Lufthansa Cargo Offers E-Freight, Expands China Service

Getting rid of paper documents for air cargo shipments has been a goal of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that began its “Simplifying the Business” initiative in 2004. Lufthansa will take over project management of the IATA initiative in Germany, and oversee its implementation for all stakeholders in the logistics supply chain.

Markus Witte, the designated project manager at Lufthansa Cargo, says, "The IATA initiative will allow us to handle all the paperwork in the entire supply chain electronically and make it more environment-friendly. E-freight will furnish cargo carriers with better data quality. It will improve supply chain efficiency and customer service at lower cost."

In 2007, LufthansaCargo moved 1.8 million tonnes of freight and mail. This was an increase of 2.6% year over year. Its overall cargo load factor was up 1.4% to 69.1%. Despite a number of problems facing the industry, the airline expects to continue its positive results this year.

The carrier is expanding its coverage in Asia. It is adding two weekly direct flights to Beijing and its MD-11F service from Frankfurt to Shanghai and Seoul will be non-stop for the first time. Lufthansa Cargo will have two new destinations in China. Beginning in April there will be five weekly flights from Frankfurt to Nanjing and the airline will add three weekly flights from Munich to Shenyang beginning in June. These latter routes will employ A340-300 passenger aircraft that have belly cargo capacity of 17 tonnes.