SAS ACQUIRES STERLING Scandinavia's largest carrier SAS has announced it is taking over the cargo operation of Copenhagen-based Sterling Airlines. The agreement will add around 30,000 extra tonnes to SAS Cargo's annual capacity in Europe. The airline says the move is part of its strategy to provide increased capacity to relevant customers and comes one month after SAS Cargo bought the General Sales Agency Unit from Sterling (formerly Maersk Air Cargo) and formed business unit Cubic Air Cargo. Under the deal SAS Cargo has taken over all air cargo activities from low fare carrier Sterling which operates 30 passenger aircraft. "With this new agreement we are increasing our total available cargo capacity within Europe and add a number of new destinations to markets where we often experience a bottleneck effect, especially between southern parts of Europe and Scandinavia," said SAS Cargo president Kenneth Marx. Sterling Airlines says it will now focus on scheduled and charter passenger services.

On October 4th, a landmark business meeting took place in the air cargo area of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, as thirty-nine people including twenty-three representative Cargo 2000 members met to create the newest airportbased Cargo 2000 Association. "What's the big deal?" you might ask? Well, of all the airports in the U.S. operating international services, JFK is far and away the big enchilada. From Dubai to Helsinki to Shanghai to Mumbai, JFK International Airport serves more overseas destinations than any other airport in the Western Hemisphere. Cargo 2000 is a global organization, an IATA Interest Group, bringing together some 40 major airlines, freight forwarders, IT providers and ground-handling agents with the goal of implementing a new quality management system for the worldwide air cargo industry. The objective is simple: to implement processes, backed by quality standards, that are measurable and supported by data, thereby improving the efficiency of air cargo, enhancing customer service levels and reducing operational costs. This will be based on detailed customer research with the assistance of leading IT companies, the group has re-engineered the transportation process from shipper to consignee through a "Master Operating Plan". But theory to reality can be a long journey; so landing a local Cargo 2000 Association at JFK is indeed a big deal. FlyingTypers spoke to Cargo 2000 Project Director Ron Cesana who said simply: "The best is yet to come. "Our mission is to elevate efficiency of the air cargo industry, improve customer service and reduce costs by developing and implementing a program of business processes and automation standards. "Local Cargo 2000 Associations will adopt the same objective, but are also specifically asked to focus on implementation of C2K requirements at the local level. "Some other objectives in the local Cargo 2000 Association mandate include addressing issues and obstacles that are specific to each gateway situation. Barry Medved of KLM Cargo was elected Chairman of JFK Cargo 2000 Association with Neal O'Sullivan of DHL Danzas elected to serve as the first Vice Chairman of the group. January 25, 2006 was set as the next meeting date.

How much would you say it costs to pay one of your freight invoices? If you guessed over $10.00 per invoice, you are correct. Because of administrative overhead, it costs large companies about $11 to pay one freight invoice. For a company with 1,000 carrier invoices a month, that's $11,000. But if a third-party freight payment/ auditing firm process these invoices, companies pay just 5 percent to 10 percent of this cost per bill. Companies that outsource their freight payment and auditing activities can save anywhere from 2 percent to 5 percent of their total freight bill by catching inaccurate charges or duplicate payments. But as good as these numbers sound, they don't reflect the real opportunity in outsourcing freight payment and auditing functions. The value delivered by outside freight auditing/payment service providers takes a number of forms:
. Freight rate benchmarking. Freight payment firms can help companies understand the transportation market's current rate picture. In the past, shippers could go to a tariff system and see the cost of shipping from point A to point B. Today they can't do that because every carrier has its own rates.
. Inbound routing guide compliance. To better manage inbound freight costs, customers can load their routing guides on the payment firm's web site. Vendors can log in and see how to ship their customers' products.
. Technology Advantages. Many thirdparty freight audit/payment companies offer technology and expertise many companies don't have in-house.
And Verizon, which spends $160 million annually on freight, has no interest in investing in the systems and resources required to handle these tasks. Instead, it outsources these responsibilities. Clearly, for many companies the value of outsourcing their freight bill auditing and payment activities goes beyond finding overcharges. "We use the pre-audit information to better manage our freight," notes Yarusavage of Verizon. "Our distribution center employees can see patterns in missed deliveries, or look at charges for Saturday deliveries, and supply that information to the marketing managers so they can see the cost of doing business. The end result is simple: more efficiently.

FedEx expects a boost from its new China hub to be opened in late 2008, as the industry is set to benefit from a continuing inter-Asia cargo growth, a senior executive said. The new Asia-Pacific hub, located at Guangzhou's new Baiyun Airport in southern China, will be FedEx's largest outside the United States and double the capacity of its current regional base in the Philippines. FedEx joins rivals UPS and DHL Express in a rush to expand in the air cargo market in China, the world's manufacturing workshop and now the thirdbiggest trading power.

Boeing launched its biggest airliner, announcing orders worth USD$5 billion for a stretched and upgraded version of its 747 from freight carriers Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines. The long awaited launch gives the original jumbo jet a new lease on life some 35 years after it began commercial service and allows Boeing to keep a toehold in the market for aircraft with more than 400 seats even as it focuses on smaller planes. European rival Airbus has been muscling into the large plane market with its mammoth A380 double-decker due to begin commercial flights late next year. Boeing's 747-8 will target users of the long-serving 747 with two stretched versions powered by new, more efficient engines starting in late 2009.

domestic cargo flights. The converted 767-300ER freighter will have almost the same capacity as the production model in terms of payload, range and maximum takeoff weight. The prototype conversion will take around nine months to complete, with follow-on conversions taking less time, and at a fraction of the US$150 million list price of a brand new 767-300F Freighter. The conversion option allows ANA to make use of its existing 767-300ER aircraft beyond retirement from passenger operations, as freighter aircraft typically have a longer life-cycle than passenger aircraft of the same type.

THE US transportation industry will enjoy another year of strong performance in 2006, paced by gains in the resurgent trucking sector, the Colography Group Inc said in releasing its annual projections for the US$98 billion expedited cargo market. By contrast, activity in the domestic air market will be muted in 2006, with shipment volumes rising by only 1.2 per cent over projected 2005 activity. The US air export category, influenced by a different suite of demand drivers, will record a 7.3 per cent increase in year-over-year shipment levels. The ground parcel and the less-thantruckload categories are projected to show shipment growth of 5.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively, over 2005 levels. The categories combined will account for 86 per cent of new US expedited shipment growth in 2006. Just over 250 million new shipments will be added to US expedited commerce in the coming year. HONG KONG, Nov 18 (WorldACD) - Major Asia- Pacific airlines see a tougher year in 2006 with fuel costs expected to remain high and growth in both passengers and cargo likely to lose steam, the industry group said Friday.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), whose 17 members are leading carriers in the Asia Pacific region including Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines, said it is taking a cautious view on 2006. Growth in the cargo sector is slowing after three strong years, AAPA said. When air cargo slows down, that's usually a sign of a slowing global economy. AAPA members saw cargo throughput rise about 3 percent in the year to date, but growth flattened in the last few months.

Adds flights between Dubai and JFK. WITH the launch of Emirates second daily service from Dubai to New York, Emirates SkyCargo will now serve the city with twice the existing belly-hold capacity. The new service will increase Emirates SkyCargos weekly capacity to New York from 330 tonnes to 435 tonnes an increase of more than 30 per cent. Emirates SkyCargo now serves the city with twice-weekly Boeing 747 freighter services offering a total capacity of 225 tonnes, and belly-hold capacity in the double-daily Airbus A340-500 aircraft, which has a capacity of 15 tonnes.