Galileo Opens Again In Milano

Two EU Initiatives:
Galileo & Cargo City at Malpensa

Galileo 

The European Commission – the executive body of the European Union -- created the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) to undertake some large-scale projects. The air cargo sector is already starting to see some potential outcomes from TEN, and some of these could bode well for the industry.
     The largest TEN-T project facilitates the flow of air cargo (and other cargoes) by providing billions of euros to launch GALILEO, the trans-European positioning and navigation systems network. The project receives funding under the TEN-T program. It will provide a reliable and efficient positioning and navigation service, which can be used by all modes of transport in a variety of application.
     GALILEO is set to become the one and only European global navigation satellite system. Up to now, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS users in Europe have had no alternative other than to use the U.S.’s GPS or the Russian GLONASS satellite signals. Yet the military operators of these systems can give no guarantee to maintain uninterrupted service.
     Meanwhile, satellite positioning has already become the standard and essential tool for navigating. If GNSS signals were switched off tomorrow, ship and aircraft crews around the world would be hard-pressed to revert to traditional navigation methods. As the use of satellite navigation spreads, the implications of signal failure become even greater, jeopardizing the efficient running of transport systems.
     As far back as the early 1990’s, the European Union saw the need for a European-controlled global satellite navigation system. The decision to build one was taken in the spirit of other well-known European endeavors, such as the Ariane launcher and Airbus.
     European independence is the chief reason for taking this major step. But, by being interoperable with GPS and GLONASS, GALILEO will also be, in a very real way, the new cornerstone of the GNSS. This worldwide system will henceforth be under civilian control. And with its full complement of satellites, more than the current GNSS systems,      GALILEO will allow positions to be determined accurately even in high-rise cities, where buildings obscure signals from today's satellites.
     GALILEO will also offer several signal enhancements making the signal more easy to track and acquire and more resistant against interference and reflections. European GNSS will deliver much more precise and much more reliable services than the American and Russian systems. This means GALILEO will make possible a whole new and virtually limitless range of ‘reliability-critical' services, applications and business opportunities.
     By placing satellites in orbits at a greater inclination to the equatorial plane, GALILEO will also achieve better coverage at high latitudes, making it particularly suitable for operation over northern Europe, an area not well covered by GPS.
So, with GALILEO, Europe will be able to exploit the opportunities provided by satellite navigation to a much fuller extent than currently possible. As a consequence, European GNSS receiver and equipment manufacturers, application providers and service operators could well benefit from novel business opportunities.

Malpensa

     A smaller TEN-T project aims to provide Milan’s Malpensa Airport with a multimodal logistics park that integrates cargo traffic and offer benefits for the entire region.
     The project will allow a progressive increase of Malpensa’s capacity to become comparable to the levels at which other main European airports operate. Current traffic growth will lead to a saturation of cargo warehouses in the short/medium term. Furthermore, Malpensa Airport’s strategy is to attract goods transport by road via the main north-south communication routes. As a result, Malpensa Cargo City requires adequate structures to meet the demand for cargo traffic.
    The project for the development of the Cargo City at Malpensa Airport encompasses the following projects: a new railway tunnel, new aprons for cargo aircraft, new first line warehouses, new second line forwarder warehouses, and urbanization of cargo areas.
    This project involves development of the railway tunnel, which will be done prior to the implementation of other works. Covering the railway tracks, the surface can be utilized for aircraft and vehicle movements.
    The project’s implementation schedule is ambituous. The start date was December 2008 and the end date is October 2011.The project’s implementing body is Aereoporti di Milano, SEA The Aereoporti project’s budget is €11,940,000. The total project cost is €21,500,000.
Gordon Feller

Lufthansa Cargo
Building Malpensa

Pictured at the ribbon cutting earlier this year (from left to right) Thilo Schaefer, Country Manager LH Cargo Italy & Malta, Giuseppe Bonomi, President of Milan’s airport authority SEA S.p.A. (Malpensa and Linate), Carsten Spohr, CEO LH Cargo and Dario Galli, President of Varese Province.

     “Reliability,” “continuity,” “stability,” and “punctuality” those were repeatedly heard adjectives at Milan’s Malpensa Airport as Lufthansa opened flights this past February.
     Since that time despite everything else going on, the flights have continued and prospered.
     Routing for the MD11 all cargo flights are twice weekly Milan/Amsterdam/New York/ Chicago/Amsterdam/Milan. Second weekly routing is Milan/New York/Chicago/Amsterdam/Milan.
     Echoed forwarding agents like Ezio Biffi of DHL Global Forwarding:
     “Flights Lufthansa Cargo offers are nearly perfect for our Italian demand,” stated the export manager.      Words on words topped by Domenico Tafuro (below right), Agility’s Italy CEO, who spoke of a “new era” which LH Cargo has brought to the market initiating Italy flights.
     “This forward leading step could have only be taken by an innovative and highly reliable capacity provider such as Lufthansa”, added Signore Tafuro.
     The “step” he spoke of consisted of basing an MD-11F at Malpensa for offering line-haul flights to New York (JFK) and Chicago.
     At the opening in February Lufthansa Cargo CEO Carsten Spohr in his address to the roughly 200 invited guests emphasized the importance of the Italian air freight market “the second biggest in Europe after Germany.”
     When asked by the audience about future plans of possibly bringing in more aircraft and offering additional frequencies the manager put the ball right back into the agent’s field by stating that “the more cargo you hand over to us, the more capacity and freighters we’ll base here at Milan.”
     The heavily industrialized Northern Italian region is the country’s economic powerhouse.
     Main produced and exported commodities are automotive components, machinery parts, fashion and foodstuff.
     “Exactly 48 percent of the entire Italian air freight is flown in and out Malpensa,” revealed SEA President Giuseppe Bonomi.
     In 2008 this amounted to a total turnover of 404,000 tons at his airport.
     Said Herr Spohr:
     “Lufthansa from the very first days of existence always sought new business chances.
     “So we did now by offering our capacity at Milan.”
     Scheduled road feeder services on behalf of LH compliment the flights and secure the flow of shipments to Malpensa, be it from Rome, Venice or Florence.
     Nice interlude from a world at financial conflict.
     Air cargo, like love, is where you find it.
Heiner Siegmund

Some Help For Samoa

     When bandleader Hal Kemp drove up from Los Angeles enroute to a gig at Top of The Mark (Hopkins) Hotel in San Francisco in 1940 and died in a car accident enroute, his big hit song playing on the radio nationwide across the USA at the time featured Maxine Gray singing a light hearted jump tune titled “I’d Like To See Samoa of Samoa”.
     The tag line on the song reflected another time that came to mind just last week as tragedy struck this once tranquil place:
     We kept thinking of the songs closing lines:
          "And I’d go there tomorrow
           —if only I knew just where it was.”
     Well the terrible Tsunami that has struck Samoa and American Samoa in this early Autumn of 2010 has brought to the world’s attention the time of day and the exact location of this once wistful tropical paradise that has been changed forever by a fast and furious weather event.
     Fortunately some people in air cargo have stepped up to help as as many thousands on the tiny island face an uncertain fate.
     In Los Angeles, Consolidators International (CII), the air freight wholesaler, is undertaking a massive effort to aid the tsunami-stricken population of Samoa and American Samoa.
     CII is amassing tons of clothing both from its own resources and from hundreds of the wholesaler's customers. The clothing, consisting primarily of apparel suitable for a tropical climate, is being assembled at CII's Los Angeles warehouse and shipped in a 40' container on the first available vessel sailing to the Islands.
     Supervising the operation is Tony Feist, Vice President at CII's Tuna Support division, specializing in air and ocean transportation for the tuna industry located in the western Pacific. Feist emphasized the clothing being collected is geared to the needs of a population in a hot, humid climate.
     "We are collecting T-shirts, shorts, thongs and other light, cool clothing that can be shipped in bulk and transferred quickly to the people most in need for immediate use," stated Feist.
     He stressed all of the clothing collected for the stricken Samoan men, women and children is "brand new”.
“We are not considering used clothing as it is often in poor condition and we have no knowledge of the health of the original wearers."
     Feist said that CII is moving the donated clothing via ship rather than air "because aircraft capacity is so limited. Also, there is damage to the airports so full operations are not feasible at this time.
     “Via ship, we can move hundreds of tons of clothing with arrival in a few weeks."
     The Tuna Support Vice President said "hundreds of our forwarder customers have been notified by e-mail, fax and telephone of our efforts to aid the victims of the 8.0 earthquake and tsunami.
     The response has been excellent, and we are very gratified."
     Feist commented that he has developed many contacts with Samoans in his job supplying equipment to the tuna industry on the Islands.
     "We are working closely with these people, despite often poor communications, to coordinate our relief efforts with them.
     He noted the tuna industry is the largest civilian employer on American Samoa.
     "Almost all of the tuna canning facilities, which were built adjacent to the berths where the tuna boats dock, have been destroyed.
     It is a tragedy of enormous proportions for the people of Samoa," he exclaimed.
     "CII is doing its best to help," Feist concluded.
     Good for Samoa that Julian Keeling’s CII outfit looks at others in need, and knows exactly where that’s at —and lends a helping hand.

Women In
Air Cargo

Our exclusive series “Women In Air Cargo” asks our readers to send some words and a picture about somebody that you know who is female and has made a difference in air cargo.
  This effort is not limited to just success or failure, it is meant to raise awareness about the legions of unique women who in most cases are unsung heroines in the air cargo industry.
  So write and we will share your story with our readers around the world.

Lisa Wilczek

Tulsi Mirchandaney

Lisa Schoppa

Carlo Uebele Remembered Fondly

     Winfried “Carlo” Uebele died last Friday at 68.
     Three weeks ago he was still talking to many of his friends about how he was managing being retired.
     He told friends that one of the major GSAs in Europe who had known him for decades approached him to “pick brains” on the base of a comfortable gentlemen’s agreement.
     Of course Carlo smoked too much – as always.
     Carlo, as always, was a witty, wonderful man, generous regarding his knowledge and simply excellent company.
     Carlo and his wife Inge came from Stuttgart, where he had worked at Lufthansa Cargo and Seaboard World before joining VARIG.
     Maybe less known was that Carlo was a forwarder before joining the flying thing. Inge, it should be noted is the best cook around and they have two creative sons and to the family of course we dedicate this affectionate few moments to beloved Carlo.
     Few of the top airfreight executives of airlines in Europe have or had so many personal friends among shippers, consignees, agents, customs brokers etc. as did Carlo.
     His way to bring potential partners together was unbelievably effective, mostly based on his instinctive thought that “this might fit”.
     We all know how volatile the trade with Brazil has been during the past four decades.
     Carlo helped his friends to always find the best way to overcome new and sudden hurdles; he was extremely instrumental in fighting the political and economical volatility in the market.
     He did not take agents, interline – and handling partners from here to Brazil and vice versa for granted—Carlo helped to knit solid networks—that still hold today.
     What you need to know in this global village that we all live in now, is that we have lost a great friend and gifted air cargo manager.
     Isaac Nijankin, his long time friend from Varig said, "Carlo (Winfried) Uebele was not only a friend, a colleague...he was a brother, a brother in an industry that like no other that I know had the particular ability to make so many friends around this big world of ours.
    "It is extremely difficult for me to write this as I was very close to Carlo and his family...we did not see each other much but we knew that we were always close.
    "He was a gentleman, a consummate professional and as I said...my friend.
   " We will all miss Carlo from USA to Brazil to Europe and the Middle East.
    "Rest in peace...."
     Here in Germany, Carlo was a long time member in the Aircargo Club Germany and he brought along so many youngsters in airfreight in his quiet and inimitable way.
     Carlo Uebele was my friend and a very great man and a wonderful human being.
Guenter Mosler