Maersk Air Cargo chooses Bournemouth for China-UK route trial
Bournemouth route will operate until end of the year, helping to meet peak demand with potential to continue thereafter
Global integrated logistics company Maersk has chosen Bournemouth Airport as its U.K. gateway for a trial of a new route from China.
Maersk Air Cargo has started the weekly service from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Zhejiang province to Bournemouth using a 45-tonne capacity Boeing 767-300 freighter, working with Bournemouth Airport’s in-house air freight business Cargo First, says an official release.
"For Copenhagen-based Maersk, the route is part of its growing air freighter network between mainland China, Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S. In March, it launched a service from Hangzhou to Billund Airport in Denmark, and from Hangzhou to Chicago Rockford International Airport in the U.S. in April."
The Bournemouth route will initially operate until the end of the year, helping to meet peak demand with potential to continue thereafter, the release added.
“It’s fantastic to see Maersk Air Cargo landing in the U.K," says Gary Jeffreys, Managing Director, U.K. & Ireland, Maersk. "This represents our integrator strategy and demonstrates our product offering and capabilities across all modes of transport. Whether it be time critical, capacity challenges or product launches we have the capabilities to meet our customers’ demands.”
Steve Gill, Managing Director, Bournemouth Airport says: “We’re delighted that Maersk has chosen Bournemouth for this new route as we grow our ambition to become U.K.’s number one entry and exit point for time critical cargo. We now have 500 tonnes of weekly import capacity operating between China and Bournemouth as more customers take advantage of our location, lack of slot constraints and One Team integrated approach across all airport and cargo handling operations.”
Bournemouth Airport and Cargo First are part of U.K.’s privately-owned Regional and City Airports (RCA) group, which also owns the neighbouring Cargo First Logistics Park at Bournemouth Airport with over one million square feet of warehousing development potential, the release added.
