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WORLD ACW Digital is sponsored by AIRPORTS.COM FREIGHTERS.COM
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06/07/2020 16:55
The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,098
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14 September 2020
The Nigerien prism: just another disaster
What do DB Schenker, Swissport, Air Charter Service, Brussels Airport, Air Logistics Group, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Air Cargo Belgium, Webcargo, IATA and AFKLMP have in common?
They are all winners!
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n these unprecedented times, it is reassuring that some things in the airfreight industry have carried on as normal. The ACW World Air Cargo Awards have gone ahead as planned. For the first time ever, the winners and lists of nominees is being revealed in print in Air Cargo Week. Nominations were invited from any person or company for each category in November, and were submitted up to December 13 2019. Voting for the nominees opened on January 10 2020 via the website aircargoweek.com and closed April 30. Votes were counted and winners identified, but by then the world was in lockdown. ACW then made plans to present the awards at the Air Cargo Forum in Miami in November, but that too was cancelled. In order to keep some of the Gala Dinner traditions, we sent the winners their certificates and asked them to proudly take a photo and submit it so we can publish it as if we were there. It seems fit with the remote working becoming normal these days that the certificates were presented to the worthy winners virtually.
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INSIDE CHAMP CARGOSYSTEMS NEW CEO
CHAMP Cargosystems, airfreight integrated IT solutions and distribution services, has appointed Chris McDermott as CEO, effective ... PAGE 5
COMBAT ANIMAL SMUGGLING
THE aviation sector can play a part in mitigating the risk of future disease events and pandemics by strengthening efforts to combat ... PAGE 2 SPECTRE OF BREXIT
ACCORDING to Neville Karai. group managing director HAE, the GSSA will always see change as an opportunity. “However, we do see BREXIT ... PAGE 6
Q & A WITH THOMAS SONNTAG
THE industry will definitely change ... Read our interview with Thomas Sonntag, managing director of Jettainer, as he looks at the new normal ... PAGE 7
Follow Us:
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AIR CARGO WEEK -A big thanks to our great Award sponsors: Airfreight Forwarder of the Year Award 2020 DB Schenker
THE CORONA pandemic has posed unprecedented and unforeseen challenges for shippers, carriers and forwarders. Our Air Freight team at DB Schenker has proven its ability to react flexibly and provide reliable supply chain solutions despite this crisis. With our new Global Flight Operations Program we help our customers to tackle the consequences of a pandemic that is still not under control. I am incredibly proud of our Air Freight team that truly deserves this reward.
Air Cargo Handling Agent of the Year Award 2020
Swissport
IN 2019, SWISSPORT International AG provided best-in-class airport ground services for roughly 4.6 million tonnes of airfreight in 115 cargo warehouses worldwide. Several of its warehouses have been certified for pharmaceutical logistics by IATA’s CEIV Pharma and by the British MHRA. The world’s leader in air cargo handling, with 64,000 employees, achieved consolidated operating revenue of €3.13 billion in 2019. At the end of December 2019, Swissport was active at 300 airports in 47 countries on six continents.
Air Cargo Charter Broker of the Year Award 2020
Air Charter Service
I’D LIKE to extend a huge thank you to all our customers and suppliers for taking the time to vote for us as the world’s best for an incredible eighth time in a row. 2020 has been a challenging year so far for the whole world and many parts of our industry, but our dedicated team has worked tirelessly to ensure vital PPE and other cargo has reached its destination in spite of the pandemic.
Airport of the Year Award 2020 Brussels Airport
Nominees Alha Group Asia Airfreight Terminal Co Ltd dnata Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal (HACTL) Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal (PACTL) Swissport
Nominees Air Charter Service Air Partner Albion Aviation Group Ltd Chapman Freeborn Hunt & Palmer
Nominees Brussels Airport Changi Airport Singapore Chicago Rockford Intl Leipzig/Halle Airport Miami Intl Airport Vienna Intl Airport
Air Cargo General Sales Agent of the Year Award 2020
Nominees
THIS AWARD is dedicated to all of our employees worldwide for their hard work and dedication during this most challenging time in aviation history. We thank our Principals and peers for voting for us in these crazy times. Our teams worldwide turned our business 360 degrees in these last six months and now as we re-focus we will be there to support our Airline and Forwarding clients to pass through this troubling time. We are all stronger together.
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DB Schenker Dimerco FedEx Fracht Group Geodis Kerry Logistics
GETTING ONCE again this recognition, especially in these challenging times, is something we and the entire airport community are very proud of. It encourages us to remain focussed on being customer centric, innovative and leading when it comes to air cargo. Our ambition is not to be the biggest, but the most efficient and best airport.
Air Logistics Group
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Nominees
Air Logistics Group ATC Aviation ECS Group Global GSA Group Wexco Cargo GSSA
Don’t forget, nominations for the 2021
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-- WACA 2020 RESULTS
: Air Cargo Industry Customer Care Award 2020 Singapore Airlines Cargo WE ARE honoured to receive this award from our industry partners for our pursuit in service excellence. This affirmation will strengthen our team’s resolve to constantly deliver the highest level of service to our customers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we remained focused on our customers, and played our part to keep airfreight supply lines open for essential goods by transporting critical goods such as PPEs, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and food supplies to places of need.
Air Cargo Industry Achievement Award 2020 Air Cargo Belgium
Ltd
ACTL) onal CTL)
IT for the Air Cargo Industry Award 2020 Webcargo
Air Cargo Marketing & Promotion Campaign Award 2020
IATA
ON BEHALF of IATA, our marketing team would like to thank Air Cargo Week and the voting members for awarding us this distinction. It is truly appreciated to receive this recognition, especially in consideration of the overall excellence of this year’s campaigns. We hope to see you all in airports around the world soon and perhaps at next year’s award ceremony! Until then stay safe and stay strong.
Accenture Awery Aviation Software Cargo Flash Infortech Nallian PayCargo LLC Webcargo
Nominees ACL Airshop American Airlines Cargo IATA Lufthansa Cargo Singapore Airlines Cargo Turkish Cargo
Nominees
IT IS with great joy and gratitude that we accept this award in this exceptional year. We would like to sincerely thank our customers for the trust, support and partnership during this unprecedented time. Air France KLM Martinair Cargo offers a global airfreight network that keeps supply chains up and running. Our Team made the difference by showing great drive and by contributing their knowledge and experience. We are very proud of this!
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Air Cargo Belgium Air FranceKLMMartinair Etihad Cargo Qatar Airways Cargo Singapore Airlines Cargo Swissport
Nominees
WEBCARGO IS proud to win the Best IT Solution in the air cargo sphere. It’s been a difficult year for the air cargo industry, and it is an honor to help 1,800 freight forwarders and airlines keep global trade flowing with digital air cargo solutions.
2021 event will be opening in October.
Dimerco ECS Group Geodis Saudia Cargo Singapore Airlines Cargo Webcargo
Nominees
WE HAVE been building a strong and innovative Air Cargo community clustering all stakeholders in a co-operative model and spirit. Our purpose is to achieve a competitive advantage for our air cargo community in Europe, by leading innovation and transformation in the air cargo industry and contributing to sustainable prosperity for society. We can make a difference and be a showcase for our industry. We are grateful for the recognition that we get for this by receiving this award!
Cargo Airline of the Year Award 2020 Air FranceKLMMartinair
Nominees
Air FranceKLMMartinair AirBridgeCargo Antonov Airlines Cargolux Emirates SkyCargo Etihad Cargo Lufthansa Cargo Qatar Airways Cargo Turkish Cargo United Airlines Cargo
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DHL: Public and private sector can partner for COVID-19 vaccine delivery WITH first emergency use authorisations for COVID-19 vaccines expected to be effective in Q4 2020, logistics providers are challenged to rapidly establish medical supply chains to deliver serums of unparalleled amounts of more than ten billion doses worldwide. DHL, working with McKinsey & Company as analytics partner, is publishing a white paper on delivering stable logistics for vaccines and medical goods during COVID-19 and future health crises. Currently, more than 250 vaccines across seven platforms are being developed and tri-
aled. As COVID-19 vaccines have leapfrogged development phases, stringent temperature requirements (up to -80°C) are likely to be
imposed for certain vaccines to ensure that their efficacy is maintained during transportation and warehousing. This poses novel logistics challenges to the existing medical supply chain that conventionally distributes vaccines at 2–8°C. In the paper, DHL evaluates how the transport of vaccines as highly temperature-sensitive product can be managed effectively to combat the further spread of the virus. The scope of this task is immense: to provide global coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, up to 200,000 pallet shipments and 15 million deliveries in cooling boxes as well as 15,000 flights will be required across the various supply chain set-ups. “The COVID-19 crisis emerged with an unprecedented breadth and impact. It required governments, businesses and the logistics industry alike to adapt quickly to new challenges. As a world leader in logistics, we want to share our experience of operating during one of the biggest health crises in recent history, in order to develop strategies in an ever-more connected world”, explains Katja Busch, chief commercial officer DHL. “To protect lives against the pandemic, governments have moved towards a more active role in medical supply chains. Over the past few months, we have demonstrated that sufficient planning and appropriate partnerships within the supply chain can play a key role as govern-
ments work to secure critical medical supplies during health emergencies such as this. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, demand for medical supplies has surged. For example, UNICEF sourced 100 times more face masks and 2,000 times more medical gloves than in 2019. Bringing medical supplies from their distant sources to use at the frontline has been one of the most crucial activities in pandemic response management in the first phase of the health emergency.
Inbound logistics For PPE specifically, inbound logistics were a major challenge due to geographically concentrated production, limited airfreight capacity and a lack of inbound quality checks. To ensure stable medical supply in a future health crisis, a comprehensive setup of public health crisis strategies and structures needs to be established by governments with partnerships from both public and private sectors. To kick start the dialogue among the different actors in medical supply logistics, DHL provides a framework for the co-operation of logistics companies with authorities, politicians, NGOs as well as the life sciences industry. The framework helps to establish measures to ensure the most stable and safe supply chains possible.
Caribbean Airlines ships COVID-19 supplies to 16 Caribbean islands
Caribbean Airlines Cargo recently collaborated with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to distribute over 2,000 boxes of medical supplies to help 16 Caribbean countries combat COVID-19. The supplies included personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 test kits donated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With the continued closure of several countries’ borders, the world is currently experiencing limited connectivity and cargo capacity. Despite this challenge, the airline developed effective solutions in order to move the supplies to each territory at a subsidised cost. Caribbean Airlines Cargo transported the supplies to Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean utilizing its freighter and
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passenger aircraft. The airline also collaborated with interline partners to ship the supplies to destinations where it is not currently offering scheduled flights such as: British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Belize and Suriname. Caribbean Airlines Cargo continued its freighter operations throughout the pandemic and introduced a cargo charter service to minimise disruption to the supply chain and deliver essential supplies during this critical time. Caribbean Airlines Cargo has operated several charters since including the shipment of supplies from Guyana to students in Cuba, the transportation of dairy cows between Miami and Barbados and a number of flights where perishable goods and chicks were shipped between Guyana, Toronto and Trinidad.
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Global need to combat animal smuggling by air
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he aviation sector can play a part in mitigating the risk of future disease events and pandemics by strengthening efforts to combat animal smuggling, according to a new analysis. The brief, Animal Smuggling in Air Transport and Preventing Zoonotic Spillover, produced by C4ADS as part of the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership, details the financial impact of zoonotic diseases on the aviation industry, methods for identifying high-zoonotic-risk trafficking, and recommendations to help prevent the spread of future outbreaks. Within air transport, live animals and meat products from domesticated and wild species engender the most signif-
icant risk of zoonotic spillover from animal smuggling. According to the C4ADS Air Seizure Database, almost 500 high-zoonotic-risk trafficking instances across 104 countries were identified in the air transport sector between 2009–2019. That amounts to approximately 50 high-zoonotic-risk trafficking instances every year, based solely on public reporting. “Smugglers exploit the speed and efficiency of air travel and air cargo to transport animals and animal products, often bringing different species in close proximity for long periods of time. “This illicit activity circumvents animal safety requirements around health examinations, vaccinations or quarantine, creating extremely favorable
conditions for zoonotic disease spillover,” said author Ben Spevack, senior analyst at C4ADS. “Faced with the current health crisis caused by the novel COVID-19 virus, the world and aviation sector are unfortunately grappling with the turmoil that zoonotic diseases can pose. Understanding of air transport’s risk from animal smuggling could be instrumental in reducing global vulnerability. Comprehensive training and protocols are already being adopted by airports, airlines, and enforcement agencies to combat wildlife trafficking. These efforts can help mitigate the risk of future outbreaks,” said Michelle Owen, ROUTES lead. “The current crisis has highlighted the global need to better understand
what factors can increase the risk of zoonotic disease occurrence. Co-operation among governments, enforcement authorities, scientists, conservation organizations, industry stakeholders and customers is crucial to address these issues. “ACI joined the fight against wildlife
trafficking in 2016 and supports Buckingham Palace Declaration signatory airports and ROUTES partners to combat wildlife trafficking. Airports can integrate wildlife conservation initiatives into their sustainability umbrella, helping to protect biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, stability and global health,” said Juliana Scavuzzi, senior manager environment ACI. “As the world works to recover from COVID-19, the focus is shifting to building back better and with greater resilience. Science tells us to expect more pandemics in the future and combatting the smuggling of wildlife can be viewed as a key prevention measure” said Sebastian Mikosz, senior vice president of member and external Relations at IATA.
CHAMP Cargosystems appoints new CEO
CHAMP Cargosystems, airfreight integrated IT solutions and distribution services, has appointed Chris McDermott as CEO, effective October 1 2020. McDermott is currently vice president passenger solution lines at SITA. CHAMP Cargosystems is a joint venture between SITA (51%) and Cargolux (49%). CHAMP has 500 employees, revenues of approximately $55 million, and is a leading provider of IT solutions to the global air logistics transport industry including airlines, forwarders, and ground handlers. “We are very happy to have a strong leader like Chris join as he brings a diverse industry background with a specialisation in passenger airlines, telecommunications and managing global operations,” states Barbara Dalibard, CEO of SITA and chairman of the board of CHAMP. NEUTRAL Air Partner has appointed Sam Okpro to lead its new Global Airline Partner Program. He comes with an extensive experience in the air cargo logistics and aviation sector, having held senior management roles in leading airlines, including Air Canada, BWIA, Gulf Air and IATA.
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UK & IRELAND
Davies Turner’s Express China rail now goes direct to UK regions T he ongoing enhancement of Davies Turner’s Express China Rail service might not seem relevant to a publication that focuses on air cargo, the service is attracting shipments from shippers and traders that are switching from air cargo due to capacity or cost issues, Bookings on its weekly fixed-day rail consol service from China to the UK continue to increase, so Davies Turner is adding UK destinations that will be served directly from China. Tony Cole, head of supply chain services at one of the UK’s leading independent freight and logistics company says: “Having reviewed the pattern of shipments we are carrying, we have
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decided to offer a direct service to our regional freight hubs in Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester, in addition to the existing direct service
to Dartford. “Since the direct service recommenced in March, we have seen three to four 40ft High Cube containers arriving every week direct into our Dartford freight hub. “However, following the review, we have identified many of the shipments are for distribution to other parts of the UK, so we are now working with our partners in China to refine the consolidation process at Hefei, and to ensure that shipments destined for the South
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West, Midlands or North West are consolidated in the same container. “This additional fine tuning of the service will enable us to make a further reduction in the transit time.” The weekly service leaves the Hefei rail hub and heads to Neuss in Germany, from where containers are then trucked under bond to the port of Rotterdam and transported by ferry to Purfleet in East London. In future, on-carriage will be undertaken from Purfleet by truck direct to one of Davies Turner’s distribution centres in Birmingham, Bristol, Dartford or Manchester, where the contents will be discharged, customs cleared and delivered.
Spectre of BREXIT
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ccording to Neville Karai. group managing director HAE, the GSSA will always see change as an opportunity “However, we do see BREXIT as a challenge for our customers. In the GSSA business the additional administrative functions may mean change of routing for clients customer needs to get cargo ready for carriage and direct rather than hub and spoke routings may be used. They have to review change of mode to air from road for instance,” he said. “In the handling activity, the ‘domestic’ European E-Commerce that we handle will now need to be re-engineered, physically and also administratively, to make sure processes are in place to identify material that is required to be inspected and allow the flow of ‘cleared’ material.” “The ‘Solutions’ business we
have is where most of the potential is as our customers will be looking for options for their customers on how to navigate the changes. “This allows us to promote our airlines and combine them with our agency and representative networks in Europe. We are also in a positive position as we represent one of the largest freighter networks in Europe. “From the rest of world we are unlikely to be affected as much of our current business goes directly from origin to destination country.”
Davies Turner Ireland gains AEO Customs accreditation
DAVIES Turner Ireland (DTI) has been granted Authorised Economic Operator AEO (Type C) status by Irish Revenue, which entitles the company to benefit from the full benefits available under Customs simplified procedures. The authorisation comes just under 10 years after the company’s UK parent company, Davies Turner Plc achieved full certification (Type F) for all Group services. Philip Stephenson, chairman of Davies Turner, welcomed the recognition achieved by Davies Turner Ireland and praised the joint efforts of management and staff in working closely with the Irish Revenue to achieve it. “Our air cargo colleagues back in April 2008 were amongst the first off the starting block with AEO accreditation,” he says. “We soon realised this was only an interim step on the journey to having full accreditation covering all Davies Turner & Co’s services. For our customers we have seen benefits from having AEO status.”
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Q & A with Thomas Sonntag: The industry will definitely change Nevertheless, the enormous reduction in passenger flights was and still is an enormous challenge for Jettainer. Not only do we have to find ways to (re-)position ULDs on a vastly reduced network, many ULDs that would normally be in the air now have to be stored on the ground. We had to be creative in finding storage capacities as to not jam up our customers’ or own operations. One solution was to store ULDs in parked aircraft; other ULDs could be, for example, stored at the still not-opened new Berlin Brandenburg Airport BER.
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What has been the effect on Jettainer of the grounding of much of bellyhold capacity? In one sentence – this was our chance to perform ULD management at its best, even in a crisis never seen before. And we did exactly that – providing 100% ULD availability to our customers, anywhere and anytime. Existing schedules, networks and routines collapsed within a very short time. As the global leader, we reacted immediately, equipped countless flights with ULDs where needed. That way, helped our airline customers to carry out numerous repatriation flights, bringing people home from all over the world. ULD demand also shifted drastically from baggage to cargo transport, moved on freighters, “preighters” (passenger aircraft used as freighters) and trucks. We accommodated this change in demand quickly and hence enabled our customers to initiate special freight transports to supply medical material.
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When does Jettainer foresee the numbers will rise for ULD usage? We do not expect the overall demand for ULDs to rise, at least not in the near future. ULD usage for cargo may further increase, at the same time passenger travel will continue to experience travel bans and restrictions. The industry will consequently face very volatile flight schedules over the next months and years. For our customer airlines, it is now even more relevant than ever to make efficient use of equipment – with highest flexibility at the same time. We are therefore in the process to jointly streamline ULD fleets. As the industry expert, Jettainer has a an extensive experience not only in ULD management, but also in optimising total cost of ownership. We advise our airline customers in regards to consolidation of their ULD fleet and consult them on the most efficient types of ULDs, offering them the best life-time reliability and results. This way, complexity is reduced and our customers can sustainably
setup a better cost structure. Lastly, the whole industry is faced with the challenge to deal with overand understocks – there are indeed understocks, as the overstocks are often concentrated at the wrong place!. It is precisely in this situation where our platform skypooling has proven to be a real helper in the crisis for the entire community. The platform has played its part in creating opportunities to get ULDs back in the air, solving imbalances, despite the enormous reduction of global air traffic and short-term flight schedule changes.
at lowest cost, and the sole focus on innovations and digitization projects that really are meaningful and of value to the industry.
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Do you have any interesting news to share? The industry will definitely change. Even before the Corona-crisis we have recognized changes in the industry and are prepared for the new and different requirements of ULD management. Transparent management and use of data is becoming more and more necessary. We already use big data and artificial intelligence for our control systems. We equip ULDs with Bluetooth technology where it is meaningful. We are developing our digital twin – the virtual copy of the physical ULD, containing all life-time data from cradle to grave. Every one of these digital twins will provide us with useful data, from hindsight, to insights, to foresights. A real hands-on example for data science, constantly optimizing all our – and thus our customers’ – processes! Our management solution for cool containers will also become increasingly important. As soon as a vaccine becomes available, it will have to be distributed worldwide. Here it is important to use the available cool ULDs as efficiently as possible to guarantee the fastest delivery. They should not be empty! We are working on this with experts and are in close contact with customers and service providers. Overall, the market will continue to diversify. A one-size-fits-all solution will no longer meet the needs of everyone. Transparency, industry expertise and global networks are becoming increasingly important.
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What does Jettainer see in the ‘new normal’ of 2021? We do not expect a ‘new normal’ in 2021, we will still be in the middle of an evolutionary process. Even before the crisis we could observe that the industry was already in a state of change. This transformation now intensifies and accelerates with the crisis. The ‘new normal’ will be accompanied by a re-dimensioning of fleets as passenger travel demand will only slowly recover, if at all, to the full previous level. The “preighter” business might increase for some months, it is also likely that ad-hoc charters and trucking will become a new standard. Both are a result of high airfreight volumes not being able to be accommodated on passenger aircraft. The requirements for cost reduction, efficiency and flexibility will drastically increase. The key to this is transparency. As a transparency driver, Jettainer will shed light on the entire logistics chain and the whole life-cycle of each ULD. Our goal is true commitment to highest efficiency
Thomas Sonntag is managing director of Jettainer
Silk Way West Airlines continues multi-year ‘strategic partnership’ with ACL Airshop SILK Way West Airlines, one of the fastest growing cargo carriers in the world, has confirmed a five-year ULD agreement extension with ACL Airshop, a leading international service partner for outsourced ULD management and customized logistics solutions, commencing earlier in 2020. This extends the long-standing business relationship between the two companies. Silk Way West Airlines and ACL Airshop are working together to measurably enhance the logistics efficiencies of Silk Way’s ULD fleet, including the introduction of Bluetooth innovations for real-time
tracking of ULDs. That, combined with ACL’s global Operations Center in Amsterdam and network-wide “ULD Control” programs and the innovative “FindMyULD” mobile App all operate together for better utilization rates and cost efficiencies for Silk Way. “We pursue a lean and agile business strategy. Continuous improvement in ULD logistics is one of our strategic priorities. “It contributes directly to the bottom line while facilitating top-line growth,” said Emile Khasanshin, vice president global cargo operations for Silk Way West Airlines. “ACL Air-
shop has saved us well-into seven figures in new fleet-wide efficiencies. We seek supplier partners who can meet our rigorous cost expectations and flexibility requirements, demonstrate smart usage of the latest technologies, as well as customer-oriented business processes. With their substantial worldwide expansion in the past few years, and their evolving innovations in technology and service model, ACL Airshop has become a strategic partner for us. Working together has yielded measurable gains for us both, and for our end-customers.”
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Steve Townes, chairman of ACL Airshop and CEO of its parent company, added: “We remain committed to helping Silk Way West Airlines grow their global cargo network. “And we salute their admirable
step-up in worldwide activity to counter the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. Large air freighters have stepped in to offset the grounded belly-load capacities of many passenger fleets.”
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Cargo and Other Stories by Lemon Queen
Cargo in the blood
Audrey Serdjebi
The Nigerien prism
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e hear a lot about a second wave, the difficulties of implementing protective measures, the tightening of the rules to follow when in public, with masks mandatory in many cities around the world, bans on gatherings, museums and bars closed and more. Each country is trying to avoid having to re-enter lockdown while also getting its economy back up and running. But it’s clear that the pandemic is continuing to affect us to different degrees, depending on our country and the region of the world we live in, depending on the prism through which we see the world. In ‘stable’ countries, the recovery is already hard enough. What about countries that were already affected by vulnerability and insecurity?
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ooking at Africa and particularly countries in the Sahel region, they have withstood the pandemic relatively well. At any rate in terms of the number of COVID-19 infections – because the impact on people’s health is obviously not the only impact. The economic, political and social balance can be put at risk with the advent of a crisis that adds further tensions to already precarious situations. That’s the case in Niger.
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he country was quick to impose drastic measures, including, from March, closing air and land borders, banning gatherings, closing places of worship, schools, markets, etc, and imposing a curfew. With the support of international medical NGOs, from an epidemiological viewpoint the situation has been generally brought under control, with the number of recorded deaths due to COVID-19 remaining fairly low - 69 as at August 31 2020 - according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
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ut the country has ground to a near-total halt, and its economy with it. Niger is a landlocked country, and the long months during which its air borders were closed, except to freighters, significantly impacted the country, considerably reducing international trade. This has resulted in a huge drop in cargo capacity, a steep rise in prices, and certain goods becoming increasingly rare. The consequences for the population – which was already very vulnerable given the local context – have been terrible.
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iger is facing a precarious humanitarian situation and an unstable security context. The country is experiencing structural crises (chronic food and nutritional insecurity, difficulties accessing healthcare), natural disasters (drought, flooding) and internal security crises (particularly terrorism) that all result in major population movements. The acts committed on Niger’s borders (kidnappings and attacks) highlight the persistence and diverse nature of the threat. The murder of eight people working for the NGO ACTED near Kouré (60 km from Niamey) in August is a tragic example of this instability. Following the attack, the situation has become even more tense and although security measures have been stepped up, and despite the fact that the country reopened its airports to international flights in early August, governments continue to strongly advise against travel to the country.
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iger has experienced crisis after violent crisis in quick succession, harming the country’s economy and slowing its recovery. Maintaining logistics operations to ensure supply chain continuity is therefore more vital than ever. Air cargo shipments to countries
like Niger that are isolated and experiencing tension are essential to ensure continuous supplies. Humanitarian aid, health and medical equipment, food items and other everyday consumer products must continue to be shipped in order to provide assistance to local populations. During the crisis, air cargo has continued to perform its role and sector stakeholders have helped to build an air bridge, despite the restrictions on transport, to overcome the lack of capacity, including by chartering planes. Beyond the economic factor which is often the first to be considered, air cargo plays a crucial human and humanitarian role – a role that is even more essential given the current context.
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he re-opening of the air borders on August 1 should help to boost capacity and make importing supplies easier. However, the unending crises and the recent coup d’état in Mali are hampering Niger’s economy – which is already finding recovery harder than many others. The primary consequence has not been the number of deaths linked to COVID-19 – instead, it has been greater instability and poverty. While to the Western world, this pandemic appears to be one of the biggest crises for decades, to others, it is nothing more than yet another disaster on a very long list. Niger and some of its neighbours will therefore take more time to recover from COVID-19 despite better withstanding the virus. This may seem paradoxical, but it is simply a reflection of the different realities they face.
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s always, it is simply a question of the prism through which we see the world.
Lemon Queen is an airfreight industry public relations and communications agency in Paris, France
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