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MSC Air Cargo launched its freighter operations last year from Liège Airport, its European hub

with a stop in Halifax, becoming the first (AGV) to enable flexible and scalable ULD
freighter-only destination for the airline. In transport within the terminal. These AGVs,
June, Swissport and ALS Airlines Belgium which represent a recent product innova-
extended an agreement covering air cargo tion of Lödige Industries, will be applied
services, including ramp handling and here for the first time on a large scale. An-
warehousing in support of ASL’s cargo fleet other special feature will be the implemen-
that includes a B747-400ER with nose- load- tation of smart gates, which automatically
ing capability. record the volume and weight of all incom-
Last year saw the announcement of over ing consignments by scanning them in 3D,
€200 million in investment in a fully auto- thus significantly speeding up handling and
mated cargo centre to be built by dnata, improving the quality of service.
a leading global air and travel services All elements will be integrated into a
provider, at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. comprehensive high performance ware-
Called dnata Cargo City Amsterdam, the house management system to enable dnata
61,000 m² facility will include increased to further grow its operations and service
services, cooled storage, last mile solutions warehouse space, and be capable of pro- at Schiphol. The high level of automation
and B2C customs expertise. According to Or cessing over 850,000 tonnes of cargo annu- will not only save dnata space and time, but
Zak Challenge Group’s vision for the future ally. It will comply with the highest industry will also increase safety and free up staff for
in Liege is one of “growth, innovation and standards ensuring efficient and safe higher-value tasks.
an unwavering commitment to excellence handling of all types of cargo, including Investments into physical and digital
in every facet of our operations”. perishables, pharmaceuticals, dangerous infrastructure are not just the only things
Late last year Liege was chosen to be the goods, mail, live animals, aircraft engines that will elevate the cargo growth in
European hub for MSC Air Cargo, the new and vehicles. The facility is scheduled to Benelux’s cargo airport. Strategic part-
air cargo business that the shipping giant become operational in 2024. nerships with forwarders and shippers
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be creating important tradelanes for mov-
launched last year in partnership with Atlas equipped with two separate automated ing premium cargo commodities are also
Air Worldwide. MSC Air Cargo has started its storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), using critical. Recently, Kuehne+Nagel intro-
operations at Liège with its first landing in the latest technology from Lödige, for duced three new charter connections
December last year. One of the important import and export with twelve stacker between the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
reasons for the selection of Liege Airport is cranes. A total of up to 2,500 pallets will be Kuehne+Nagel’s own freighter, the B747-8
because of its multimodal vision of logistics stored here. In addition, a separate storage Inspire, will operate two additional weekly
and the prominent place the “flexport of for ULDs will be serviced by four elevating routings from Atlanta and Chicago to Am-
Europe” has in the world of cargo. transport vehicles (ETV). sterdam and from there to Taipei. The flight
In March, Air Canada Cargo started B767 The new facility will also make use of sev- will serve key industries such as healthcare,
freighter operations to Liege from Toronto, en intelligent automated guided vehicles perishables and semiconductors. 

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