Swiss WorldCargo has signed a memorandum of understanding with ground handlers Cargologic and SATS to boost service standards and information flow between Singapore and Switzerland.
The airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines wants to intensify collaboration in areas such as quality, e-initiatives, temperature-controlled transport and specialised handling.
The MoU, signed in Zurich in December by Swiss chief cargo officer Oliver Evans, Cargologic managing director Marco Gredig and SATS president and chief executive officer Alex Hungate, outlines how the partners will collaborate in future.
The basis of the agreement is a ‘quality alliance’ that will focus on value-added services and superior facilities. The three partners will share knowledge and best practices and will collaborate in information technology, facility development and training.
There will be staff/management attachments and joint innovation workshops, all aimed at facilitating exchange and mutual learning between the air cargo communities of Singapore and Switzerland.
According to the partners, “both states share a number of characteristics and values including a commitment to a liberal aviation market innovation and quality leadership.”
For temperature-controlled transport, the three parties will actively cultivate Good Distribution Practice (GDP) at both Cargologic’s certified cool chain facilities and SATS’ stations across Asia (particularly Zurich and Singapore) to promote pharmaceutical and other temperature-controlled airfreight for Swiss WorldCargo.
The same network stations will also see specialised handling solutions for premium and sensitive airfreight such as valuables, as well as new added-value services.
They will also develop joint e-initiatives to simplify work processes and raise efficiency, explore preferred service partnership arrangements and collaborate on such other projects of common interest.
Swiss’s Oliver Evans explained: “Both SATS and Cargologic are trusted partners of ours, and help us to achieve our goal of being a global leader in the transportation of care-intensive shipments. We are very excited to embark on a long-term collaboration with them as the reliability of ground processes is a key differentiating factor. We are confident that all three parties will be able to achieve an even higher level of operational excellence.”
For Cargologic, Marco Gredig said: “There’s no denying that efficiency and consistency are key elements in sustainable business operations…with this quality alliance, Cargologic will be driving innovation in airfreight handling together with these two strong partners.”
Alex Hungate, president and chief executive of SATS, added: “We are excited about these specific collaborative opportunities with our customer Swiss WorldCargo and Cargologic. Both companies are leaders in transporting high-value and care-intensive consignments for industrial sectors like the pharmaceutical industry. This focus aligns very well with SATS’ own airfreight handling capabilities across Asia.”
In a joint statement, the two ground handlers said: "SATS and Cargologic, as market leaders in Asia and Switzerland, will be able to share knowledge and best practices in IT, facility development, training and innovation workshops.
"Swiss WorldCargo would provide both ground handlers with an insight into the airline’s cargo business, and serve as a platform for the implementation of new initiatives, services and products. The enhancements will apply to Cargologic’s network across Switzerland and Europe, and to SATS’ network across Asia.
"Swiss WorldCargo will benefit from these end-to-end enhancements to each handler’s network to ensure even more consistent and secure handling of pharmaceutical and temperature-sensitive airfreight as well as other high-value and care intensive air logistics solutions."
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