DHL Global Forwarding has launched an air freight charter connecting Asia Pacific to Europe and the US to meet demand from customers in the technology, manufacturing and life sciences and healthcare sectors. Managed by StarBroker, DHL Global Forwarding’s in-house charter team, the twice-weekly charter will originate from Chongqing, China and flies to Amsterdam, Netherlands; Chicago, United States; Incheon, South Korea before returning to China.
Thomas Mack, Global Head of Air Freight DHL Global Forwarding said, “While some passenger airlines have resumed operations, the situation in the air freight market remains volatile – especially as belly capacity is still tight. […] Not only are the resilient, agile and reliable supply chains of highest importance for an economic recovery, but also in preparation for the availability of vaccines and other essential medical supplies during the pandemic.”
South Korea has seen its export of healthcare products rise year-on-year by 26.7% in the first half of 2020, with pharmaceutical goods in particular increasing by 52.5%. China has exported 28.5% more medical devices in the first five months of the year as compared to a year ago. In 2019, China, the Netherlands and the United States were among the top ten importers and exporters of medical goods.
“Over the years, DHL has built up its expertise from globally certified facilities and staff to technologies that track shipments in real-time in addition to ensuring the integrity of such products throughout their journey. Getting the much-needed air capacity is the last piece in the value chain puzzle, so to speak, that ensures temperature sensitive products such as life-saving vaccines reach the communities-in-need,” added Mack.
DHL and McKinsey & Company recently published a whitepaper, exploring the logistics challenges for vaccines and medical goods during COVID-19 and it revealed that to provide global coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, up to around 200,000 pallet shipments and around 15m deliveries in cooling boxes as well as around 15,000 flights will be required across the various supply chain set-ups.
In April 2020, DHL Global Forwarding tapped on its network of life sciences and healthcare facilities, temperature-controlled solutions and customs clearance expertise to fly more than 1.3m Covid-19 test kits from South Korea to Brazil, Ecuador, India, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The freight forwarder also launched a dedicated 100-tonnes weekly air freight service for organisations and governments shipping health and medical-related items and other goods from China to the Middle East and Africa.
Source: DHL
