Cargo Community Frankfurt grows despite dip in airfreight

The Air Cargo Community Frankfurt announced on Monday that three major air cargo players had joined the organization, bringing its membership up to 41 companies, representing all sectors of the air logistics chain. The newest additions – the Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association Hessen/Rhineland-Palatinate (SLV), Kuehne + Nagel and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics – bolster the organization’s domestic and international clout, with the latter two being some of the largest forwarders players in the global air cargo market.

News of new membership, however, coincides with last month’s disappointing numbers, released earlier this week. May cargo throughput at the airport fell 1.3 percent, compared to the previous May, to 177,536 tonnes, according to operator Fraport. The latest figures also contrast with April’s strong showing, when cargo surged 5.5 percent, month-over-month. So far, 2016’s numbers remain anemic and the year-to-date 865,918 tonnes represents an underwhelming 0.2 percent increase over the first five months of 2015.

Joachim von Winning, executive director of Air Cargo Community Frankfurt, was optimistic nonetheless about the airport’s prospects, explaining that the two additional global players joining the organization stood to benefit from closer ties to “hundreds of member companies [SLV] now represents.”

The Air Cargo Community Frankfurt bills itself as, “an association of companies, institutions and organizations with the clear objective of promoting the airfreight location of Frankfurt.” The organization is broken down into working groups that represent the range of services offered at the airfreight location of Frankfurt. The prime objective is to ensure Frankfurt’s primacy in the EU and global air cargo market. The airport’s cargo throughput exceeded 2.1 million tonnes of in 2015.