DHL Global Forwarding and Freight saw third-quarter earnings before interest and tax (ebit) more than double on last year while airfreight demand continued to surge.
The Deutsche Post-owned forwarder saw third-quarter revenues increase by 53.3% year on year to €5.7bn and ebit was up 140% to €372m.
Meanwhile, airfreight volumes in the third quarter increased by 34.4% year on year to 524,000 tonnes, air revenues improved by 52% to €2.1bn and air gross profit was up 25.9% to €326m.
The company said the performance was “buoyed by the global trade recovery”.
“We registered year-on-year growth of 34.4 % in airfreight volumes in the third quarter of 2021, due mainly to global trade in goods,” DP DHL said.
“The highest growth was attributable to the trade lanes between Asia and the US.”
Airfreight rates across the market have continued to improve this year, which has supported revenue and profit growth.
“Gross profit and EBIT/GP conversion are currently supported by the rate environment reflecting tight and partly disrupted capacities in air and ocean freight,” DP DHL said.
“In line with the general industry view, our expectations are that ocean and air rates will eventually come down.
“However, this is expected to be a rather slow and gradual normalization with no signs for this process to happen soon.
“The higher EBIT/GP conversion also reflects process improvement realized as part of our ‘Simplify’ program.
“Based on the now fully rolled out new Transport Management System (TMS) we see indeed increased efficiencies in handling files internally as well as improved transparency in how we act in the market.
“Further process improvements can still be leveraged from the new TMS system, which will hence help to at least partly offset potential conversion head winds as a result of rate normalization.”
For comparison, DSV saw its third-quarter airfreight revenues increase by 78.7% year on year during the period to DKr18.4bn and volumes were up by 28.8% to 386,702 tons. Its results were boosted by the takeover of Agility GIL.
Overall, DP DHL increased its revenue by 23.5% year on year to €20bn and ebit in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 28.6% €1.8bn.
Frank Appel, chief executive of DP DHL Group, said: “Our business continued to develop extremely positively in the third quarter of 2021.
“After nine months, we have already exceeded our record full-year result from the previous year.
“Based on this substantially higher earnings level, the prospects for Deutsche Post DHL Group’s future development remain positive: Global trade returns to its old strength.
“Online shopping is maintaining its new higher level. With our focus on e-commerce and digitalization, we have positioned Deutsche Post DHL Group excellently.”
Rhenus Logistics Americas has continued to expand its presence in the US through the acquisition of Texas-based forwarder Global Net Logistics.
Rhenus said the move would strengthen the company’s global air and ocean network in the southwest region of the USA and complement the existing Houston branch.
Global Net Logistics provides domestic and international freight forwarding, air and ocean, full truckload, and less than truckload services.
In addition, Rhenus USA will take over the Global Net Logistics 22,500 sqft warehouse facility located five miles away from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).
“The facility will strengthen the warehouse presence of Rhenus USA in the area, including land bridge and cross-border services between Mexico and the US,” Rhenus said.
JörnSchmersahl, chief executive of Rhenus Air & Ocean Americas, said, “This is a milestone for Rhenus Logistics Americas as we continue to invest and enhance our presence in the Americas Region.
“This acquisition will provide value and growth to the Rhenus worldwide network and expand our capabilities as we meet with the fast-paced and evolving demands of the supply chain industry.
“Our presence in the southwest region in the USA ample a vast opportunity in the market for Rhenus Logistics Americas, offering a full global network and supplemented air and ocean services to our current and prospective customers.”
The company said that the Southwest region has historically been one of the fastest-growing regions in the US and is expecting continued growth in the future.
Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) has been awarded a contract to run the UK’s International Express Freight Service (IEFS) for urgent medical shipments on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.
The service has been launched to deliver products to the UK rapidly when a supplier’s own logistical arrangements are disrupted, to ensure patients can continue to access the treatments they need.
Medicines and medical goods which are at risk of shortage will be transported to the UK within days, the country’s government claimed. The service will aim to collect and deliver small parcels within 24 to 48 hours and pallets or shipments within two to four working days. The contract was awarded to K+N following “an open procurement process”.
Stuart Innes, air logistics director for UK for Kuehne+Nagel International, said, “Kuehne+Nagel are committed to ensuring the UK public continue to receive the treatment they need, when they need it most.
“We are immensely proud to be providing the logistical support behind the International Express Freight Service for the Department of Health and Social Care, applying our expertise, capabilities and robust global network to transport critical medical supplies.”
Suppliers are responsible for payment of carriage and any additional services agreed in conjunction with product movements under each of the IEFS solutions (parcel, pallets and specials) when used.
“The International Express Freight Service is a contingency measure to provide authorized suppliers with an emergency capability to help maintain the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products where there is an urgent need or where a supplier’s own logistic arrangements are disrupted,” the government explained.
The international transport and logistics service provider Gebrüder Weiss is taking over Istanbul-based 3S Transport & Logistics with effect from January 1, 2022. The Turkish forwarding company specializes in partial load transports between Turkey and its key trading partner Germany. With this step Gebrüder Weiss Turkey doubles its transport volume and positioning itself as a top player for transports with Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The takeover also means that 22 employees of 3S Transport & Logistics will move under the umbrella of Gebrüder Weiss Turkey.
“3S Transport & Logistics is a logistics service provider that has been firmly established on the Turkish transport market for many years and that we are now going to integrate into our organization. This will strengthen the position of our location in Istanbul as a strategic anchor, linking Europe and Asia and the New Silk Road,” explains Thomas Moser, Director and Regional Manager Black Sea/CIS at Gebrüder Weiss.
“Our customers will have the benefit of access to a much broader range of services, and our employees have new prospects for the future,” says IlhamiSeval and SehelZenbil, the two former Managing Directors of 3S Transport & Logistics. Both will be on hand to support Gebrüder Weiss Turkey as consultants during the integration process. The takeover also includes an operational location in the Düsseldorf area with seven employees. “For Gebrüder Weiss in Turkey, this is an important step for our growth, and it is strengthening our service portfolio. We are looking forward to the cooperation,” adds MişelYakop, Country Manager Gebrüder Weiss Turkey.
Gebrüder Weiss has had a presence in Turkey since 2012 and currently has locations in Istanbul and Izmir. Its main activities include partial load transports as well as air and sea freight services. Istanbul is at the heart of an axis of Gebrüder Weiss branches stretching across Central and South-Eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia, providing links to the New Silk Road corridors.
Milestone means the truck maker is on its way to series production.
Daimler Truck says it is consistently pursuing its technology strategy for the electrification of its vehicles and has now reached the next milestone: In October, the further enhanced prototype of the hydrogen-based fuel-cell truck Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck received approval from German authorities for use on public roads.
In April, the truck manufacturer began to conduct tests of the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck, which was unveiled in 2020, on the company’s test tracks. There, the truck, which aims to achieve ranges of up to 1,000 kilometres and more without any stops for refueling in its series version, has successfully accumulated several thousand miles by now.
Now, testing is expanded to public roads i.e. on the B462 road near Rastatt. There, as part of the eWayBW project, freight will be electrified to test catenary trucks in operation.
The project will also include comparative tests of the purely battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros with the catenary trucks and fuel-cell trucks from other manufacturers. Daimler Truck has no plans for catenary trucks.
Since July 2019, the purely battery-electric Mercedes-Benz eActros has proven its worth in extensive field-testing in the region around Rastatt at the company Logistik Schmitt. With the approval for road use of the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck, Daimler Truck has reached an important milestone on the way to series production.
The first series-produced GenH2 Truck are expected to be handed over to customers starting in 2027 and additionally, Daimler Truck has the ambition to offer only new vehicles that are carbon-neutral in driving operation (“tank-to-wheel”) in Europe, Japan and North America by 2039.
To achieve this goal, Daimler Truck is electrifying its vehicles and pursuing a dual-track strategy with the use of battery-powered drive systems or based on hydrogen. This combination of technologies enables Daimler Truck to offer customers the best vehicle options for their specific use cases: the lighter the load and the shorter the distance, the more likely it is that batteries will be used. The heavier the load and the longer the distance, the more likely it is that fuel cells will be system of choice. Source: www.daimler.com
BP to assess feasibility of designing, constructing, operating and supplying 25 hydrogen refueling stations across United Kingdom which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as Daimler Truck AG expects to deliver hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks to its UK customers from 2025.
Stuttgart / Sunbury – Daimler Truck AG and BP Advanced Mobility Limited (BP) have announced plans to work together to help accelerate the introduction of a hydrogen network, supporting the roll-out of a key technology for the decarbonization of the UK freight transport.
The companies said they intend to pilot both the development of hydrogen infrastructure and the introduction of hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks in the UK. Under their memorandum of understanding (MoU), BP will assess the feasibility of designing, constructing, operating and supplying a network of up to 25 hydrogen refueling stations across the UK by 2030.
These stations would be supplied by BP with ‘green’ hydrogen – generated from water using renewable power. Complementing this, Daimler Truck expects to deliver hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks to its UK customers from 2025.
Karin Rådström, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Member of the Board of Management at Daimler Truck said: “We are consistently pursuing our vision of CO2-neutral transport. Especially for CO2-neutral long-haul road transportation, the hydrogen-powered fuel-cell drive will become indispensable in the future.
“Together with BP, we want to jointly develop and scale the required hydrogen infrastructure by putting our hydrogen-powered fuel-cell trucks into our customers’ hand and thus supporting the decarbonization of the UK freight network. At the same time, political support plays an important role in promoting the creation of an infrastructure for green hydrogen and making an economically viable use of fuel-cell trucks possible for our customers.”
Emma Delaney, BP’s executive vice president for customer and products, highlighted hydrogen’s critical role in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like transport.
“Hydrogen is critical to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors – and for heavy and long-distance freight it is sometimes the only answer. Working with a leading manufacturer like Daimler Truck, we can accelerate the deployment of both vehicles and infrastructure and pioneer the use of hydrogen to fuel the next generation of UK freight. From producing and supplying hydrogen through to building and operating the fuelling stations, BP is perfectly positioned to transform transport and ultimately build a better energy future,” said Delaney.
CO2 neutral vehicles
Daimler Truck has the ambition to offer only new vehicles that are CO2-neutral in driving operation (“from tank to wheel”) in Europe, North America and Japan by 2039.
The company is focused on both CO2-neutral technologies battery power and hydrogen-based fuel-cells. Currently, the truck manufacturer is testing a new enhanced prototype of its Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck on public roads in Germany.
The first series-produced GenH2 Truck are expected to be handed over to customers starting in 2027. Daimler Truck has a clear preference for liquid hydrogen. In this state, the energy carrier has a far higher energy density in relation to volume than gaseous hydrogen.
As a result, the tanks of a fuel-cell truck using liquid hydrogen are much smaller and, due to the lower pressure, significantly lighter. This gives the trucks more cargo space and a higher payload. At the same time, more hydrogen can be carried, which significantly increases the trucks’ range. This will make the series version of the GenH2 Truck, like conventional diesel trucks, suitable for multi-day, difficult-to-plan long-haul transport and where the daily energy output is high.
Convenience and mobility are core for BP’s strategy, including working with partners, to help deliver the future of mobility and services for customers. BP already has 11,000 electric vehicle charging points globally and is expanding its network to 70,000 by 2030.
Complementing its agreement with Daimler Truck AG represents BP’s first steps towards deploying hydrogen for transport. It also intends to develop hydrogen refueling stations in Europe and already has plans for hydrogen refueling stations in Germany.
BP said it aims to develop a leading market position producing and supplying low carbon hydrogen. In the UK, BP has plans to build a hydrogen-producing facility in Teesside, UK, which could produce 1GW of blue hydrogen, produced from natural gas integrated with carbon capture and storage.
BP said it is also exploring the potential for green hydrogen in the region, including supporting the development of Teesside as the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub. These activities support the UK government’s target of developing 5GW of hydrogen production by 2030. Photos & Text from www.media.daimler.com
Brad Tilden may have retired as the CEO of Alaska Airlines early this year but his legacy remains and his presence still felt with him opting to remain serving as the Chairman of the Board of Alaska Aviation Group, the parent company of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.
Under Tilden’s leadership, Alaska Airlines grew profitable, reduced unnecessary expenses in the millions, focused on low fares, expanded route network and successfully created an airline brand that people love. The airline has been named Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America in the J.D. Power North America Satisfaction Study for 11 consecutive years and won the “Best U.S. Airline” in the Condé Nast Traveler’s annual 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards.
Combining Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air’s staff, Alaska Aviation Group has about 23,000 employees, owns 298 aircraft and fly to more than 120 destinations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica. and for them, Tilden helped make it happen.
Unlike other aviation executives who had it good growing up, Tilden takes pride in building himself from scratch. He worked aboard Amtrak trains as a “food specialist” to pay his tuition at Pacific Lutheran University where he studied Business Administration.
After graduation, he worked for the accounting firm PwC for eight years before moving to Alaska Airlines upon a colleague’s invitation. That was in 1991. And three years later, he was named as the airline’s corporate controller. Later as CFO, executive vice president of finance and in 2012 as its CEO.
When the pandemic struck in 2020, Tilden remained focus and optimistic despite the difficulties facing the global aviation industry. He told the Investor’s Business Daily, he draws strength from his father, Doug Tilden, who was tied to a wheelchair because of a childhood bout with polio but never thought of it as a barrier.
The older Tilden became an Eagle Scout and a senior engineer in Boeing’s Apollo lunar rover program. “My father was one of the last victims of polio (before the vaccine). He had no use at all of his right leg and little of his left. But he never complained about his plight. He had a 32-year career with Boeing. Raised a family of six kids,” Tilden told Investor’s Business Daily.
Outside of the corporate world, Tilden and his family are widely recognized for their many philanthropic projects promoting education, opportunities for young people and supporting the Boy Scouts of America. Tilden is also a licensed pilot and an avid cyclist who even participated at Tour de France several times.
The only authorized distributor of CCN Solutions in GCC, which is an integrated platform service for streamlining the supply chain management of the cargo community, Airglow Aviation Group continues to soar despite the many challenges that come along with this pandemic.
Established in 2009 in the UAE as an ACMI based operator providing cargo charter services, Airglow Aviation Group has since grown to offer different aviation solutions and services, including airline representation, aircraft leasing, aviation training, travel & tourism, aircraft spare parts trading and even engineering services.
With combined industry experience of over 60 years, Airglow Aviation’s highly-skilled staff provide professional, reliable and cost-effective services to its growing list of customers 24/7, anywhere in the world.
Its extensive network curated over the years allows the company to provide agile professional services, responding to enquiries in a timely manner. The team of professionals at Airglow are equipped with the required training and skills to allow them to act diligently to offer exceptional service to clients and deliver qualitative value.
Add to that is the company’s comprehensive portfolio of services which help its airline partners reach measurable goals.
The company said it has successfully done so by understanding and analyzing the portfolio of products, services and network of its partners which leads to the deployment of market experts who capitalize on existing business opportunities and secure profitable agreements.
“The objective is to maximize the yield, utilize payloads and generate long-term revenue streams for the partners. These objectives are compounded with Airglow’s commitment to provide a comprehensive range of marketing activities, customer and operational services and accounting & finance support,” Airglow Aviation said.
“At Airglow, our expert team members analyze routes, payloads and timescale to propose suitable aircraft for the relevant requirements. This is coupled with innovative solutions that provide part-charters, backloads and commercially innovative solutions for ad hoc requirements, peak season and specific cargo projects,” it added.
Airglow Aviation also offers advice on pre-flight packing requirements, customs, warehousing and provides supervision of aircraft loading & unloading including arrangements for special equipment requiring custom built solutions.
It is also the only authorized distributors of CCN Solutions in GCC which is an integrated platform service for streamlining the supply chain management of the cargo community. With this software, the customers have an added advantage as they have access to cargo management, customs security compliance, documents management, business performance analytics and other value-added services. CCN’s partnership with IATA has permitted the Freight and Air Way Bill to be provided in electronic format which has made tracking and communication effective and easier.
Airglow Aviation Group Founder and Chairman ZaidanKhalifat and its Managing Director RohitThakwani briefly discussed with Air Cargo Update their business insights as the world turns into the air transport industry to fight the pandemic and achieve some semblance of normalcy despite the ongoing global health crisis.
How did the pandemic impact your business?
As the pandemic hit and its waves rippled across many industries, it crippled the aviation industry. Our partners were constantly operating on a daily basis and the dramatic drop in the number of passengers due to flight restrictions and health concerns came as a tremendous shock, as operations fell to a complete standstill.
This left a crater in our lives which had to be filled and hope came in the form of demand for medical equipment, consumables and medication. Transport was required but was naturally unavailable and that is where Airglow decided to step in and create a business path facilitating the journey for their partners.
In April, the team at Airglow started operating passenger freighters out of Afghanistan for Air Arabia and from UAE for Cham Wings as well as others from India, KSA & USA. This became a lifeline for the partners as they decided to fill the void with cargo to fulfill the increasing demand. This step was possible due to the agility demonstrated by Airglow and the resilience we showed in the face of challenges.
How hard was it to convince your partners to consider cargo as a business model for their operations?
It was quite a challenging task to convince partners to change their business model which relied on passenger traffic to cargo and it required a certain kind of dedicated resilience to convince them by communicating the benefits and addressing their concerns. There was an overwhelming notion amongst the partners that this pandemic would be short lived, therefore they preferred to be conservative in adapting to the change.
Air Arabia, however, was quite eager to adapt and they were one of the first partners to come onboard
with the new strategies and it was due to this e a g e r n e s s t h a t w e managed to bring 20 Tonne of cargo from Afghanistan to Sharjah on an A320 passenger aircraft.
What are your priorities at the moment?
Airglow Aviation started as a Charter Operator but evolved their offerings to provide Airline Representation (Cargo GSSA/GSA services). The pandemic has taught us agility and resilience but we prioritize our core business and values. Therefore, our priorities remain to be representatives for our partner airlines providing them solutions in the face of challenges. We want to highlight our success to increase the number of airlines we represent and provide them with the same kind of value adding service we currently offer our existing airline partners.
What are your long term goals?
Resilience is the key and a testament to that is our recent signing of a partnership with Uganda Airlines in Dubai and Air Peace in India. Therefore, it is vital for us to focus on our core strengths and provide comforting service to our partners. Customer satisfaction is often overlooked as GSAs sometimes focus more on the financial aspect of a business relationship, but we intend to continue to provide an elevated level of service to our partners which will allow us to retain them as partners and lead us to acquiring fruitful partnerships in the future.
Dnata, recently announced the appointment of Guillaume Crozier as senior vice president, UAE Cargo.
In his new role, Crozier will oversee dnata’s cargo business in the UAE covering Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) airports. Guillaume will be based in Dubai and report to David Barker, dnata’s divisional senior vice president for airport operations. Crozier’s appointment is effective December 19 2021.
Crozier has been with dnata since 2011. Most recently he has been responsible for operational performance management as well as innovation and product development across dnata’s global network for both ground and cargo handling products. Previously he was chief operating officer of dnata Switzerland. Before joining dnata, he fulfilled various managerial roles across the supply chain in several markets.
Crozier will replace Bernd Struck in his new role. As senior vice president, Struck has been leading dnata’s UAE cargo operations and DWC airline services since 2014 and will retire from his role at the end of the year.
David Barker said: “l’m delighted to announce the promotion of Guillaume to senior vice president, UAE Cargo. A customer-oriented leader with an innovative mindset, Guillaume has an outstanding ability to deliver world-class service, quality and safety with his teams. I’d also like to thank Bernd for his substantial contribution to dnata’s success and wish him a happy retirement.”
The Boeing Company recently announced the appointment of Kuljit Ghata-Aura as the new president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META), excluding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ghata-Aura who returned to the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region, is based in Dubai. He is responsible for leading all company-wide activities and developing and implementing strategies for a region that is home to some of Boeing’s largest commercial, defense and services customers. Ghata-Aura, who previously served as the regional counsel for Boeing India, Middle East, Turkey and Africa for almost six years, will oversee the company’s new business and industrial partnership opportunities, safety and sustainability efforts, government affairs, corporate citizenship, and expand Boeing’s presence and strengthen the company’s relationships with customers and other stakeholders in the region.
Ghata-Aura succeeds Bernie Dunn, who is leaving Boeing after more than nine years with the company in the region.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Kuljit Ghata-Aura as the new president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). Kuljit brings a wealth of experience to the role from many of Boeing’s most important markets and businesses, including the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region where he has spent considerable time. I look forward to working with Kuljit to drive further growth in the region,” said Sir Michael Arthur, president, Boeing International. “We thank Bernie for his great contribution to the growth of Boeing’s presence in the META region over the last seven years and wish him well for the future.”
“I am delighted to return to the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region in this significant leadership role and rejoin my colleagues as we continue to focus on partnering with all stakeholders in one of the fastest-growing and important markets for the company. Boeing has a strong presence in the region and there continue to be unique opportunities in META. We are, and continue to be committed to working closely with the civil aviation and defense authorities and our customers to help achieve the region’s aerospace ambitions and objectives,” said Ghata-Aura.
Ghata-Aura joined Boeing in 2010 and has held several leadership roles for the company in Europe, Russia, Israel, India and the META region. In addition to being the regional counsel for Boeing India, Middle East, Turkey and Africa for almost six years, Ghata-Aura also held the role of Director of Market Development for UAE from 2015-16. Prior to joining Boeing, Ghata-Aura was a partner at a large international firm practicing cross border M&A. He is a graduate of Oxford University.
Technology has made the world smaller and faster.Real time communication with people from all over the world at different time zones through phones and gadgets
