COVID-19
RESPONSE
continue to provide our cargo
services uninterrupted,”
commented Kurt Schosinsky,
Managing Director of Avianca
Cargo.
For its part, LATAM Cargo
modifi ed its freighter itinerary
in order to address capacity
shortages caused by the
cancellation of passenger
fl ights in response to the
coronavirus outbreak.
The airline, which operates
11 B767-300F aircraft, increased
freighter capacity between
Santiago and Miami fi vefold in
order to offer salmon exporters
a solution to what was
becoming a logistics problem.
Moreover, capacity between
Europe and South America has
been increased by 20%, adding
up to a total of six weekly
frequencies, largely catering for
the transportation of
automotive spare parts, general
cargo and medicines to South
America, as well as
transportation of perishable
products to Europe. In addition
to this, frequencies between
North America and South
America were increased by
almost 15%, totalling 26
frequencies each week back in
March/April. Also announced
was a Santiago – Los Angeles
freighter route in order to offer
additional capacity for salmon
transportation and to ensure
coverage on the US west coast.
Like others, LATAM decided
to utilise its passenger aircraft
as freighter mules, and its fi rst
destinations were those of Peru
and Mexico City, using Boeing
787-900 aircraft.
LATAM Cargo’s Chief
Executive, Andrés Bianchi, said:
“The diffi culties imposed by
this contingency force us to
seek alternatives to satisfy our
clients’ needs. This new
itinerary, designed and
implemented at an
sizes. For example, in the UK, Loganair has been working
closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide
air ambulance capability.
FREE LICENCES OFFER...
Rate platform Cargoguide has been offering free user licences to help home-based
freight forwarders stay on top of the rapidly changing market.
This got underway in March, when Cargoguide began to help forwarders who were
adapting to a new way of working; the organisation is now asking carriers to share
their rates as widely as possible in order to increase levels of transparency.
unprecedented pace, will allow
us to take advantage of our
freighter fl eet in order to
partially meet the shortfall in
belly capacity. We are working
to provide our clients with
more and better choices and
serve as support for the region’s
economy.”
He concluded: “There are
many diffi culties, but we are
aware of the key role we play in
delivering supplies to countries,
and we will continue with our
focus on providing our clients
with more solutions.”
Extending the communication
network
PayCargo made the headlines
when it launched a new, free
communication mechanism
via its online payment
platform. This allowed vendors
SMALL STEPS, BUT WELCOME
Solutions and innovation have come in all shapes and
A Loganair Twin Otter aircraft was converted into
position to help the broader
cargo community during this
time of crisis, by facilitating the
fl ow of critical information
between payers and vendors,”
explained Lionel van der Walt,
President and Chief Executive
Offi cer of the Americas,
PayCargo.
The free service has allowed
vendors to disclose the
availability of new capacity
options to payers and provide
them with vendor contact
details so that they can quickly
connect and have access to
that currently much-needed
available new space. PayCargo
has been relaying these
communications on behalf of
vendors to help overcome
some of the challenges
currently being faced by the
shipping and cargo
community.
Innovation at Davies Turner
The company has been doing
its best to operate services and
logistics operations as near to
normal as possible. Its
Chairman, Philip Stephenson,
says that innovative thinking
has been central to Davies
Turner’s 150 years of existence.
“In the face of the disruption
caused by the COVID-19 virus,
and given the fact that the
regional trade restrictions and
freight capacity are under such
pressure, now is the time for
that innovative thinking to
continue,” he affi rmed.
In line with this, Davies
Turner has recommenced its
direct Express China Rail
Service, which offers a
door-to-door transit time of
between 20 and 24 days: this
has been the only direct rail
service for groupage as well as
full loads into the UK.
Davies Turner also
reconfi gured some of its
logistics warehouses to increase
such as airlines, ship terminals
and maritime operators to
share key information with the
20,000 payer users in the
company’s online system. The
service, which permitted
vendors to communicate the
availability of capacity to
payers, was instigated to help
the freight and shipping
community as it contended
with widespread challenges
across the supply chain caused
through the coronavirus
outbreak. Delta Cargo and
American Airlines Cargo
became the fi rst vendors to
make use of this free PayCargo
community service.
“PayCargo is in a unique
Etihad Cargo has deployed additional
cargo-only aircraft to help with demand
12 June 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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