Airlines are upping the ante in the race for a bigger slice of the lucrative market of cargo that requires temperature protection. Emirates SkyCargo and Lufthansa Cargo have added covers for passive cool chain solutions, while AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Qatar Airways have boosted their offerings of active temperature control solutions. Two multinational forwarders, Panalpina and Kuehne + Nagel, took over perishables specialists to build up their position as global providers of end-to-end cool chain solutions.

Earlier this year, Emirates started deploying a new generation of protective covers for temperature-sensitive cargo. The airline’s White Cover Xtreme blankets are made with Tyvek Xtreme W50 material produced by DuPont that acts as a shield reflecting solar heat and as a barrier to prevent heat escaping when external temperatures are low. The material also allows water vapour to escape to avoid condensation in the shipment.

Between June and August, the carrier offered complimentary White Covers to all customers who had temperature-sensitive shipments pass through its Dubai hub.

The deployment of the new covers was borne out of a collaboration agreement between the airline and DuPont to develop new temperature protection solutions for air cargo which was initiated in 2015.

Lufthansa Cargo introduced a reflective foil for all shipments that use passive temperature protection. The foil, which was produced exclusively for the carrier, acts as an additional layer of protection and is free of charge. Its introduction follows the expansion of Lufthansa’s Cargo Cool Center at its base in Frankfurt and the extension of cold chain protection to trucking segments under the airline’s Road Feeder Service Cool moniker.

David Bang, CEO of LifeConEx, the healthcare specialist outfit of DHL Global Forwarding, noted that the use of protective blankets is not a new trend. “Emirates has been using DuPont covers for some time, but what they are announcing here is that they are using a new DuPont cover made out of new material,” he said.

Airline efforts to beef up their capabilities in this market also continued in the active temperature control segment. In August, Qatar signed a lease agreement for RKN and RAP Opticooler units with DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, a provider of containers equipped with active temperature control technology. Opticooler units are equipped with cooling compressors and heaters and do not require dry ice.

“We have now expanded our active container offering for customers, presenting our business partners with more options to transport their pharmaceuticals globally,” said Ulrich Ogiermann, Qatar Airways chief cargo officer.

AirBridgeCargo (ABC) ramped up its standing in the pharmaceuticals logistics arena by obtaining QEP accreditation from Envirotainer, another provider of active temperature control containers and solutions. The programme, which certifies Envirotainer customers to have the proven ability to properly manage using its ULDs in line with good distribution practices, covers ABC’s base at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport as well as its Dallas/Fort Worth station.

“We have been heavily involved in pharma transportation since 2016 and our focus over the last 18 months has been to invest in developing the products and services our customers need. QEP accreditation is one of the benchmarks we and our customers recognize as being very important as we grow our pharma volumes across our network,” said Fedor Novikov, director pharma, global.

ABC has also obtained CEIV accreditation to demonstrate its capabilities in moving pharmaceuticals.

Consumable perishables, one of the fastest growing segments of the air cargo business, are also witnessing a stronger focus on integrated cool chain solutions, with two multinational logistics giants building up their presence this summer by taking over regional specialists.

Panalpina took over Air Connection, a Kenyan forwarder specializing in flowers and vegetables. The new owner intends to amalgamate Air Connection’s business with the activities of Airflo, another large perishables forwarder in Kenya that Panalpina acquired in 2016. Together they have 4,200 sq m of space dedicated to perishables and a combined annual volume of around 70,000 tons of perishables air freight.

Panalpina CEO Stefan Karlen said that the acquisition strengthens the company’s global footprint and positions it as a market leader in perishables in Kenya. “It will also allow us to develop our perishables presence in the neighboring countries of Tanzania and Uganda, where we see a lot of potential,” he added.

Kuehne + Nagel added over 150,000 tonnes of perishables to its annual volume in this segment through the acquisitions of Commodity Forwarders Inc., the largest perishables specialist forwarders in the US, and Trillvane, a leading specialist in Kenya.

“These two transactions further strengthen and expand our fresh chain network connecting key production countries to major consumer markets,” said Yngve Ruud, a member of the company’s management board with responsibility for air freight logistics. “Based on our dedicated network – by now the largest in the logistics industry for perishables – and globally integrated IT systems, we can scale business opportunities and accelerate our growth in this sector with end-to-end transparency.”

By Ian Putzger

Air Freight Correspondent | Toronto