Venezuela in Flux
The January 2026 capture of President Nicolás Maduro triggered immediate Venezuelan airspace closures, forcing cargo operators to reroute around the Caribbean and add 15‑20% to fuel costs. U.S. and European carriers have not served the market since 2019, leaving only limited humanitarian flights by regional airlines such as Copa and Avianca. Current airfreight is almost entirely import‑focused, moving pharmaceuticals and essential supplies, while outbound volumes remain negligible. Carriers are monitoring the duration of restrictions, potential sanctions relief, and the timeline for any economic recovery before expanding service.
Shifting the Freight Forwarder’s Role
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expanding AI‑driven analytics, shifting freight forwarders from traditional paperwork compliance to managing data integrity across multiple trade datasets. The AI system acts as an anomaly detector, flagging shipments that deviate from expected patterns and...
Menzies Aviation Accelerates E-Commerce Strategy
Menzies Aviation has launched the MILE (Menzies Integrated Logistics for e‑commerce) initiative to capture the booming air‑cargo demand from online retail. The program blends the carrier’s global ground‑handling expertise with parcel‑level processing, ULD break‑bulk and first‑to‑last‑mile integration, while the MACH...
Flying Flowers with Care
Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services has built a temperature‑controlled supply chain that begins at the flower farm and extends through refrigerated trucks, a purpose‑built airport warehouse, and rapid ramp transfers. The carrier leverages IoT‑enabled sensors, blast chillers, and AI‑driven capacity...
60 Seconds With … Kristof De Smedt
Kristof De Smedt, a veteran with over 25 years in pharma logistics, was promoted on October 1 2025 to Global Market Segment Director for Airlines and Logistic Providers at Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) following its acquisitions of Tower Cold Chain and Global...
International Women’s Day Shines Spotlight on the Women Powering the Sector
On International Women’s Day, Logistics UK highlighted the accelerating presence of women in the UK logistics sector. Over the past four years, female road‑transport drivers have surged 322%, directors up 36%, forklift drivers 15%, and clerks 61%, signalling a major...
India’s Hidden Air Cargo Corridors Present Major Opportunity for Global Carriers
India’s air cargo exports are increasingly coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 manufacturing centres, now accounting for about 35% of total shipments. Yet most international capacity remains concentrated at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, handling roughly 65% of cargo, leaving a...
Deugro Appoints New Corporate Vice President – Global Energy Solutions
deugro announced the appointment of Saida Sawyer as Corporate Vice President for Global Energy Solutions, effective March 1, 2026. Based in Houston, Sawyer will lead commercial growth and deepen client engagement across the energy and industrial logistics sectors. She brings...
TAP Air Portugal Appoints Aeroprime Group as Exclusive Cargo GSSA Pan-India
TAP Air Portugal has named Aeroprime Group as its exclusive cargo General Sales & Service Agent for the entire Indian market, effective March 2026. The deal gives Aeroprime responsibility for sales, marketing, customer engagement and operational coordination across India. TAP’s...
CHAMP Expands Cargospot Weight & Balance for Boeing 777-300ERSF
CHAMP Cargosystems has upgraded its Cargospot Weight & Balance platform to support the Boeing 777-300ERSF, the first live implementation of this freighter conversion worldwide. The enhancement streamlines load planning for complex passenger‑to‑freighter (P2F) aircraft, integrating AI‑driven autoload optimization, load‑sheet generation,...
BlueBox Systems Launches New Data Analytics Platform ‘Tradelane Intelligence’
BlueBox Systems unveiled Tradelane Intelligence, a data‑analytics platform that merges AI‑validated airfreight data with premium ocean data from Vizion. The solution delivers advanced reporting tools for carrier comparison, demurrage alerts, document verification, and an Eco‑Routing module that projects CO₂ emissions....
Thomas Schürmann Appointed Managing Director Germany of Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS)
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) announced that Thomas Schürmann will become Managing Director Germany of its Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS) subsidiary in April, succeeding Claus Wagner. Schürmann arrives from Etihad Airways, where he oversaw global cargo operations across 80 stations, bringing...
Descartes Expands AI Innovation on Global Logistics Network with AI Agents for Freight Visibility
Descartes Systems Group has launched OpsForce, an AI‑driven agent suite on its Global Logistics Network (GLN) to automate freight‑visibility workflows. Leveraging real‑time, clean data, the agents engage drivers, manage exceptions, and capture documentation for shippers, brokers, carriers and logistics providers....
BIFA Champions Freight Forwarding Careers During National Careers Week
The British International Freight Association (BIFA) is leveraging National Careers Week to spotlight the breadth of opportunities in freight forwarding and logistics. It is rolling out targeted school outreach, apprenticeship promotion, and resources that connect students with industry professionals. A...
Graham Little Appointed Route and Business Development Director at Priority Freight
Priority Freight has named Graham Little as its new Route and Business Development Director, bolstering the firm’s route‑strategy capabilities in the premium time‑critical freight market. Little arrives with more than two decades of senior logistics leadership, most recently steering Evolution...
How Booking Platforms Are Helping Airlines Reach Customers
Airlines have long relied on manual, relationship‑driven sales to fill cargo capacity, but rising market complexity and cost pressure are straining that model. Digital booking platforms now let forwarders view, book, and confirm space in real time while airlines keep...
CILT(UK) Reveals Its Annual 35 Under 35 List for 2026
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK (CILT(UK)) has released its fourth‑annual “35 Under 35” list for 2026, marking a record number of nominations. The programme spotlights young professionals driving innovation across freight, passenger transport, last‑mile delivery and supply‑chain...
60 Seconds With … OLGA ROMANOVA
Olga Romanova founded CargoHR, an international recruitment firm focused on aviation, air cargo and logistics. She recalls a pivotal interview with Turkish Cargo in Vienna that launched her career abroad. Romanova highlights how the sector has accelerated, with massive data...
Middle East Airspace Closures Cut Global Air Cargo Capacity
Middle East airspace closures have slashed global air cargo capacity by 18%, with Rotate data indicating that 13% of worldwide lift is directly impacted. The suspension of Gulf carriers such as Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad removed roughly 22,000 tonnes...
cargo.one Acquires Ocean Platform Cargofive, Launches AI-Native Operating System for Multimodal Logistics
Cargo.one announced the acquisition of ocean‑rate platform Cargofive, merging air and ocean freight data into a single multimodal rate infrastructure. The deal expands the rate database to cover four million ocean trade lanes and connections to the top ten ocean...
The Rhenus Group Urges Exporters to Prepare for July’s EU Low-Value Parcel Customs Changes
The Rhenus Group warns UK exporters that, from 1 July 2026, the EU will replace its €150 de‑minimis threshold with a flat €3 customs duty per commodity code for parcels valued at €150 or less. The new model shifts from a value‑based...
Live Animal Logistics Enters the Age of Embedded Compliance
Live animal transport, a niche yet highly regulated air cargo segment, is facing a surge in regulatory intensity, highlighted by the CDC's 2024 dog‑import rule with a three‑month rollout. IATA introduced LAR Verify, a digital platform that delivers real‑time, shipment‑specific...
Awery Appointed Software Provider for Group Concorde
Awery Aviation Software has been selected as the exclusive software provider for Group Concorde, India’s leading General Sales and Service Agent, delivering a total cargo management solution via its integrated Enterprise Resource Planning platform. The ERP system will centralize data...
ECS Group Named International GSSA of the Year at STAT Trade Times Awards
ECS Group has been named International General Sales and Service Agent (GSSA) of the Year at the 2026 STAT Trade Times International Award for Excellence in Air Cargo. The accolade was presented by Eric Wilson, senior vice‑president of cargo sales...
Aerion Recognised for Innovation at STAT Trade Times Air Cargo Awards
Aerion was awarded the Innovative Logistics Solutions in Air Cargo of the Year at the 2026 STAT Trade Times International Award for Excellence in Air Cargo. The accolade, presented by Dallas Fort Worth International Airport CEO Chris McLaughlin, acknowledges Aerion’s technology‑driven,...
Supreme Court Strikes Down IEEPA Tariffs – What It Means for Freight Markets
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose country‑specific tariffs, but the tariffs themselves remain in place through a new global duty under Section 122, initially set at 10%...
Cold Chain Technologies Opens Major Mumbai Facility
Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) inaugurated a 42,000‑square‑foot, state‑of‑the‑art facility in Taloja, Navi Mumbai, expanding its Indian footprint. The site integrates manufacturing, R&D and validation under one roof, delivering rapid turnaround and tighter quality control for pharma and life‑sciences customers. Its...
Riyadh Air to Launch Daily Service to Cairo
Riyadh Air announced daily service between Riyadh and Cairo, launching soon on its new Boeing 787‑9 Dreamliner. The route taps a high‑traffic corridor that carried 2.7 million passengers last year and joins the airline’s forthcoming London and Dubai flights. The addition...
AIRHART Chosen as Heathrow Airport’s New Digital Backbone
Smarter Airports, the joint venture of Copenhagen Airports and Netcompany, announced that Heathrow Airport has selected the AIRHART platform as its new digital backbone. The multi‑year agreement will replace Heathrow’s legacy Airport Operational Database and embed collaborative decision‑making and predictive...
Supply Chain Disruption Cost Firms Us$1 Million per Year
DP World’s latest report shows that 38 % of North American cargo owners lose at least $1 million each year due to supply‑chain disruptions, with half experiencing more than a month of downtime in severe years. While 71 % report rising customer complaints,...
Airfreight Faces a Pivotal Reset
The airfreight sector spent 2025 reacting to a cascade of regulatory mandates, tariff uncertainty, rising cargo theft, and airport congestion. Forwarders faced uneven demand and shifting freighter networks, making operational agility the year’s defining trait. Expanded Air Cargo Advance Screening...
Kuala Lumpur’s Cargo Ambition
Kuala Lumpur is accelerating its ambition to become a regional air‑cargo hub through a partnership between MMAG Aviation Consortium and digital‑logistics firm BluOrbit. The alliance blends MMAG’s ground‑handling and terminal assets with BluOrbit’s real‑time tracking, automated documentation and route‑optimisation platform,...
Air Cargo Belgium Drives E-Commerce Growth
Air Cargo Belgium is cementing Belgium’s role as Europe’s e‑commerce gateway, processing over one billion parcel declarations in 2024 and aiming for 1.5 billion by the end of 2025. The organization relies on AI, data‑driven practices and digital pilots to streamline...
Seattle-Tacoma and the Pacific Pivot
Seattle‑Tacoma International Airport (SEA) logged a record‑high 460,062 metric tonnes of cargo in 2024, a 10.3% year‑over‑year increase. The surge is powered by high‑value aerospace, electronics and tech exports that command premium freight rates, as well as robust domestic e‑commerce...
UK Drone Rules Risk Splintering Sector and Stalling Innovation
The UK Civil Aviation Authority plans to enforce new drone rules from January 2026, requiring a UKCA conformity mark and conspicuity devices on drones as light as 100 g. Industry leaders warn that the lack of a transition period and the...
Air Cargo Looks to South America
Air cargo stakeholders are turning to South America as a growth market, highlighted by IATA’s decision to host the 2026 World Cargo Symposium in Lima, Peru. The region’s surge in perishable and high‑value shipments is prompting carriers and forwarders to...
