AirBridge Cargo (ABC) has started new flights that will operate every Thursday and Sunday under a contract with CargoLogicAir. The routing will start at London Stansted via Frankfurt to Libreville and onto Johannesburg, returning to Stansted via Nairobi. The flight schedule allows for quick and easy connections with ABC’s existing network at its regional European gateway at Frankfurt Airport. This latest network expansion opens up seamless connections to major markets in Africa for ABC’s customers in North America, the Far East and Southeast Asia.

“The introduction of services to Africa is a big step for our company,” says Robert van de Weg, AirBridge Cargo Airlines’ senior vice president for Sales and Marketing. “For the last couple of years AirBridge Cargo has reached the high-water mark of its organic growth model with its focus on its fleet, network expansion and consistently improving the quality of its customer service. We are now continuing our development by expanding into other parts of the world, including by means of partnership with other airlines.”

PORT LOGISTICS GROUP OPENS LOS ANGELES HQ

Port Logistics Group has opened its new corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, co-located with its City of Industry, California, distribution campus. The new location houses corporate staff functions including finance, human resources and marketing and also serves as the regional headquarters for its West Coast operating management. The gateway facility provides nearly 2.5 million square feet of dedicated and multi-client facilities for clients shipping to retailers, wholesale distributors and direct to consumers.

“While we’ve experienced great growth in all of our gateways, we have expanded exponentially in Southern California,” says the company’s CEO Bob Stull.

Port Logistics Group will maintain an office in Houston and continue to operate nationwide information technology support from its Houston and Austin data centers. The logistics provider’s national sales office remains in Clifton, New Jersey, and it has 5.5 million square feet of warehouse space strategically located at the ports of Seattle, Tacoma, New York/New Jersey and Savannah.

DHL’s PARTNERSHIP IN GLOBAL FOODSERVICES MARKETING

DHL Supply Chain has signed a strategic partnership with Compass Group UK and Ireland, accelerating the growth of its foodservice offering and creating a major new disruptor in the market. Working collaboratively, DHL and Compass Group provide high-quality catering services to customers in the public sector, airline, rail and facilities management industries.

“This partnership allows us to stay true to our core focus and expertise of food service whilst building on DHL’s strong existing customer base in the passenger gateways sector,” says Andrew Barry, managing director of Business and Industry at Compass Group UK&I. “We will use our respective key strengths to bring a new level of service and innovation to current and future clients in this market.”

CEVA LOGISTICS’ NEW U.S. CUSTOMS BROKERAGE SYSTEM

CEVA Logistics has successfully completed the implementation of a new customs brokerage system across its U.S. operations. CEVA initiated the move to introduce state-of-the-art systems following a mandate from U.S. Customs which required all forwarders to file their entries using the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by the end of February this year. At that time, ACE became the primary system through which the trade community—including forwarders—must report all imports and exports.

CEVA began work on its new link to ACE in 2014 when it selected Wise Tech Global and its cloud-based CargoWise One program as the system with which to link its internal software to provide a more user-friendly, modern platform for users.

BDP EXPANDS INTO EGYPT

BDP International, a privately held global logistics and transportation services company, has opened an office in Cairo, Egypt. The Cairo office serves the chemical/petrochemical, healthcare, energy, retail and automotive sectors with a range of services that include ocean and air export and import, import and export Customs clearance, project logistics, ground transport and warehousing and distribution.

“Egypt is strategically located between the Middle East and North Africa and is geographically close to European markets as well,” says Yves Letange, BDP managing director for Europe. “The country is also home to a large, well-trained workforce, and its strong productivity growth underpins its potential. Significantly, a number of our largest clients already have operations there. We are bullish on Egypt.”