Saudi Arabia has announced plans to transform Riyadh Airport into a six-runway airport and logistics hub that will have capacity to handle 3.5m tons of cargo by 2050. It will include 12 sq km of airport support facilities, residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets, and other logistics real estate. The development aims to boost Riyadh’s position as a global logistics hub, stimulate transport, trade and tourism, and act as a bridge linking the east with the west. The project is in line with Saudi Arabia’s vision to transform Riyadh to be among the top ten city economies in the world and to support the growth of the city’s population to 15–20m people by 2030. “The airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million travellers by 2030 and 185 million travellers, with the capacity to process 3.5 million tons of cargo, by 2050,” a press release stated. The airport will be built by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, The Public Investment Fund (PIF). The announcement comes as part of PIF’s target of investing in the capabilities of promising sectors to enhance Saudi Arabia’s efforts in diversifying the economy. “The new airport is expected to contribute SR27bn annually to non-oil GDP and to create 103,000 direct and indirect jobs, in line with Vision 2030 objectives,” the press release said.

Celcius Logistics announced the launch of its Hyper-Local temperature-controlled delivery services for food and pharma orders, as part of its last mile solution. Celcius aims to expand to 9 metros, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Gwalior and Amritsar, with 200 riders, within 3 months of the launch. The brand has currently tied up with Zomato and is the partner of choice for temperature-controlled deliveries across varies cities for their inter-city orders. In the long run, Celcius also aims to cater to fruits and vegetable suppliers, direct-to-home services, pharma products and intermediary distributors, vaccine distributors as well as cloud kitchens, canned food companies, dairy and meat distributors, among others, who would need temperature-controlled deliveries to be made for quantities ranging from 500gms to 5Kgs. Celcius Logistics is the first of its kind cold-chain online marketplace that offers an integrated smart platform for all stakeholders to explore, book, monitor and process their cold supply chain needs, with utmost efficiency and transparency. With their hyperlocal service, Celcius is the first to ensure perfect quality of materials being transported through real-time tracking of temperature at every point.

DHL Express has strengthened its network in the Delhi-NCR region with the expansion of Faridabad service center. Inaugurated by John Pearson, CEO, DHL Express, this is DHL Express India’s eighth service center in Delhi/NCR region and 53rd in the country. The sustained expansion is in line with the company’s commitment of EUR250 million towards infrastructure development across the country. DHL Express has been serving customers in Faridabad since 2014. The company has now expanded its Faridabad service center into a 9000-square-feet facility to meet the significant trade volume growth in the last five years. This augments DHL Express’ current service offering to customers, as it meets the growing export and import demands. John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express, commented on the expansion: “Even in these volatile times, our well-connected global network, focus on infrastructure, and dedicated people have paved the way for our growth. Our recently released DHL Trade Growth Atlas tells us that India is on track to more than double its trade volume growth rate in the next five years, and we are uniquely positioned to support this because of our unrivalled expertise. Investments like these in the country will allow us to provide best-in-class service to our customers and make us a reliable partner.” R.S Subramanian, SVP South Asia, DHL Express said: “We are committed to supporting India’s economic growth and facilitating international trade. To meet this commitment, we have invested heavily in people, processes, and infrastructure across the country in recent years. The Faridabad service center expansion is part of the growth strategy. The region has seen a 70% increase in shipment volume over the last three years, necessitating infrastructure expansion to meet rising demand. We …

India will soon have its own logistics cost index (LCI) that will provide granular data expected to help investors and policymakers formulate projects and interventions in order to improve efficiency. According to officials in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), work on putting a framework for devising a logistics cost index is in the final stages and set for release very soon. Under the initiative, multiple indexed data will be provided to capture product-wise as well as region-wide logistics cost movement on a forthrightly or monthly basis on the lines of WPI and CPI, said official reports. In addition to the logistics cost index, an annual, all-encompassing, national logistics cost data based on Indian systems will also be brought out by DPIIT to provide a truer picture of costs involved in moving goods and services across the country.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping (MSC) has launched its air cargo operations with first Boeing 777 freighter with Atlas Air as its operating partner. Atlas Air will operate the freighter on behalf of MSC. “We are delighted to see the first of our MSC-branded aircraft take to the skies and we are looking forward to start serving the market with our new air cargo solution,” said Jannie Davel, vice-president of air cargo at MSC in an official statement. “We believe that MSC Air Cargo is developing from a solid foundation thanks to the reliable ongoing support of our operating partner Atlas.” The aircraft was delivered as part of a long-term aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance agreement between the Purchase, New York-based Atlas and MSC, which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the first of four new 777-200Fs that Atlas will operate for MSC, which is eyeing an expansion into the booming post-pandemic air cargo market driven largely by high ocean shipping rates and the broad shift to online shopping,” Davel added.

LATAM Cargo and DSV will increase the frequency of their freighter partnership operating out of Huntsville as they look to capitalise on demand to South America. The partners started the service five months ago with a once-a-week flight on Mondays between the US airport and Viracopos in Brazil utilising a B767-300F, said release. The operation will now be expanded to three times per week with the addition of flights on Wednesdays and Fridays. LATAM said that Huntsville is an “optimal origin and destination point, given its great connectivity both within the US and to international markets in Asia, Europe and South America”. Mads Ravn, Executive vice president of DSV, said, “With the addition of two additional frequencies to the DSV Charter Network, we will now be able to offer unmatched transit times from the US south east as well as in-transit cargo from Asia and Europe. LATAM Cargo’s agile approach, to adapt to our customer’s needs in a challenging market has been instrumental. With the option to connect to LATAM’s network in South America, we offer our customers faster transit time and savings on trucking to Miami by stopping at the DSV Hub in Huntsville, Alabama for direct uplift to all of Latin America.”

The cargo division of Etihad Aviation Group achieved IATA CEIV Pharma recertification following an audit by independent validators that assessed the carrier’s capacity to control and enhance its processes through a checklist that focused on Etihad Cargo’s Quality Management System incorporating supplier management, training programmes, processes and procedures, audit programmes, and quality enhancement, among others, said official release. Achieving recertification demonstrates Etihad Cargo’s and its dedicated pharmaceutical transportation product PharmaLife’s full compliance with specific pharmaceutical regulations, including IATA Temperature Control Regulations (TCR), Good Distribution Practices (GDP), a quality system for warehouses and distribution centres dedicated to medications and life sciences products, added release.

China’s Ezhou Huahu Airport has launched its first all-cargo air route, linking Ezhou with Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province. It is being claimed to be the first “professional cargo hub” airport in Asia and the fourth of its kind in the world, said official reports. Since the airport was put into operation in July, it has opened multiple passenger routes linking Ezhou with cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen. According to the airport, said Xinhua, the all-cargo air route is operated by Boeing 737 aircraft, carrying express mail. The range of the route covers places such as Wuhan, Ezhou, Huangshi, and Huanggang in Hubei Province. The airport said it will also open an all-cargo air route linking Ezhou and Shanghai soon. The annual cargo and mail throughput of the airport is expected to reach 3.3m tonnes by 2030, with the annual passenger throughput reaching 1.5m.

RwandAir has taken delivery of its first dedicated cargo aircraft as it looks to expand its cargo operation in Africa and the Middle East. The Boeing 737-800SF, which is painted in RwandAir’s first cargo livery, will be based at the carrier’s Kigali hub in Rwanda. The carrier said that the freighter would be utilised on flights to destinations in Africa and the Middle East, including Johannesburg, Nairobi, and the UAE. Yvonne Makolo, RwandAir chief executive, said, “The delivery of our dedicated cargo aircraft is a huge milestone in RwandAir’s fleet expansion plans. “Cargo is of ever-increasing importance for the aviation industry, and as a landlocked country, we recognise the importance and value of good cargo connections. We want to ensure that Africa is seamlessly connected to the world, driving economic growth and valuable trade deals.” Air Cargo News first reported that the carrier, which is 49% owned by Qatar Airways, was looking to acquire a freighter in September 2020.

Ramesh Mamidala, CEO, Adani Airports in an exclusive conversation said, “Air cargo industry globally has suffered a lot especially during the pandemic. The crisis had a huge impact on the cargo volumes. But now the industry is moving towards growth. We should focus on the MoCA’s vision to achieve 10 million tons of cargo by 2030. Also, some policy changes are required and there are various air cargo associations that have been lobbying for these policy changes. Indian carriers have been witnessing recovery now in the post pandemic times and working on bringing back capacity. Freight rates are adjusting now. Airport infrastructure also needs to be developed, especially in the remote areas. Tech integration is happening with ULIP and Kale’s Air Cargo Community System (ACCS) at a fast pace so that’s a good sign. The two biggest risks for the growth of the air cargo in India at present will be, — constraints related to the open skies policy and levy of GST on export freight. GST will unnecessarily put pressure on the exporters, impact EODB and will increase cash flows.”