With the COVID-19 crisis escalating in many countries in recent months, airfreight capacities continue to contract faster than air cargo demand, leading to an increased call for flexible emergency solutions.
During these volatile times, international transport and info-logistics provider, cargo-partner’s airfreight teams around the world organised numerous full and part-charter flights to provide a reliable alternative to cancelled passenger flights and ensure the timely delivery of highly urgent shipments.
Throughout June, cargo-partner is offering weekly charter flights from China and Hong Kong to Frankfurt, Vienna, Amsterdam and Budapest. The service includes trucking from all of Mainland China, including the key gateways Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, as well as on-carriage to the final destination anywhere in Europe. In addition, cargo-partner will handle all customs formalities at borders and airports.
Beside these regular charter services, the logistics provider has also received many ad-hoc requests for full and part-charter flights of urgently needed goods, the majority of which came from the pharmaceutical, healthcare and personal protective equipment (PPE) sectors.
Stefan Krauter, CEO of cargo-partner said, “Just as we did before the coronavirus crisis, we are keeping a close watch on the market and remain in constant contact with customers, agents, carriers and partners, so that we can react quickly to their needs and offer competent solutions. Thanks to our strong presence in China, we were able to learn from our colleagues’ experiences and assessments early on in the development of the COVID-19 situation and prepare our global network accordingly. We continue to plan proactively and go the extra mile to keep our customers’ supply chains moving!”
Three highly sensitive charters from Sweden to the USA
In April, cargo-partner team in Sweden organised three full charters for a renowned company. Three MD11 freighter aircraft departed from Stockholm Arlandato Chicago O’Hare Airport, loaded with nearly 200 metric tons of temperature-sensitive and non-stackablecargo.Despite the short time frame for this shipment, which coincided with the Easter holidays, the transport was executed just-in-time to meet the customer’s needs.
Thousands of face masks and respirators from Shanghai to Prague
Another important air charter transport was made possible by a joint effort between the cargo-partner teams in Prague and Shanghai, during a time when face masks and respirators were urgently needed due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 throughout Europe.
In March, the company’s offices in China and the Czech Republic handled the urgent transport of around 700,000 face masks and 100,000 FFP2 respirators including customs clearance and all required documentation. The plane departed from Shanghai on March 23 at 08:15 PM and landed in Prague on March 24 at 02:03 AM. Immediately after its arrival, the cargo was brought to a nearby material reserve warehouse, from where the essential goods were distributed to hospitals all across the country.
Protective equipment from China to Slovenia on Easter Sunday
Slovenia was also among the countries that faced a lack of protective equipment amid the COVID-19 crisis. cargo-partner in Slovenia organised a number of charter flights to meet its customers’ urgent needs. One of these shipments arrived in Brnik on the morning of April 12, Easter Sunday, after an almost 12 hour long direct flight from Zhengzhou. The shipment contained five million protective face masks with a total weight of almost 25 metric tons. Despite the holiday as well as the restrictions regarding the export of safety equipment from China, cargo-partner was able to provide the customer with all necessary logistics support in a short time frame, including the preparation of the required export clearance documents.
Six successful air charters of 35 million masks to Serbia
In April, cargo-partner Serbia airfreight team organised six full charters with more than 35 million protective masks from different parts of China directly to Belgrade. To make this transport possible, cargo-partner cooperated with carriers who had converted several idle passenger aircraft to freighters by removing seats or even lashing cargo to passenger seats in order to meet the demand.
Keeping essential industries running in Southern Africa
In cooperation with a long-time system partner in Africa, cargo-partner delivered several airfreight charter solutions to customers in South and Southern Africa. In April, the logistics provider organised two charters using B-777F aircraft from Shanghai to Johannesburg. The cargo consisted of urgently required medical and PPE equipment. The goods were then distributed by truck from Johannesburg Airport to the final destinations in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and Namibia.
More recently, the logistics provider handled three more charters from China carrying 13 million K95 masks for the mining industry as well as public workers in Southern Africa. To meet the urgent demand for these goods, cargo-partner team in Shanghai carried out overnight ULD loading within six hours, the standard time at Pudong Airport being 16 hours.
