Emirates’ focus on Vietnamese perishables bears fruit

Emirates SkyCargo has seen a near five-fold increase in the volumes of exports of fruits between Vietnam and Dubai over the last year.
Collaborative efforts between Middle East carrier’s cargo arm and Vietnam’s Trade Promotion Agency Vietrade saw perishables exports to Dubai, including rambutans and lychees, touch a record close to 110 tonnes in January 2017.
Vietnam is an important market for food exports and in 2016, Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery exports were valued at over $32bn.
Emirates SkyCargo has been working closely with Vietrade to understand the requirements of Vietnamese exporters and to help develop export opportunities for Vietnamese produce in international markets specifically in the UAE and other parts of the Middle East.
Ravishankar Mirle, Emirates vice president, cargo commercial, Far East and Australasia, said: “Emirates SkyCargo started operations in Vietnam in 2008 and has since then played an important role in the growing trade between Vietnam and the UAE.
“By working closely with Vietrade and by building upon our expertise in shipping perishables, we developed air freight solutions that have helped increase the exports of premium fruits and vegetables from Vietnam to Dubai."
He added "We will work with our customers and stakeholders to promote and develop new trade lanes for exports from Vietnam to global markets”.
Pham Binh Dam, Ambassador of Vietnam to the UAE, said: “Vietnam has huge comparative advantages in agriculture. That is why we requested  Emirates SkyCargo to position its product offering to facilitate exports of perishable products by air freight to capitalise on the country’s vast potential. 
“We are happy to see the sharp increase in volume in the past year and will continue to work with Vietnamese producers and exporters for their greater market penetration. We thank Emirates SkyCargo for listening to us and for the great cooperation."
Emirates SkyCargo offers exporters in Vietnam a weekly capacity of over 580 tonnes through 18 flights including four weekly freighter services. 
The carrier has announced the launch of a daily Boeing 777-300ER passenger flight from Dubai to Hanoi on the, offering up to 20 tonnes of cargo capacity per flight from July 2017.