Several freighter operators in the first week of the year introduced new air services connecting European cities to markets in Asia and the Middle East, giving shippers more options for moving freight on strong trade lanes.
The most robust capacity addition comes from Maersk Air Cargo, the cargo airline of ocean shipping logistics integrator A.P. Moller Maersk, which has begun operating Boeing 767 freighters six times per week between its home base in Billund, Denmark, and Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan province, according to the company’s website.
The new service complements an existing one between Billund and Hangzhou that operates seven days per week, as well as a four-times-weekly charter service between Liege, Belgium, and Hangzhou, utilizing a Boeing 747-400 freighter flown by Magma Aviation.
On Jan. 2, Maersk also started air cargo service connecting Zhengzhou with its Greenville, South Carolina, regional hub, a Maersk spokesperson confirmed. The Maersk website doesn’t yet show the new offering. FreightWaves last month reported that Maersk planned to resume service to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport this month from a new city in China.
Maersk Air Cargo temporarily suspended scheduled flights from Shenyang, China, to Greenville via Seoul, South Korea, last summer so the Boeing 767-300 aircraft could be used to launch a route connecting Chicago-Rockford International Airport with Zhengzhou.
Mediterranean Shipping Co., another large ocean carrier with a private cargo airline, has launched two flights from the Netherlands to Asia. MSC Air Cargo posted on LinkedIn last week that it is adding a direct flight from Amsterdam Schipol airport to Seoul. The airline said its trucking network will allow shippers from other locations in Europe to utilize the flights. A spokeswoman said MSC Air Cargo is still finalizing the schedule and has yet to determine the duration of the service, which will be able to collect shipments from around Europe.
MSC Air Cargo has five Boeing 777 freighters under its control, including four owned and operated on its behalf by Atlas Air and one operated by its Italian subsidiary AlisCargo.
Maastricht Airport announced last week that Atlas Air has begun flying from Maastricht to Asia with an MSC-branded freighter. Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 shows the initial flight departed Maastricht on Thursday and arrived in Xiamen, China, with an intermediate stop in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The aircraft slots into the existing MSC Air Cargo network, continuing to Mexico City and Los Angeles.
Middle East carriers
Emirates SkyCargo on Jan. 1 deployed a dedicated weekly freighter from Copenhagen to its Dubai hub to meet growing demand for transportation out of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Emirates previously served Copenhagen with bellyhold capacity in passenger aircraft. The Boeing 777 now being used offers about 94 tons of cargo capacity. In Dubai, shipments are routed around the world through Emirates’ extensive passenger and all-cargo networks.
Emirates SkyCargo said cargo volume from Denmark grew more than 20% in the past fiscal year, which ended March 31, driven by pharmaceutical shipments. Scandinavia has a strong life sciences industry, and there is extensive temperature-controlled warehousing in Copenhagen to serve it. Dubai serves as a major reconsolidation point for trade moving between Europe, Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
The addition of Copenhagen brings the number of destinations served by Emirates freighters to 38. Emirates operates 11 Boeing 777 freighters and has several more on order from Boeing.
Meanwhile, as previously reported, two logistics companies have begun offering dedicated cargo service from China to Europe with the help of Etihad Airways.
German logistics giant DB Schenker, which is being acquired by DSV, launched a weekly charter service from Ezhou, China, to Frankfurt, Germany, with Etihad Airways providing the airlift on a Boeing 777 freighter. The new service supports DB Schenker customers in the e-commerce, automotive, retail, industrial and electronics sectors.
An undisclosed logistics provider in Asia has also launched an air cargo product that uses a third-party carrier to move goods from Ezhou to Etihad Airways’ home base in Abu Dhabi, where they are transferred to an Etihad Cargo 777 for delivery to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Etihad Cargo is selling space on the return leg to shippers on the open market.
More FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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