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LATAM Cargo to expand flower handling capacity in Bogota

LATAM Cargo is adding a new cargo facility in Bogota as it targets growth in its flower volumes. The new 46,414 sq ft facility at El Dorado International Airport will triple the carrier's footprint in Bogota and "provide greater agility and fluidity" for domestic and international shipments. The site provides direct connectivity between trucks and aircraft. The facility will also expand LATAM's cold storage capacity by approximately 20% to support the growth of the flower export market, where the carrier already holds a 35% market share. "This investment is essential to leverage the airline's future growth plans in the Colombian market and represents a renewed vote of confidence by LATAM Group in the country, maintaining a long-term perspective that goes well beyond an economic cycle or a single season," said Santiago Álvarez, chief commercial officer of LATAM Cargo Group. The airline also plans to expand its domestic cargo facilities in Bogotá and establish a new space dedicated to handling the growing inflow of import cargo. Air Cargo News has requested information on when the facility will open. Elsewhere in Colombia, the carrier said that it is upgrading X-ray screening equipment and implementing new counter technologies to expedite cargo acceptance and drop-off in San Andrés, Leticia, and Pereira. Earlier this week, LATAM Cargo announced that it would benefit from up to 91 tonnes of belly capacity on LATAM Airlines Brasil's new direct passenger service between São Paulo and Geneva, launching in March next year. Operating three times a week on Boeing 787-9 aircraft, LATAM Airlines Brasil's service will offer 55 tonnes of weekly capacity on the outbound route from São Paulo to Geneva, enabling cargo originating in Chile, Peru, and Colombia to reach Switzerland through passenger flight connections via the Guarulhos hub, said LATAM Cargo.

Atlas Air adds Incheon cargo terminal

Atlas Air Worldwide has opened a new cargo terminal at Incheon International (ICN) in partnership with Sharp Aviation K to cater for growth in its Asia business. The new Cargo Terminal 3 measures 19,320 sq m and adds 180,000 tons of annual handling capacity. The terminal will expand Atlas' pharma capabilities by adding a 2,900 sq m cool chain complex. The facility will be operated by Atlas Air Cargo Terminals (AACT), a joint venture between Atlas Air Worldwide and Sharp Aviation K. AACT, established by Atlas and Sharp in 2007, now operates three cargo terminals at Incheon, providing nearly 49,000 sq m of cargo infrastructure and annual handling capacity exceeding 460,000 tons. Atlas and Sharp are also advancing the development of Atlas Air Technical Services (AATS), a dedicated four-bay widebody maintenance facility at Incheon that is expected to become operational in 2027. The company said that the two projects would support its long-term growth and the evolving demands of the Asia Pacific air cargo market. Atlas Air Worldwide chief executive Michael Steen said: "Asia remains one of the most important regions for global trade, and our longstanding partnership with Sharp has enabled us to deliver high-quality ground handling services to our customers in Korea. "Through AACT, we've built a world-class cargo handling platform that continues to grow with the needs of our customers." The development of AATS will allow Atlas to insource approximately one-third of its heavy maintenance volume, to provide greater control over maintenance quality and turnaround times. "Together, these investments reflect our long-term commitment to the region and our focus on building the infrastructure and capabilities needed to support our customers' growth," added Steen.

Forwarders need to be specialists to make pharma work

SME forwarders looking to enter pharmaceutical logistics should avoid competing directly with multinationals and instead focus on building specialist capabilities, says Pharma.Aero secretary general Frank van Gelder. Rising demand from clinical trials and time-critical healthcare shipments, together with the emergence of advanced therapies, is creating opportunities for SMEs, but Mr van Gelder said operators must demonstrate the requisite expertise, systems quality and dependability. He told The Loadstar: "SME forwarders should become indispensable specialists. The opportunities are in clinical trials, time-critical healthcare, advanced therapies, specialised regional corridors and high-touch services around research centres and hospitals. "An SME can combine local knowledge, quick decision-making and trusted international partners. Emerging connections with Chinese and Indian innovation ecosystems can create further possibilities, provided operators build real expertise rather than simply market a new lane." But he warned forwarders off entering the pharma market simply because of the prospect of attractive margins. GDP compliance, qualified personnel, validated procedures, and temperature-control competence were needed to form the foundations of any operation. Going further, he noted certification alone was not demonstrative of an understanding of the requirements of different pharmaceutical products, with conventional medicines, clinical trial shipments, and personalised therapies presenting a fundamentally divergent set of challenges. Mr van Gelder added: "Agility without discipline is not resilience, it is risk. The winning combination is systems, specialist knowledge, human adaptability, and trusted partnerships. Collaboration is essential because no one company controls the full patient-critical chain. "The future is not necessarily about who owns the biggest network, it is about who can orchestrate the most reliable one. Do not compete on price alone. Compete on expertise, reliability, flexibility, and trust." This, he added, included an ability to respond to disruption, which offered SMEs a way to distinguish themselves. Mr van Gelder argued that experienced and empowered teams could sometimes adapt faster than larger organisations with slower governance structures. Workforce resilience, he said, meant giving employees the confidence and authority to raise concerns and act when contingency plans no longer worked. "Resilience is not created by a contingency plan. It is created by people who can act when that plan no longer works,"