Just a few days’ shy of his 71st birthday, Sir Richard Branson made history on 11 July 2021 as the world’s first space tourist, beating other billionaires, Space X’s Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, in the race to the outer space.
Flying high aboard his own spacecraft called VSS Unity operated by his space venture company, Virgin Galactic, Branson reached the edge of space (86 kilometers or 53 miles) along with three other pioneers, signaling the much anticipated space tourism launch on Earth by 2022 where one has to pay up to $250,000 per trip.
Safely returning to Earth just over an hour after his spaceship lifted off to space, the eccentric British billionaire described the trip as “magical” and an “experience of a lifetime.”
“I have dreamt about this moment since I was a child, but nothing could have prepared me for the view of Earth from space. We are at the vanguard of a new space age. As Virgin’s founder, I was honored to test the incredible customer experience as part of this remarkable crew of mission specialists and now astronauts,” said Branson.
Branson, who in the 1970s founded Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Cargo, is known for his edgy adventures.
Defying odds, Branson, who has dyslexia was once told by his headmaster on his last day at school, marked by poor academic performance, that he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. He became the latter by becoming a serial entrepreneur beginning at age 15.
“When I was in school, people hadn’t really heard of ‘dyslexia’ and I just assumed I wasn’t very clever. I really struggled in school and I ended up dropping out at the age of 16. It wasn’t until I entered the real world that I realized dyslexia was one of my greatest strengths as it allowed me to think creatively and see solutions where other people saw problems. It’s wonderful to see that things have progressed and students like Angus are realizing the advantages of dyslexia in school. There’s still a way to go though, which is why Made By Dyslexia’s mission is so important,” Branson said in his blog expressing support to a young boy with Dyslexia from Australia who sought his advice.
Branson founded the youth culture magazine “Student” as a teenager and eventually built his multibillion empire, Virgin Group, from scratch.
“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over,” Branson once famously said.
Known for his adventurous spirit, Branson is into kitesurfing, ballooning, sailing, and yes, chess. He once held the fastest-ever Atlantic Ocean crossing by flying on a balloon with a speed of 145 miles per hour from Japan to Arctic Canada. He is also known for doing a series of other oceanic balloon journeys and kitesurfing across the channel.
Always curious and motivated, Branson has this advice he once said in an interview, “I see life almost like one long university education that I never had – every day, I’m learning something new.”
Powered by 420 kWh battery, this truck can run uninterrupted up to 400 kilometers
“We have to acknowledge that transport is a part of the problem when it comes to climate change. At the same time, we can and we will be part of the solution. We start with our eActros that has covered more than half a million kilometers on public roads. The eActros and its dedicated services are a big step for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and for our customers towards CO2-neutral transport!” – Karin Rådström, Member of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck AG and responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks
Mercedes-Benz Trucks digitally launched the world premiere of its battery-electric eActros for heavy-duty distribution haulage, heralding a new era of a more environment-conscious transport sector.
From its base in Stuttgart, Germany, the world-famous truck maker said at the technological heart of the eActros is the drive unit with two integrated electric motors along with a two-speed transmission.
Both motors provide for impressive ride comfort and great vehicle dynamics, while the quiet and emission-free electric drive means the truck can also be used for night deliveries and entry into inner-cities with driving bans for diesel vehicles.
Depending on the version, the eActros draws its power from three or four battery packs – each with a capacity of around 105 kWh. Thanks to a maximum capacity of 420 kWh, a range of up to 400 kilometres is realistic.
The eActros can be charged with up to 160 kW: When connected to a regular 400A DC charging station, the three battery packs need a little longer than 1 hour to charge from 20 to 80 percent.
CO2 neutral truck
Mercedes-Benz Trucks said it is heralding a new era with the launch of the first electric series-production truck with a star.
“We have to acknowledge that transport is a part of the problem when it comes to climate change. At the same time, we can and we will be part of the solution. We start with our eActros that has covered more than half a million kilometers on public roads,” Karin Rådström, Member of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck AG and responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks, pointed out.
Rådström is convinced of the concept and market potential of the eActros: “The eActros and its dedicated services are a big step for Mercedes-Benz Trucks and for our customers towards CO2-neutral transport.”
After Mercedes-Benz Trucks had presented the concept vehicle for a heavy-duty distribution haulage truck for urban areas at the IAA 2016 for Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, practical testing of 10 eActros prototypes in co-operation with customers in Germany and other European countries began in 2018.
The objective of the “eActros Innovation Fleet” was to launch a series-ready eActros on the market in 2021.
“Development of the eActros focussed on the partnership with our customers. Everything that we learned from the Innovation Fleet is now being incorporated in series production. Compared with the prototypes, several features such as range, drive power and safety have been considerably improved in the series-production model,” explains Andreas von Wallfeld, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services at Mercedes-Benz Trucks.
Comprehensive system
In order to assist haulage companies step-by-step as they switch to electromobility, Mercedes-Benz Trucks has incorporated the eActros into a comprehensive system which includes consultant and service products for customers and in turn the best possible vehicle utilisation, optimisation of total costs and the setting-up of a charging infrastructure.
Furthermore, the electric truck features a high degree of digitisation and connectivity. This also applies to vehicle safety.
In the latest generation of the Actros with a conventional diesel drive, Mercedes-Benz Trucks has already given an impressive demonstration of the standard of safety that is possible on roads today, and of what the manufacturer is doing in pursuit of its vision of accident-free driving.
With the eActros, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is not only keeping a close eye on active safety, for example in the form of systems installed as standard such as MirrorCam, Sideguard Assist S1R or the fifth generation of Active Brake Assist (ABA) with pedestrian detection, but also on challenges associated with electric vehicles and their high-voltage systems.
From autumn 2021 the series production model will be produced in Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ largest truck assembly plant in Wörth am Rhein. In recent months, intensive preparations have been made for the new production processes there. This includes the construction of a new assembly line.
In an initial phase the series-production model of the eActros will be available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Further markets will follow.
Intensive testing before series production is launched
Before series production commences, the developers have subjected the eActros – like its conventional counterparts – to endurance tests to be sure of its safety, performance and durability.
The cooling system for the cargo and also the air conditioning — both of which are electrically operated — have been operating reliably in both extreme heat and winter conditions. The testing engineers have also thoroughly tested the eActros in a winter test, where special attention was paid to the behaviour of the batteries and the electrical powertrain under extreme weather conditions.
The eActros was also subjected to additional testing concepts such as noise measurements at an exterior noise test rig and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests in a dedicated testing hall. The results show that the eActros is suitable for everyday use and that it fulfils operating requirements.
Electrifying Daimler Truck AG’s product range with battery and fuel cell drive systems
The Daimler Truck AG is pursuing a sustainable corporate strategy and aims to offer only new vehicles that are CO2-neutral in driving operation (“tank-to-wheel”) in Europe, Japan and North America by 2039.
As early as 2022, the Daimler Truck AG wants its vehicle portfolio to include series-produced vehicles with battery-powered drive systems in the main sales regions Europe, the United States and Japan.
Beginning in 2027, the company wants to supplement its portfolio by adding series-produced hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. The ultimate goal is to achieve CO2-neutral transport on the road by 2050. (Source: www.media.daimler.com)
“ULDs are important, a mission-critical part of smart, efficient air logistics that allowed the vaccines to save lives and protect communities. The entire air transport community rose up as a global group and accomplished exemplary, unprecedented airlift very quickly. We are proud to be playing a part in the effort.” Steve Townes – ACL Airshop, CEO
Frontline industries air cargo and logistics rose to the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic in transporting countless tons of medical supplies like masks, PPE, oxygen, ventilators, medical equipment, medicines and other pharmaceuticals, apart from other basic essentials like food.
Faced with so many aviation and border restrictions during the first few months of the pandemic, air cargo carriers have to quickly adapt to new health and safety protocols, interim systems of operations and enhanced routes to reach destinations at shortest distance.
And behind their successful missions are the so-called Unit Load Devices (ULDs), both used in passenger and cargo planes, to move packages, luggage and other types of cargo, in a single unit that can be moved on and off an aircraft quickly and safely.
ULDs come in different types and forms—containers, straps, nets, pallets, etc., tailor-made to suit what is being transported like time and temperature-sensitive products such as pharmaceuticals and in today’s pandemic, the billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Mission-critical to air logistics
With airlines forced to ground their planes due to the global travel ban, the air cargo industry had to improvise to fill the gap with the loss of belly-hold capacity on passenger flights. The solution: Turn passenger aircraft into freighters giving birth to the so-called “preighters.”
Both freighters and preighters need ULDs to safely transport cargo via air, flying thousands of miles across continents to deliver vital medical cargoes.
ACL Airshop, one of the world’s biggest tech-powered ULD companies doing business with over 200 international airlines and the top 100 air cargo airport hubs, said there’s been a great demand for the company’s services during this pandemic to support the complex, diverse and fragmented global supply-chain.
“The global supply chain is a complex and fragmented ecosystem with many branches, subsets, players, and stakeholders. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the strategic criticality and strengths of the air cargo supply chain, while also exposing some of the risks and weaknesses. We agree with IATA: COVID-19 has forced increased cooperation and SPEED across all parts of the airborne supply chain to ensure the timely delivery and broad distribution of vaccines in a safe, fast, controlled manner,” Steve Townes, CEO of ACL Airshop, told Air Cargo Update in an email interview.
Townes, a US Army Ranger graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School, noted, “ULDs are important, a mission-critical part of smart, efficient air logistics that allowed the vaccines to save lives and protect communities. The entire air transport community rose up as a global group and accomplished exemplary, unprecedented airlift very quickly. We are proud to be playing a part in the effort.”
ACL Airshop, which is into leasing and repairing ULDs, apart from selling ULDs and other cargo products, had since expanded its ULD fleet to meet growing customer demand worldwide.
“As COVID-19 caused massive grounding of belly load lift capacity in the worldwide passenger fleets—where a substantial percentage of daily air cargo normally flies—the freighter operators swooped in quickly to pick up the slack. That was complemented by “Preighters,” showing the creativity and speed of execution in our industry. Our company pivoted quickly with these tectonic shifts in client activity and new demand trends,” said Townes.
“We have invested aggressively in expanding our own ULD fleet for our customers’ use, and adding to our technology investments to keep pace. Altogether, this has been a most unusual and challenging period, but our people around the world rose to the occasion and kept the business growing—safely. The high-performance culture of ACL Airshop really showed brilliantly during the pandemic and now beyond,” he added.
Uniquely made ULDs
Early this year, Jettainer, a global leader in ULD management, unveiled plug&fly, a new basic version of its full-service ULD solution tailored for small and mid-sized airlines.
Jettainer says it uses an integrated IT solution harnessing artificial intelligence, ensuring real time visibility of ULDs and inventories, thus, enabling their small and mid-sized airline customers to save apart from maximizing space on aircraft.
“Big carriers are not the only ones who get to enjoy optimized ULD fleets and the smart global management services provided by Jettainer’s industry experts. Many other airlines with fleets of up to 2,000 ULDs can now reap the rewards too. To arrive at this destination, we had to take a separate, more streamlined approach that we are now rolling out with plug&fly,” said Thomas Sonntag, Jettainer’s Managing Director.
Continuing with innovation, Jettainer also announced it’s creating the digital image of each of the 100 ULDs it owns. The move is designed to help the company acquire comprehensive lifecycle data as well as optimize the use of ULDs economically and environmentally.
Each digital twin processes data from three main sources: JettWare, Jettainer’s steering and tracking system, asset database and its repair flow management. The smart solution clusters all ULD-specific information, starting with the unique identifier, the exact type and specifications, the manufacturer, the date of manufacturing and purchasing.
It processes all past steering and repair events, repair specifics and processes real-time information on condition, status and location. With every gradual development step of its digital twin fleet, Jettainer improves analysis of data and automated work flows.
ULD digitalization
Digitalization in the air cargo industry continues to impact the supply-chain. ULDs, has for instance, been using Bluetooth to keep track of containers and pallets.
The Zurich-based Unilode Aviation Solutions, which manages the world’s largest outsourced fleet of ULDs and owns the largest global network for the maintenance and repair of containers, pallets and inflight food service equipment, announced in June that it has equipped 62,080 ULDs with Bluetooth tags.
“So far, more than 60 airlines have provided Unilode with operational allowance to load digitised ULDs onboard their aircraft, and all major ULD manufacturers have been cooperating with Unilode, placing us in the position to digitally enable almost all units beyond our own fleet,” the company said.
ULDs has embraced digitalization and it will continue to evolve over time, particularly in terms of weight and tensile strength amid the world’s quest to reduce fuel consumption and cost, according to ACL Airshop CEO Steve Townes.
“The planes themselves are designed to last for decades, and ULDs are designed to become an integral part with the aircraft when the cargo is loaded. Hence, ULDs will evolve but in the main the designs will stay stable. They’re well proven for the mission, and ULDs are indeed mission-critical: you cannot fly without properly securing the load. What might change is weight and tensile strength, the quest for reducing fuel consumption and cost. There is the constant search for lighter materials,” said Townes.
“Plus, innovative technologies such as ULD logistics management programs, Bluetooth tracking and tracing, tying those technologies to the airway bill itself for all clients for even more-seamless end to end visibility. All of these digitalization changes are now sweeping like a wave across the air cargo sector,” he added.
In 2020, ACL Airshop made history when it launched the world’s first collapsible AAY containers that can carry up to 280kg. Each container can be assembled and collapsed by two people in just two minutes. This unique ULD saves space, time and money.
“Those of us in the ULD and logistics services businesses must invest steadily and smartly to keep up and keep advancing. That is what customers expect. At ACL Airshop, we will keep raising our trajectory on their behalf. With giant new Infrastructure majority owners, we now have even more “fuel in our tank” for strategic scalability and accelerated growth—thus for expanding and improving our customer services even more broadly,” Townes said.
Accelerating the adoption of digital technologies in logistics
“The trillion-dollar freight industry demands smart and evolving technologies with an increased focus on procurement and overall supply chain transformation to meet the needs of the changing customer requirements.” C.M Mathew, Founder & CEO, LogisEye Solutions
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies by several years globally. This crisis brought major changes in the mindset of management on the role of technology in business and has spread the awareness among people on the need for embracing digital solutions. The pandemic was the tipping point in world history that brought a new way of life – “the New Normal”— and many of these major changes will remain for years to come.
The mantra is “Go Digital to Grow Business”. Early adopters are reaping the benefits of digital transformation as it helped them to minimize the impact of current crisis on their business.
Digital transformation in different logistics functions is at its nascent stage. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chain and logistics globally. There are several early-stage startups where each one is focusing on certain selected functions, regions, or modes of transport.
LogisEye Solutions’ ecosystem is unique as its different digital solutions will meet most of the logistics procurement and payment requirements of international traders and logistics service providers across all market segments. Its cloud-based applications can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
The benefits to all the users in the value chain are enormous in terms of cost savings, highest level of real-time visibility, improved efficiency and time savings, enhanced transparency, electronic document management (EDM), exceptional collaboration and customer experience, and simplified IT integration.
The pragmatic marketplace
With limited manpower resources, remote working and time being of essence as economies reel from the impact of the pandemic, LogisEye digital solutions for procurement of freight and marine insurance can make a big difference to every importer/exporter.
LogisEye launched a marketplace (LogiQuote) that offers instant rates and an eBidding solution (LogieBid) for real-time freight rates from multiple suppliers worldwide to accelerate and simplify the complexities of today’s supply chain.
C.M. Mathew, Founder and CEO of LogisEye, explained that the industry is currently characterized with manual processes and inefficiencies to manage procurement of logistics services and face significant challenges leading to increased time & cost of doing business. This is what LogisEye’s platform and solutions seek to address.
“The trillion-dollar freight industry demands smart and evolving technologies with an increased focus on procurement and overall supply chain transformation to meet the needs of the changing customer requirements,” said Mathew.
“The company differs from other online freight ebooking platforms as it aims to provide a broad range of custom-tailored integrated procurement and payment solutions with the best cost-effective rates for both importers and exporters, in real-time.”
“The market and customer requirements are changing very often. This will make the supply chain requirements even more challenging. Smart and evolving technologies must be introduced with an increased focus on procurement and an overall supply chain transformation. This will unlock value and empower customers achieve their goals. This is where LogisEye fits in perfectly.”
The chartered accountant turned techpreneur had an opportunity to speak on the subject “The Maturity Level of Digital Transformation in Supply Chain” and a day of immersion on Artificial Intelligence conference triggered his interest on technology.
The traditional manual processes followed in procuring freight rates require days due to poor response time. Most of the rates from various suppliers are not comparable. Importers/exporters depend on handful of regular suppliers for their freight procurement. Apart from that, the manual processes result in billing errors, duplicate billing and double payments that increases logistics and administrative costs.
LogisEye platform offers a relief from these tedious processes, saving all stakeholders time and money.
Along with shipping costs, LogisEye platform also offers users the right cargo insurance for the protection of their goods, offering convenience and cost-effective solution in today’s fast-paced world.
Launched in 2019, LogisEye is a Tech start-up specializing in innovative digital solutions for Procurement of Logistics Services. The solution is hosted on the cloud, offering a broad range of custom-tailored integrated logistics procurement solutions that services over 40+ countries and territories worldwide, with the aim of transforming, accelerating & simplifying end-to-end logistics procurement. The platform architecture and interoperability features simplify and standardize the procurement processes
“Our ecosystem connects Importers & Exporters with Logistics Service Providers and Cargo Insurance Companies, empowering all stakeholders in the value chain to interact and operate in real-time. The platform delivers customer-centric experience with advanced customer relationship management solution, powered by Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning technologies,” said Mathew.
The solutions are designed to cater to customers with volume of any size, designed to provide access to Instant Quotes and Spot bids. Users can search for instant freight and insurance rates and/or launch an eBid, select suppliers, pay for and route shipments and track to get full visibility & analytics.
LogisEye recently launched its flagship solutions for procurement of freight:
LogieBid is an e-Bidding or reverse auction solution. Importers and exporters can now launch eBids to obtain quotes within a specific defined timeline. Users can select from LogisEye registered suppliers and/or even invite additional Logistics Service Providers of their choice. Suppliers can get visibility of their ranking while submitting rates and modify their submission any number of times before the bid is closed to increase their conversion. Users can currently launch reverse auction for their airfreight and sea freight shipments across the world and will integrate road freight shipments soon.
“It is very simple to launch freight Bids, easy to compare and analyze rates online, get visibility of logistics costs as percentage of merchandise value, select and award the Bids with total transparency,” said Mathew. Users can also get all business intelligence reports from our interactive Dashboard.
LogiQuote – A Market Place for Freight, launched during 2021, the state-of-the-art digital platform enables users to search & obtain quotes instantly from multiple Logistics Service Providers. Users can compare rates instantly, pay, route and get real-time visibility for their shipments under one platform, irrespective of using multiple service providers.
LogisEye marketplace currently provides airfreight rates for shipments connecting UAE with +40 countries and +1200 trade lanes for imports and exports. LogisEye aims to increase their geographical reach to +100 countries and integrate rates for other modes of transport including Sea (FCL/LCL), Road (FTL/LTL) and even Courier.
“People usually use Skyscanner or Cleartrip for their travel requirements. LogiQuote is a similar solution for instant freight rates, where our rate engine provides rates in less than 6 seconds once they update their shipment details. Users can even opt to get marine insurance rate instantly. Display of the rates can be sorted in different orders like Costs – Low to High, Transit Time – Low to High, Supplier Performance Rating, IATA Ranking etc. In addition, users can filter from multiple rates based on preferred service levels, suppliers and carriers, rates on different dates, costs within their target price etc.,” Mathew explained.
Since the soft launch of its flagship solutions, LogisEye has successfully attracted +350 customers and +35 logistics companies registered to its platform. As part of the pilot solution launch, the company currently offers free access to its registered customers for first three months.
The Techpreneur
Born and raised in the state of Kerala in India, Mathew, a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary by profession, nurtured a successful career in finance and accounting.
After gaining 8 years of experience in Mumbai, Mathew moved to Dubai nearly three decades ago. He started his career in Dubai with Danzas AEI Emirates, a joint venture between Al Tayer Group and DHL Global Forwarding, the world leader in integrated logistics, where he stayed for 26 years and served in various key management roles, including as its Chief Financial Officer.
“During the +26 years working in the logistics industry, I have encountered all major challenges that customers and suppliers face in terms of manual and archaic business processes and documentation, inefficiencies in operations and pricing, lack of transparency and visibility, etc. This led me to establish LogisEye with the purpose of developing digital solutions to deal with all these challenges and inefficiencies,” said Mathew
With years of experience in logistics industry, professional educational background, track record, entrepreneurial spirit and with the significant relationship built over the years, Mathew, being convinced that technology is the next lucrative business frontier to be explored, launched LogisEye with a seed capital of USD $4 million.
“Funding is a big challenge and Covid 19 pandemic made it even more difficult. We have invested almost US$ 4 million on this start-up so far. In addition to an investment of US $ 2 million from founders, we managed to raise US $2 million in seed funding so far. Our investors were convinced on the market requirements and market size, uniqueness of our digital solutions, limited competition, experience of the founding team and lucrative growth potential of their investment.”
“With our plans to invest into R&D, develop additional digital solutions and to meet our global marketing expenses, LogisEye is seeking additional funding,” shared Mathew.
Innovative team
Headquartered in Dubai, LogisEye currently has 28 employees in Dubai and 26 in Cochin, India. LogisEye has a mix of young and experienced IT engineers, customer service executives, logistics professionals and other specialists from different functions, who collectively create innovative ideas and solutions to meet the fast changing and challenging market requirements.
Advise to aspiring entrepreneurs
“Start-ups are quite alluring to most people. One must know that setting up a start-up is a very challenging task requiring your full focus and dedication. You should be prepared to face failures and use them as a tool for future success. Listen to the stories on the start-up failures and learn from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs. Keep an eye on changing customer requirements and market scenarios. Ensure timely changes to your business strategies that will make you a successful leader in the market. Covid 19 pandemic has already sent a strong global awareness on the immediate requirement for digital solutions. Be an optimist, seek creative opportunities, embrace the latest technologies and develop innovative solutions to support the world,” said Mathew.
“Going forward, we are planning to integrate Blockchain technology that will enable managing and storage of records, instant verification and validation of transactions, managing contracts and payments, optimizing common financial & operational goals on the platform and thereby create and build trust among the stakeholders,” he added.
According to the World Economic Forum, TradeTech or technologies for trade leverages the internet of things (IoT), AI, 5G, cloud-based platforms and other Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to unlock new possibilities and enable transparency and traceability in digital trade and global value chains. As the world slowly threads on economic recovery, more and more digital disruptions will emerge.
BOX OUT
LogisEye invites Logistic Service Providers (LSP) to join its dynamic digital logistics procurement platform to get quality leads and generate new business. You can submit valid freight rates to our marketplace (LogiQuote) and participate in online eBidding/reverse auction (LogieBid) across different trade lanes for different modes of transport.
Users can update/bid rates online, receive digital routing notifications, provide real-time visibility through data integration, eliminate manual interaction and reduce the cost of doing business.
Additionally, Logistics Service Providers can register as a customer on our platform to obtain instant freight rates for international trade lanes and launch eBids to procure competitive freight rates from sub-contractors and carriers.
For more info, visit www.logiseye.com.
Pharma.Aero welcomes one of the world’s leading air cargo carriers Qatar Airways Cargo and isothermal solutions provider EMBALL’ISO, the pioneer of reuse and reverse logistics programs in the cold chain logistics industry as the organization’s new Full Member and Associate Partner respectively.
Pharma.Aero has received growing interest by different stakeholders in the pharma air cargo supply chain to be part of the organization, especially in current times when the air cargo industry plays a critical role in transporting life-saving medical products and Covid-19 vaccines globally.
Nathan De Valck, Chairman of Pharma.Aero, said, “In the past months, though they were volatile for the entire industry, we expanded our global network and raised awareness of the need for global collaboration within the industry. The onboarding of Qatar Airways Cargo – one of the world’s leading cargo carriers – underlines our worldwide impact as a neutral collaboration platform for the global air cargo industry and pharma and life science sector.”
Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways said, “Collaboration is vital to strengthen the pharma supply chain integrity. The full membership with Pharma.Aero will allow us to share and receive market knowledge and also collaborate with different air cargo stakeholders in the supply chain which will ultimately lead to continuous improvement of life science, medtech and the pharma air cargo supply chain. We look forward to collaborating with Pharma.Aero members and excel in offering a reliable end-to-end air transport and seamless cool chain.”
“As the pioneer of Pallet Shipper and Isothermal “Reuse and Reverse Logistics”, we are very pleased to join the Pharma Aero Network to help in making pharmaceutical shipments safer, less expensive and more environmental-friendly,” added Yann Martin, Global Sales Director at EMBALL’ISO.
July 6, 1885 was a historic date for modern medicine and treatment. This was the day when Louis Pasteur administered the first attenuated vaccine to a human patient. Over the next 135 years, the development of vaccines for various diseases grew by leaps and bounds. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists across the world raced to develop vaccination solutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Emirates SkyCargo has played a crucial role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturing locations to destinations around the world, particularly to developing countries. The freight division of Emirates has flown 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai.
Some of the key highlights of Emirates SkyCargo’s COVID-19 vaccine transportation include
1 – More than 600 tons of COVID-19 vaccines transported on Emirates aircraft, the equivalent of 150 million doses
2 – COVID-19 vaccines flown to more than 80 destinations across six continents
3 – More than 3,500 packages of COVID-19 vaccines transported
4 – Six different COVID-19 vaccines transported.
Emirates SkyCargo is a global leader in the air transportation of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals including COVID-19 vaccines. The air cargo carrier has dedicated GDP certified infrastructure at its Dubai hub for handling pharmaceuticals. Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier flew close to 200 tons of pharmaceuticals every day on its flights.
In January 2021, Emirates SkyCargo joined hands with DP World, International Humanitarian City and Dubai Airports to form the Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance aimed at rapidly transporting COVID-19 vaccines through Dubai to developing countries. This was shortly followed up in February 2021 with a MoU with UNICEF to expedite the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.
Etihad Cargo and CargoAi, have partnered to elevate the carrier’s API accessibility for freight forwarders as part of its digitalization strategy.
During the past few years, Etihad Cargo has accelerated its development of technology advancements which have provided simplified customer experiences through a number of partnerships. This has culminated in the launch of its brand new digital platform, etihadcargo.com. Their latest collaboration with CargoAi will further enhance this through the provision of brand-new API accessibility for freight forwarders the world over.
“Digitalization has been at the core of Etihad Cargo’s strategy over the last three to five years, and continues to be a focus in driving digitalization and streamlining processes across the air freight world. Our partnership with CargoAi supports this vision, and provides an additional tool which delivers a rapid and fluid digital booking services platform,” explained Martin Drew, Senior Vice President Sales & Cargo, Etihad Aviation Group.
Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi, noted “Etihad Cargo is a cutting-edge, highly innovative carrier in the field of digital air freight. We are fortunate to have the chance to be the first provider to use their latest modern APIs. As cargo capacities worldwide are still restricted, e-marketing the Etihad Cargo offer on our platform is clearly a major opportunity for our freight forwarder clients”.
With CargoAi’s expertise in the areas of air freight and tech, integration is taking place at a record pace. By beginning of August, all aspects of the company’s offer of capacity – including rates, schedules, quotations and bookings – will be available via the platform. The unique Business Intelligence solution will for its part provide access to live data with staggering simplicity.
Online booking portal WebCargo is expecting the airfreight sector’s rapid push towards digitalization to continue beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to another cargo newspaper, Manel Galindo, chief executive of WebCargo, said the supply chain disruption caused by the outbreak had helped speed up air cargo’s use of digital technology, such as booking platforms.
He explained that market volatility and capacity shortages meant that forwarders had turned to booking platforms where they could view real-time space availability and rates for many airlines at the same time rather than having to contact each carrier individually.
And he doesn’t expect people to switch back even when the pandemic is over and air cargo capacity is more readily available.
Galindo explained that in June the number of bookings made online increased by around 2000% compared with a year earlier.
He said this was in part due to more airlines being added in 2021, such as Qatar Cargo, Turkish Airlines and Nippon Cargo Airlines, but also because forwarders were becoming accustomed to the using the WebCargo portal – something that is unlikely to change.
“I think that for the clients, booking platforms were a really user-friendly tool to find capacity and price at that moment and right now they are still using it a lot because they are now used to getting information in seconds and bringing a solution to clients in seconds,” he said.
He added that the use of online booking and digital solutions will become more ingrained in the supply chain, further accelerating their use.
“All these systems will be connected with the different platforms to provide rates and capacity in real time,” he said.
“The shipper will be able to buy in a few seconds and the freight forwarder will be able to accelerate the process of connecting with trucking companies, customs and airlines and have one place where they can give a really good user experience to the shipper.”
In line with this, WebCargo recently launched Vista, a new tool that allows forwarders to offer online booking on their own website to shippers.
WebCargo Vista provides forwarders with a branded sales portal that is connected directly to their rate management systems and that can then be offered customers an online booking option.
The company explained that research it had recently conducted showed that only 25%of top freight forwarders currently offer accessible online booking to their customers.
Elsewhere, the company has been helping airlines to improve the response times of their APIs – the digital connection between WebCargo and the carriers’ systems.
It also hopes to see an increase in the use of online booking in ocean freight.
FourKites, the world’s leading real-time supply chain visibility platform, recently introduced its latest AI-powered innovation, Dynamic ETA for Air. For the first time, shippers, carriers and 3PLs can track 100% of airfreight with highly accurate and automated estimated times of arrival (ETAs). This unprecedented visibility into airfreight means the supply chain can now have greater confidence in a mode of transport that is typically utilized for the most critical shipments, but that has been notoriously difficult to track. Real-time visibility into all air freight, with extremely accurate predictive ETAs, empowers supply chain partners to optimize downstream planning, reduce the time and expense of manual track-and-trace efforts, and increase customer satisfaction in the process.
“FourKites’ Dynamic ETA for Air has provided the visibility needed to help reduce turn times on urgent product requests for fulfilling critical customer orders, while also eliminating nearly 75% of shipment tracking email inquiries to our global logistics team,” said Kimberley Segel, director of global transportation, Zebra Technologies. Shipping via air has been estimated to cost 4-5X that of road transport, and as much as 16X that of ocean, but it is indispensable for shippers’ most critical and/or time-sensitive freight, including pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, perishable agricultural and seafood products, emergency shipments of spare parts or simply goods for which customers demand the fastest delivery. In addition, brands are increasingly turning to air cargo to expedite freight as inventory delays continue to plague supply chains.
To date, however, air freight has been plagued by a lack of real-time visibility, due to the complexity of the global air network, as well as multiple stopovers and transfers of goods in hub airports. As a result, ETAs for air shipments have only been available 40% of the time and could be off by as much as two days, creating myriad downstream logistical and customer service issues. By leveraging the latest and most advanced machine learning algorithms and knowledge graphs, FourKites’ Dynamic ETA for Air provides ETAs on 100% of airfreight, and is accurate to within nine hours.
This unprecedented predictive visibility means businesses can expect to spend far less time and money resolving delays, thereby enhancing their customer experience. In fact, FourKites customers have experienced 2x higher customer satisfaction scores through their use of Dynamic ETA.
FourKites saw 97% growth in air loads tracked from 2020 to 2021. The platform now supports over 100 airlines and 17,000 airports, and has seen 40% growth quarter over quarter.
“When it comes to rapidly transporting critical goods, no other mode can compete with air,” said FourKites CEO and founder Mathew Elenjickal. “Our announcement of Dynamic ETA for Air means that shippers, carriers and 3PLs can now enjoy greater ROI — not to mention peace of mind — from their significant investments in this critical mode of transport.”
FedEx Express has announced that Roxo, the FedEx SameDay Bot, made its first appearance in Asia Pacific in Japan in July. With its positive regulatory framework, world-class infrastructure, and a fertile environment for the testing and adoption of robotics, Japan is an ideal market for FedEx to explore opportunities to test Roxo in the future.
Roxo is an autonomous specialty delivery device, designed to travel on sidewalks and along roadsides, safely delivering smaller shipments to customers’ homes and businesses. Its features include pedestrian-safe technology, multiple cameras and LiDAR allowing the zero-emission, battery-powered bot to be aware of its surroundings. These features are coupled with machine- learning algorithms to detect and avoid obstacles, plot a safe path, and allow the bot to follow road and safety rules. Proprietary technology makes it highly capable, allowing it to navigate unpaved surfaces, curbs, and to even climb deep flights of steps for an extraordinary door-to-door delivery experience.
Roxo is currently undergoing testing in the US to generate data to ‘train’ the self-driving software and validate safe performance, in compliance with all applicable safety regulations and guidelines. There is significant opportunity in Japan to identify local, case-specific applications to make the best use of the technology to benefit FedEx customers.
“We are thrilled to have Roxo in Japan, a country that is a global leader in robotics implementation. The FedEx SameDay Bot is truly an innovation opening new possibilities for on-demand, same day, hyper-localized delivery,” said Kawal Preet, president of the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA) region at FedEx Express. “As we sit at the intersection of physical and digital networks, Roxo brings a glimpse of the future of logistics, where customers can enjoy same day contactless delivery services at their doorsteps. With businesses of all kinds embarking on digital transformation, we look forward to collaborating with future-ready companies to advance delivery services in Japan and elsewhere in Asia Pacific.”
The bot is developed in collaboration with DEKA Development & Research Corp., a prominent research and development company which also produced the Segway. The bot uses DEKA’s established iBOT electric wheelchair base, capable of negotiating rough terrain, traversing steps, and steep inclines. Its sensors maintain 360-degree awareness of its surroundings and uses artificial intelligence, or AI, to choose the safest path or course of action. With a tall profile it is easy for pedestrians and road users to see. It also uses signals, lights and a signaling screen that clearly communicate its directional intent. Roxo was unveiled in February 2019 and has been undergoing tests with major retailers in the US. US cities where Roxo has been tested include Memphis, Tennessee; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Plano and Frisco, Texas. It made its first international appearance in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in October 2019 for an experimental project with local businesses including Dubai Airports.
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