Strengthening USA-Asia trade 
DHL Express commenced services for the final Boeing 777 freighter deployed at the South Asia hub in Singapore last month. With a payload capability of 102 t, the aircraft joined the four other Boeing 777 freighters already deployed in Singapore to boost inter-continental... more
Long sea route causes delays
In its latest Global Liner Performance (GLP) report, the Copenhagen-based maritime consultancy Sea-Intelligence analyses the schedule reliability figures of the big carriers up to and including December 2023. Because of the Red Sea crisis, global schedule reliability... more
GXO: two leadership appointments
At GXO Logistics, a pure-play contract logistics provider, Richard Cawston, president of the company’s Europe division, has assumed the newly created role of chief revenue officer (CRO) in addition to his current duties. GXO has also hired Eric Spadafora as head of its sales... more
Changi takes stock
Singapore Changi airport recorded 328,000 airport aircraft movements in 2023, compared to the 382,000 in 2019. Against a volatile global economic environment, airfreight throughput stood at 1.74 million t for 2023, a year-on-year decline of 6%. Aircraft movements for... more
Automating paperless customs handling
Kazakhstan has launched a digital platform to improve customs processing at its Chinese frontier. The software is designed for the automatic submission and issuance of transit declarations for goods transported by rail along China - Central Asia and China – Europe routes. It... more
Container flows better than expected
The RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index, which measures global shipping activity, performed better than expected in December 2023, seeing a slight slowdown to 125.1 points from 125.4 points (revised) in November. Container throughput in Chinese ports decreased slightly, with... more
An active year for Bertschi
Despite a 15% reduction in sales, the Swiss transport group Bertschi reported several successful projects in 2023. It opened its new chemical logistics centre, with a storage capacity of 25,000 t storage, in Zhangjiagang, China, in mid-2023. Elsewhere in Asia, the group is... more
Iloilo, Philippines, before the great leap
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has awarded a 25-year concession contract to develop and operate the Iloilo Commercial Port Complex (ICPC) in Western Visayas. International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) received from PPA a notice of award for its sole bid to... more
Cargo volumes rise for the third year in a row
Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR), which recently welcomed Air India's first commercial flight on an A350, processed a total of 422,644 t of cargo in 2023 (+2% compared to 2022). Domestic freight traffic soared by 11%, testifying to BLR’s growing importance as a... more
Facilitating China-Europe e-commerce
JD Worldwide has opened its first self-operated procurement warehouse in Paris, France, specialising in fashion goods, as the latest step in its strategy to simplify e-commerce trade between Europe and China. The Chinese company operates the shopping platform JD.com and has... more