Air freight remains essential for the German economy. No other mode of transportation offers the necessary speed to transport time-critical, temperature-sensitive, and valuable goods. Whether it’s urgent spare parts, vaccines, relief supplies, or animals on their way to a new home – when speed, safety, and care are paramount, shipping by air freight is the best choice for freight forwarders, industrial and private customers.
On Supply Chain Day, 18 April, Lufthansa Cargo highlights the importance of air freight and how the company facilitates global trade. Lufthansa Cargo invites interested parties for a behind-the-scenes look at the Lufthansa Cargo Center in Frankfurt, the airline’s primary hub for cargo.
Frankfurt Airport plays a crucial role as a major hub in Europe: With a handling capacity of 20,000 tons per week, Lufthansa Cargo operates its largest logistics center worldwide at Frankfurt Airport. To continue supporting companies in participating in global trade amid growing industry demands, Lufthansa Cargo primarily relies on digitalization and innovative measures.
“Air freight remains a growth market, and the stable supply chains we can provide are indispensable,” explains Thomas Rohrmeier, Head of Handling Frankfurt at Lufthansa Cargo. “This is especially essential in times of global tensions and changing customer needs. For this, we need innovative solutions that meet our requirements, those of our customers, and society.”
However, these can only work with a modern infrastructure. For this purpose, the cargo airline is investing around 500 million Euros in construction and modernization measures in the Cargo City North.
“With a handling share of approximately 80 percent of Lufthansa Cargo’s global cargo volume, the Frankfurt hub significantly determines the operational stability of Lufthansa Cargo,” says Rohrmeier. The modernization will enable increased handling speed, smooth transportation processes, and supply chains, and an improvement in service quality. Thus, the company reaffirms its commitment to the Frankfurt location and contributes to its attractiveness as a business hub.
Furthermore, Lufthansa Cargo is further advancing the reduction of its carbon footprint and aims for a neutral CO2 balance by 2050. By 2030, the company aims to halve net CO2 emissions through reduction and compensation measures compared to 2019. “A large portion of our emissions occur during flying,” says Brian Kowalke, Environmental Manager at Lufthansa Cargo. “Therefore, Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) are an important lever for reduction, which we already use and which already enable more sustainable flying today, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 80 percent compared to fossil fuels.” In addition, the airline’s freighter fleet is gradually being equipped with AeroSHARK technology. This involves applying a surface film specially developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF to the aircraft, which reduces friction resistance and thus reduces the fuel consumption of the machines.