000 tonnes of freight and mail, 3.1% less than a year earlier. However, the cargo load factor increased by 1.3 percentage points to 64.9%. Optimisation of the cargo network and the expiry of the cooperation agreement with US Airways reduced available capacity by 5.1%, while sales remained about 3.2% below the prior-year level.
Germany: Summary2009
Most of the cargo transported goes through the main hub, the Lufthansa Cargo Center at Frankfurt Airport. Another hub for freighter traffic is Leipzig/Halle Airport. The airport's significance will go up again in 2009 when AeroLogic GmbH commences operations there.
-
Italy
Italy: 2008 News2008
October - Following the recent opening of a fifth European office in Belgium, German international logistics company time:matters announced the addition of two more foreign branches.
The Lufthansa Group courier, sameday and emergency logistics service provider, which focuses particularly on the medical technology, high-tech, engineering and automotive industries, said the new offices were located in the Italian economic metropolis of Milan and the Norwegian capital Oslo.
"Within the scope of its internationalisation strategy that was introduced two years ago, time:matters is, in addition to its German headquarters, now represented in seven European countries with branch offices: Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Norway," it stated. "Furthermore, the company operates a branch in the city state of Singapore and an office in Shanghai, China, which are responsible for its activities and customer relations in the Asia Pacific region."
Time:matters said the two new foreign offices combined the company's special expertise in the international time-critical spare parts logistics area and that growth segment was currently the focus of its business operations in both Italy and Norway.
"In addition to spare parts services, we naturally also offer our customers in Italy and Norway sameday services and emergency logistics solutions," added time:matters.
-
Norway
Norway: 2008 News2008
October - Following the recent opening of a fifth European office in Belgium, German international logistics company time:matters announced the addition of two more foreign branches.
The Lufthansa Group courier, sameday and emergency logistics service provider, which focuses particularly on the medical technology, high-tech, engineering and automotive industries, said the new offices were located in the Italian economic metropolis of Milan and the Norwegian capital Oslo.
"Within the scope of its internationalisation strategy that was introduced two years ago, time:matters is, in addition to its German headquarters, now represented in seven European countries with branch offices: Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Norway," it stated. "Furthermore, the company operates a branch in the city state of Singapore and an office in Shanghai, China, which are responsible for its activities and customer relations in the Asia Pacific region."
Time:matters said the two new foreign offices combined the company's special expertise in the international time-critical spare parts logistics area and that growth segment was currently the focus of its business operations in both Italy and Norway.
"In addition to spare parts services, we naturally also offer our customers in Italy and Norway sameday services and emergency logistics solutions," added time:matters.
-
Spain
Spain: News2006
June - Lufthansa signed an agreement with AirMadrid to market and manage the cargo operations of the Spanish airline.
Founded in 2003, AirMadrid has operated an extensive network between Spain and destinations in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador. It also had limited services within western and central Europe. AirMadrid planned to add Sγo Paulo, Miami, Los Angeles and London to its route network and to raise frequencies on its existing routes to Buenos Aires, Rome and Paris.
As part of the cooperation agreement, Lufthansa Cargo planned to open five new handling stations in Latin America.
Lufthansa has alliances with two other small airlines: Condor and Spanair. It has also entered into a joint venture in China for air cargo, called Jade Air.
-
Switzerland
Switzerland: News2007
January - the cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines, Swiss WorldCargo, chose Mercator, a supplier of IT solutions to the global air transport industry, to develop and implement a comprehensive 'Next Generation' suite of systems.
Swiss WorldCargo is the air freight division of Swiss International Air Lines AG, which was acquired by Lufthansa in 2005.
2006
October - it was announced that time:matters, the courier, sameday and emergency logistics subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo, had extended its sameday service between Switzerland and the EU. The company opened its own branch office in Zurich and it also cooperates with Swiss WorldCargo, which acts as a transport and distribution partner.
-
Austria
Industries
-
Consumer/ Retail
Consumer/Retail: 2009 News2009
October - Lufthansa Cargo and Hermes Transport Logistics announced that they were increasing their level of cooperation. Since early August, Lufthansa had handled the logistics of all incoming shipments arriving at Leipzig Airport for the wholly-owned subsidiary of the otto group. Aside from handling all imports, Lufthansa Cargo was responsible for arranging and loading truck transports to the Hermes bases at Haldensleben und Altenkunstadt. In future, the freight would be flown direct to Leipzig/Halle by Boeing 777 freighters in the fleet of Lufthansa Cargo's AeroLogic joint venture or be trucked by road from Frankfurt to the Hermes bases.
"Our extreme flexibility and deployment of low-emission Boeing 777 freighters make a convincing case," said the Lufthansa Cargo Vice President Handling Germany. "Our network, customised to our customers' requirements, guarantees the fastest connections, high cost-efficiency and a host of synergy effects." Eckhardt Fechtner, General Manager Hermes Transport Logistics, added: "Shorter transit time for shipments and the environmental benefits resulting, among others, from fewer road service transports within Germany are major competitive gains for Hermes Transport Logistics. We are delighted to cooperate with Lufthansa Cargo at our most important distribution centre in Germany."
Hermes Transport Logistics imported more than 14,000 tonnes of airfreight to Germany annually, principally from the Far East. The shipments consist largely of textiles.
-
Healthcare/ Pharmaceutical
Healthcare/Pharma: News2008
August - time:matters announced that it had gained Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany), a business unit of Siemens AG, as a customer for the time-critical spare parts logistics segment. The logistics provider, part of German airline group Lufthansa, said it had entered into a cooperation agreement with retroactive effect from April 1, 2008.
As part of that agreement, continued time:matters, it had taken on spare parts supply in Scandinavian countries as well as in Italy for Siemens Healthcare, one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry. "Siemens Healthcare manufactures and distributes a wide range of live-saving and vital high-tech equipment for clinics and doctors' offices such as diagnostic systems and therapy equipment, but also complete IT solutions," explained time:matters.
The logistics company said that following Fujitsu Siemens Computers, time:matters had within a short time been able to gain another corporate customer from the Siemens Group for its logistics services. "For instance, time:matters maintains a special 'in-night network' for Siemens Healthcare which ensures that spare parts for sensitive medical equipment can be transported overnight from the spare parts warehouse to the place that they are needed - within 12 to 14 hours," it stated.
"Therefore, it is, for example, possible to ensure that a component, which is urgently needed for the repair of a defective magnetic resonance tomograph, is picked up at the spare parts warehouse at 1830 hours and is already at the respective clinic's disposal at 0800 hours the next morning. In addition to the 'in-night service', other services can also be implemented and are selected according to the individual needs of each specific case of application."
2005
March - DHL Danzas Air & Ocean and Lufthansa Cargo founded a new joint-venture company to be called LifeConEx. Based in Florida, USA the company claims that it would be the only industry-specific provider of integrated end-to-end temperature controlled transportation solutions for the Life Science Industry.
Customers of the life sciences industry cover pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare services including medical devices. The joint venture is designed to improve order- to-deliver cycle times and help customers reduce total supply chain costs.
Logistics markets
-
Air Freight
2008
October - Cargo 2000 announced an increased presence in China following the decision of Tianjin AirCargo Terminal (TAT) to join its air cargo quality improvement programme. Cargo 2000 was an IATA-backed (International Air Transport Association) initiative established to develop and implement a new quality management system for the worldwide air cargo industry.
According to Cargo 2000, TAT said membership of that programme would "further support its close customer relationships through enhanced monitoring and reporting of each customer's specific shipments and the ability to increase the reliability of freight movements".
TAT also said: "With proper measurement, we are able to identify service improvement opportunities, streamline our processes and make our operation more efficient. In the longer term, we expect Cargo 2000 to help us bring in more business when its brand name is more recognised by the shipping public for its ability to produce cost reduction opportunities and more efficient operations due to the implementation of standardised business processes."
TAT's shareholders were Hwa-Hsia International Holding, German carrier Lufthansa Cargo and Tianjin Airport International Logistics Joint Stock Co. It operated from a brand new 22,000 sq m cargo centre in the Free Zone at Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
Lufthansa News2008
May - German air freight specialist cargo counts (subsidiary of German carrier Lufthansa Cargo AG) appointed SP Aviation Services Inc as its new general sales agent (GSA) for Turkey.
The latter, which was headquartered in Istanbul and also opened a new office in Izmir, would be solely responsible for marketing the air freight capacity of cargo counts' partner airlines. The main carrier, besides Condor, Croatia Airlines and euroAtlantik, is the Turkish holiday airline SunExpress.
According to cargo counts, SP Aviation Services fought off competition from several internationally-established companies to win the tender. "With our bases in Istanbul, Antalya and Izmir we can guarantee cargo counts a high degree of customer proximity in Turkey, which is a growth market," said Nursel Gueven, director sales and marketing at SP Aviation. "Our local proximity to SunExpress will also simplify sales and handling enormously and enable us to respond quickly and flexibly to all our customers' wishes."
Cargo counts GmbH, which is based in Hattersheim, close to Frankfurt Airport since its founding in 2003 has provided total cargo management for various airlines.
2007
November - Global air cargo market growth prospects for both 2008 and beyond remain positive and even the long-running decline in airline industry yields from that business could be coming to an end.
However, recent rapid growth in Chinese air cargo traffic looks set to slow down and that trend, combined with excess capacity in Asia's other headline-hitting market, India, could lead to some freighter operations in that region being withdrawn and/or the aircraft switched to alternative markets such as the North Atlantic.
Those, at least, were some of the key anticipated air cargo industry developments identified by Lufthansa Cargo, during a press briefing headed 'Meet the Trends' held in Frankfurt this week. The German organisation's thoughts, which were based on research from a variety of sources including German consultancy and research organisation Aviainform, US consultancy MergeGlobal Inc (MGI), IATA (International Air Transport Association) and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, were outlined by executive board member product and sales, Dr Andreas Otto.
Asked about air cargo industry prospects for 2008, particularly in the light of growing uncertainty about the general global economic outlook, he stated that from a Lufthansa Cargo perspective, he was still optimistic. At this stage, he did not see anything worrying. For next year, he anticipated at least the same kind of commercial success that Lufthansa Cargo had had this year, maybe even better at times."
Looking further ahead, he suggested that for the period 2007-2012, global air cargo market growth would continue to exceed that of GDP (gross domestic product), averaging 5.4% annually to hit 28m tonnes by the end of that period, 40% more than in 2006 when the total was 20m.
When it came to individual markets, he said that growth in China for the 2007-12 period was projected to average 7.7% a year. He commented that although China was still growing, it seemed that the peak may have been reached - in recent years the annual growth rate had always been at least 10%. Meanwhile, he continued India was expected to experience "strong growth" over the next five years, with the annual figure averaging 6.4%, but the market there was currently suffering from over-capacity.
Lufthansa Cargo's response to the expected slowdown in China market growth and apparently limited prospects for expansion in India, includes shifting some of its maindeck capacity from China to the North Atlantic.
On the subject of global air cargo yields, recent indications suggest they are beginning to stabilise, although at a low level, for example at about 0.30 per kilo in the Germany-Hong Kong sector or just under 0.80 per kilo on the Germany-Japan lane.
September - Deutsche Post World Net and Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced that they were going to found a joint cargo airline through their subsidiaries DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo. The new company, based in Leipzig, in which DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo would each hold a 50% stake, would have the legal form of a private limited company (GmbH). It would focus on transporting airfreight and express shipments into and out of Asia. Flight operations were scheduled to begin in April 2009.
The new cargo carrier would initially operate with eleven new Boeing 777-200LRF aircraft. The aircraft would be leased and are scheduled for delivery from February 2009. The cargo capacities of the new airline would be utilised by Lufthansa Cargo und DHL Express. The two partners would continue market and handle those capacities independently.
Pending the granting of traffic rights, the new airline would gradually expand its route network from the summer schedule 2009. On weekdays, it would serve Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Bombay, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Nagoya, Almaty, East Midlands and Milan. At weekends, it would fly to Shanghai, Astana, Singapore, Bangkok, Sharjah, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York.
Aside from pure airfreight traffic, the two companies would each alone be responsible for warehousing and trans-shipment at Leipzig/Halle Airport. DHL Express would handle its express shipments in the newly built cargo centre. Lufthansa Cargo would shortly build its own logistics centre nearby.
Management of the new airline would be taken over by Dr. Thomas Papke, formerly Lufthansa Cargo, and Thomas Pusch, previously at DHL. The name of the new company and its branding would be decided at a later date.
April - Lufthansa Cargo became the first IOSA-registered all cargo airline, worldwide. After successfully concluding an intensive five-day audit, the carrier assumed a pacemaker role on flight safety standards among airlines in the air cargo business.
March - Lufthansa reported that it had carried almost 4% more freight in February than in the same period in 2006. This was a result of a second consecutive month of double-digit gains in the Americas against limited growth on Asia Pacific routes.
The rise in volume to 136,000 metric tonnes followed growth of more than 7% in January and contrasted with a near 3% drop in February freight traffic of its closest European cargo rival, Air France-KLM.
For the first two months of the year, Lufthansa Cargo carried 267,000 tonnes of freight, up 5.4% on the same period in 2006.
The German carrier boosted capacity in the Americas by 14% since 2006 and sales had kept a steady pace, rising 13.3%. Total traffic grew by 10.8% to 37,000 tonnes and the load factor rose by 0.4 points to 75.1%.
Traffic on Asia Pacific routes rose by 1% to 34,000 tonnes while capacity was cut by 4.4% and revenues fell by 2.2%. The load factor rose by 1.7 points to 74.4%.
European short haul traffic grew 2.6% to 56,000 tonnes, but the Middle East/Africa movement went down 3.4% at 9,000 tonnes.Following strong traffic growth on trans-Atlantic routes over previous months, Lufthansa boosted frequencies between its Frankfurt hub and Dallas from two to three times a week, and was set to open a new cargo service to Denver with the introduction of passenger flights.
Lufthansa had been steadily increasing cargo space in its Americas network since 2006. Compared to that year, capacity in February was up 14% on-year and 12.5% higher in January.
Lufthansa also added a sixth weekly freighter service between Frankfurt and Sao Paolo and frequencies to Shanghai were set to be increased from eight to nine a week.
2005
December - Lufthansa Cargo added a further Chinese city to its timetable, this time Chengdu in the southwest of the country. The other four cities served by Lufthansa are Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Chengdu, the capital of Szechwan province with a population of around three million, is a centre of the Chinese electronic and chemical industry. The German cargo carrier will serve Chengdu jointly through its long-standing joint venture partner Air China Cargo. The services will be flown bi-weekly through Beijing by a Boeing 747 freighter.
-
Humanitarian Logistics
2007
December - the final shipment of more than 750,000 life-saving vaccines was loaded on an aircraft bound for Uzbekistan as part of a humanitarian effort in Canada spearheaded by UNICEF, Sanofi-aventis Group, one of the country's leading medical aid agencies, and the logistics division of DHL to provide badly-needed medicines to the children of that Central Asian country.
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-aventis, donated the single doses of vaccine to Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), a Canadian medical aid agency dedicated to improving access to healthcare and medicine in the developing world. HPIC was providing the vaccines to global children's humanitarian agency UNICEF for use in the winter in a vaccination programme for the children of Uzbekistan.
The vaccines would be used to immunise children under the age of two against pertussis (whooping cough), diphtheria, tetanus and polio. Uzbekistan's Ministry of Health covered all in-field transportation costs and supplied sufficient quantities of syringes and safety boxes. DHL, a long time corporate partner of UNICEF, discounted the transportation cost of 26 temperature-controlled containers and leveraged its global network and delivery expertise to manage the cargo movements.
"Because the vaccines had to remain in a range between +2◦ C to +8◦ C at all times, this shipment was especially challenging," commented the director of business development, life science, DHL Global Forwarding, Canada. "As a result, we engaged LifeConEx, a joint venture with DHL Global Forwarding and Lufthansa Cargo, to ensure the vaccines were safeguarded and maintained complete integrity at each step of the journey."
-
Service Parts Logistics
2008
August - time:matters announced that it had gained Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany), a business unit of Siemens AG, as a customer for the time-critical spare parts logistics segment. The logistics provider said it had entered into a cooperation agreement with retroactive effect from April 1, 2008.
As part of that agreement, time:matters had taken on spare parts supply in Scandinavian countries as well as in Italy for Siemens Healthcare, one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry. "Siemens Healthcare manufactures and distributes a wide range of life-saving and vital high-tech equipment for clinics and doctors' offices - such as diagnostic systems and therapy equipment, but also complete IT solutions," explained time:matters.
The logistics company said that following Fujitsu Siemens Computers, time:matters had within a short time been able to gain another corporate customer from the Siemens Group for its logistics services. "For instance, time:matters maintains a special 'in-night network' for Siemens Healthcare which ensures that spare parts for sensitive medical equipment can be transported overnight from the spare parts warehouse to the place that they are needed - within 12 to 14 hours," it stated.
"Therefore, it is, for example, possible to ensure that a component, which is urgently needed for the repair of a defective magnetic resonance tomograph, is picked up at the spare parts warehouse at 1830 hours and is already at the respective clinic's disposal at 0800 hours the next morning. In addition to the 'in-night service', other services can also be implemented and are selected according to the individual needs of each specific case of application."
News
-
26/02/2010 Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Cargo merge global operations
26/02/2010
Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Airlines have agreed to step up cooperation between their two companies in the airfreight sector. Under the new agreement, the flow of cargo traffic through the hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna will be optimised. Both companies' global distribution activities will be merged and their product portfolios and production processes harmonised.
In future, the two companies will jointly route their cargo traffic through the Vienna hub which will boost freight flows. Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Cargo will also integrate their freight handling and distribution activities in Austria. In all other countries worldwide, freight activities will in future be amalgamated under the aegis of Lufthansa Cargo.
Carsten Spohr, CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, commented: "Vienna Schwechat will become a central European hub for Lufthansa Cargo – comparable to our German hubs at Frankfurt and Munich. Thanks to Austrian's excellent route network, Lufthansa Cargo customers will also be able to take advantage of direct flights to destinations in all corners of the globe."
Dr. Andreas Bierwirth, Chief Commercial Officer Austrian Airlines, noted: "This marks a further step in the reorganisation of Austrian Airlines. Our cargo business will benefit from the new structure. We will lower our costs and improve our product portfolio. At the same time, we will be able in future to provide our customers with a globe–spanning network and the extensive product portfolio of the world's largest air cargo alliance."
The measures will take effect on 1 July 2010.
-
18/01/2010 AeroLogic expands network
18/01/2010
AeroLogic, the joint venture cargo airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, is expanding its network, following delivery of two additional aircraft last month. The company is now introducing new daily flights from Leipzig to Hong Kong, four of them non–stop, and weekend flights from Frankfurt to Atlanta and Chicago during the current winter schedule. The new additional destinations and increased frequency of nonstop flights will help both parent companies to strengthen the service offerings to their customers. Demand for Europe to Asia and Europe to US remains stable, despite the weakened world economy, and is expected to increase in the mid term.
Ken Allen, CEO DHL Express, commented on the network expansion: "AeroLogic's new routes offer excellent opportunities for DHL Express. Trade between Europe and Asia remained at a high level during the recent crisis, indicating a structural demand in both regions for the other's products and commodities."
Carsten Spohr, CEO Lufthansa Cargo, added: "With destinations in North America we can now further expand our dense network to the United States. Especially on weekends we see a high demand for capacity from and to our hubs in Atlanta and Chicago. With the Boeing 777 the Lufthansa Cargo Group can now offer its customers three different freighter types: the MD–11 of Lufthansa Cargo, the Boeing 747–400 of Jade Cargo International and AeroLogic´s Boeing 777."
AeroLogic took delivery of two additional B777F aircraft in December and with a fleet of four is currently the largest operator of the B777F worldwide. The B777F is the most efficient and environmentally friendly long range wide–body freighter aircraft available. AeroLogic expects AeroLogic expands network with two new routes to Asia and the U.S. delivery of four additional B777F aircraft in 2010 (planned for June, July, September and December). With these aircraft, the airline can expand its route system to include further destinations and will achieve its originally planned network size and reach in the beginning of 2011.
-
19/10/2009 Lufthansa Cargo and Hermes increase cooperation
19/10/2009
Lufthansa Cargo and Hermes Transport Logistics have announced that they are increasing their level of cooperation. Since early August, Lufthansa has handled the logistics of all incoming shipments arriving at Leipzig Airport for the wholly–owned subsidiary of the otto group. Aside from handling all imports, Lufthansa Cargo is responsible for arranging and loading truck transports to the Hermes bases at Haldensleben und Altenkunstadt. In future, the freight will be flown direct to Leipzig/Halle by Boeing 777 freighters in the fleet of Lufthansa Cargo's AeroLogic joint venture or be trucked by road from Frankfurt to the Hermes bases.
"Our extreme flexibility and deployment of low–emission Boeing 777 freighters make a convincing case," said Lufthansa Cargo Vice President Handling Germany, Dr. Mohammad Ali Seiraffi. "Our network, customised to our customers' requirements, guarantees the fastest connections, high cost–efficiency and a host of synergy effects." Eckhardt Fechtner, General Manager Hermes Transport Logistics, added: "Shorter transit time for shipments and the environmental benefits resulting, among others, from fewer road service transports within Germany are major competitive gains for Hermes Transport Logistics. We are delighted to cooperate with Lufthansa Cargo at our most important distribution centre in Germany."
Hermes Transport Logistics imports more than 14,000 tonnes of airfreight to Germany annually, principally from the Far East. The shipments consist largely of textiles.
-
25/09/2009 DHL adds to Transatlantic Fleet
25/09/2009
DHL Express' first Boeing 767 Extended Range Freighter has completed a flight between Leipzig airport in Germany and DHL's major international gateway at John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in New York. Operated by United Kingdom–based DHL Air, a total of six Boeing 767ERF will help DHL boost the company's performance and reliability of its transatlantic services. The aircraft will replace the shared capacity of its MD–11F aircraft currently in use through a joint venture with Lufthansa Cargo.
DHL says that transatlantic trade has been at a continuously high level in recent years, with Europe–to–USA and USA–to–Europe trade flows reaching a value of $347 billion and $288 billion respectively in 2008. The company's volumes in the transatlantic air express market remained at a high level during the recent economic crisis and are expected to increase when the global economy has fully recovered.
With a payload capacity of 59 tons and a maximum range of 3,700 miles, the 767ERF aircraft is widely recognized as one of the most modern mid–range wide body freighters currently available. The new aircraft will serve daily direct flights between the USA and Europe, which include daily direct flights between DHL Express' major European hub in Leipzig (LEJ), Germany, and New York (JFK), while another daily direct flight serves routes between DHL Express' major international Americas regional hub in Cincinnati and gateway in New York (JFK) to–and–from East Midlands, United Kingdom. These flights will further improve the international connectivity of the US network and enable the company to expand its next day Time Definite transatlantic services between the US East Coast and Europe.
"By introducing the Boeing 767ERF into our own DHL air fleet we are following our smart technology approach, which aims at achieving high efficiency gains through the use of the most modern technology available, wherever possible," said Charlie Dobbie, Executive Vice President, Express Network Operations and Aviation. "Furthermore, operating this highly–reliable new aircraft type on our transatlantic routes proves that we are serious about further improving our capabilities for U.S. inbound and outbound international express services. Moreover, the aircraft's efficiency also enables us to maintain a very competitive offer and implement our group–wide GoGreen strategy."
Briefs
-
01/03/2010 Cathay Pacific and Air China announce cargo merger
01/03/2010
Cathay Pacific and Air China have agreed to merge some of their cargo operations through a purchase of 49% of Air China Cargo (ACC) by Cathay.
In a complicated deal, Air China Cargo will remain as a subsidiary of Air China, yet have a substantial shareholding from Cathay Pacific, the investment having a book value of RMB 1.6bn. What was described as a 'framework agreement' was signed on the 25th February, although the deal has yet to be approved by competition authorities.
The logic behind the deal appears to be the ability to offer Air China access to Cathay's global freighter network and strong logistics capability out of its Hong Kong base. In return Air China will give Cathay access to the markets of Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta. The newly capitalised China Air Cargo will sell capacity on Air China's belly freight as well as freighters, but apparently not on Cathay Pacific's. Indeed Cathay Pacific's cargo operation will continue to compete with Air China Cargo.
Christopher Pratt, Chairman of Cathay Pacific commented that, "The joint venture airline will provide the two most important cargo–generating regions in the Mainland with two highly competitive and efficient home–based carriers – Cathay Pacific in the Pearl River Delta and ACC in the Yangtze River Delta. ?As a strong home–based cargo airline with a firm foothold in the Yangtze River Delta, ACC will ensure an efficient capture of cargo movements that may otherwise divert to rival hubs in the region. It makes good sense for Cathay Pacific and Air China to team up for this joint venture."
The two companies have been allying strategically since 2006, when they arranged a cross shareholding whilst Cathay bought Dragonair, the Hong Kong based airline that serves much of the rest of China.Air China Cargo is the country's largest freight airline, althugh its operations are really orientated towards domestic operations. With strong competition from the likes of Lufthansa on international routes it has struggled to break–out of its domestic focus.
-
22/02/2010 Lufthansa strike will have impact on air freight market.
22/02/2010
Lufthansa Cargo is under threat from a four day strike by its own pilots and that of its parent company, Lufthansa. The German carrier, which is one of the world's largest air freight carriers, has weathered the recession better than many of its rivals, however the threatened industrial action could be a significant blow to its business. It is also part of a wave of labour unrest hitting many of the established airlines as they attempt to restructure their cost base in the face of a severe recession in the sector.
The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, is threatening to bring all of its 4,500 members out on strike today (Monday, 22 February), until Thursday over a dispute concerning the use of non–German subsidiaries. These subsidiaries offer Lufthansa the option of cheaper wage costs and the union fears Lufthansa will increasingly use them instead of services operated by German staff. The pilots' union is demanding that all Lufthansa pilots are given the same pay and conditions, something which the company is not very willing to do. Instead it has offered its pilots in the German part of Lufthansa job security until 2012.
The airline has said that the strike could cost it as much as €100m. It is also considering legal action the stop the strike going ahead. Lufthansa says that although subsidiaries such as Lufthansa Cargo will be affected, operations by its non–German companies will not, enabling a proportion of flights to operate as normal.
The impact of such as strike on the air freight market worldwide would be significant. Although certainly not occupying a dominant position, Lufthansa provides substantial capacity in many airfreight routes such as Europe to China. The effect of a sudden withdrawal of this capacity is likely to push–up rates aggressively. The beneficiaries of this will be other air freight carriers, although freight forwarders may be left scrambling for space.
The direction of the market out of the Asia Pacific region has been uncertain after the big increases in volumes and rates prior to Christmas. The Lufthansa strike may act to continue driving up rates, if only in the short–term.
-
18/01/2010 Logistics critical in Haiti disaster
18/01/2010
The emergency response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti is a vivid example of the importance of logistics. Freight forwarders and transportation providers are key to the emergency response – indeed their capabilities are often greater than those of the military. For example DP–DHL already has a 'Disaster Response Team' that is working on the ground in Haiti with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), advising on logistics management. These teams provide expertise on both operational management and knowledge of the resources available which the UN would struggle to provide itself. Other logistics service providers have similar capabilities, with TNT, UPS and Agility providing teams to the UN's World Food Programme. DBSchenker and Lufthansa are providing dedicated air freight capabilities.
At present many of the humanitarian shipments are being flown to Miami, where they are then trans–shipped. However it is at this point that the problems begin. There is a considerable bottleneck at the main Port–au–Prince airport, despite having been recently taken over by the US authorities. Alternatives include shipping via sea, although the main port in Haiti has also been damaged. A last resort being considered is moving the most urgent medical supplies to a US aircraft carrier anchored off Haiti, and transporting them by helicopter to the mainland.
Getting the supplies beyond Haiti's logistics hubs is also a problem. Many of the main roads, undeveloped prior to the earthquake, have been rendered impassable. Distributing aid to the more remote areas is proving highly challenging, and this is one of the main reasons why the operation has received some criticism. However the difficulties of moving supplies around the island should not be understated.
Whilst in the early days of any such emergency agencies often use non–commercial facilities such as those belonging to the military, the later stages invariably require access to the normal markets for logistics. It is also usually this period that will see the highest volume of freight moved into the region. The massive amount of re–construction in the country will require strong transportation services for many years to come. Although the last few days have seen a focus on the shipment of emergency supplies, this stage is almost at an end. Re–building hospitals, schools, housing, government buildings, ports, roads and airports will soon become the main priority.
-
13/01/2010 Air carriers boosted by Asia Pacific surge
13/01/2010
A new round of air cargo figures for December has been released by the major airlines, showing the beneficial effects of the upturn experienced in the Asia Pacific region.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 144,000 tonnes of cargo and mail in December, up 25.0% on the same month in 2008 when the full impact of the financial crisis was being felt. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 15.7 percentage points to 78.6%, while capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was 3.3% down. For 2009 as a whole, tonnage fell by 7.1% against a capacity reduction of 13.1%.
For the same month, British Airway's cargo output, measured in Cargo Tonne Kilometres, rose by 7.2% compared with December 2008. From the start of its financial year (starting April 2009) cargo output has fallen by 4.9%.
Air France–KLM's cargo business saw a marked, 8.4 point improvement in its load factor to 70.1%. Traffic was down by 8.5% while capacity was reduced by 19.4%. In particular, the Asia network recorded an improvement of 17.4 points in its load factor to 80.1%. Re–stocking was partly responsible for a very strong recovery to 93.9% in the load factor of return flights from Asia. Year–to–November cargo output was down by 19%.
Lufthansa Cargo, however, did not perform so well. It transported around 1.5 million tonnes of freight and mail, a decrease of 10.5% on 2008. The cargo load factor fell by 2.3 percentage points to 63.6 per cent.
The capacity crunch in the shipping industry and late orders by US shippers in particular have played an important role in the surge of air cargo. With even products such as toys being shipped by air, combined with the cuts in capacity which air carriers undertook earlier in the year, a resulting spike in air cargo rates was inevitable.
Capacity is expected to remain tight right up to the Chinese New Year, with shippers racing to get orders completed and moved before the annual shutdown. Carriers are expected to hold back on adding capacity until prospects for the year become clearer, probably in the second quarter.