An Airbus A321PCF at Viracopos Airport – Image: Guilherme Ramos / DHLDHL Supply Chain, a global leader in warehousing and distribution, announces that it has entered into a partnership with Levu Air Cargo, a Brazilian cargo airline, to launch a domestic air cargo transportation solution for freight in the country.
The project, which will receive an investment of approximately R$ 1 billion, with 90.5 million euros (around R$ 503 million) coming from DHL, includes four cargo aircraft. The first one has already arrived in Brazil and is scheduled to begin operations this month of May 2024.
DHLInitially, the flights will operate on the route Viracopos (Campinas/SP) – Manaus (AM) daily, and Viracopos – Recife (PE) three times a week. There are also plans to include Belém (PA).
This project, which involved the opening or expansion of DHL branches in the cities served, has generated 200 direct jobs and approximately 500 indirect jobs.
With the evolution of supply chains – especially the increasing demand for agility and security in sectors such as healthcare, technology, automotive, and e-commerce, the air cargo transportation market has been gaining prominence in Brazil.
In 2020, DHL Supply Chain had already launched an air hub with access to the runway side of Guarulhos Airport, aiming to provide more speed and quality to this operation.
Now, the proposal is to get even closer to the execution, maintaining the cargo processing and management part and having Levu as a facilitating partner in the operation of flights and all air procedures.
The partners will also share the capacity of each flight, with priority occupation in case of vacancy.The routes will also be used by other business units of the DHL group in Brazil, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Express, which will have Levu/DHL SupplyChain as a domestic partner to connect the international shipments they transport.
Thus facilitating import and export processes and also using POLAR, another company in the DHL Group, for road connection processes with DTAs (Customs Transit Declaration) and DIs (Import Declarations).
According to Solon Barrios, Vice President of Transportation at DHL Supply Chain, “this project brings together three fundamental aspects of a solid and efficient logistics operation: specialization of partners, operational capacity, and service level assurance, in addition to good frequency and the possibility of connections to other cities and countries.
With this, we want more and more companies to access the already known benefits of air transportation, especially considering the continental dimensions of Brazil.
“For Rodrigo Pacheco, CEO of Levu Air Cargo, the growth projections of the air cargo market in Brazil were decisive for the implementation of Levu Air Cargo, a company based in Campinas with a exclusive focus on cargo transportation.
“With daily domestic routes and terminals in strategic cities, Levu Air Cargo will carry out the entire logistics chain of high value-added goods and life sciences,” he emphasized.
“We will also have the solution for ULDs with temperature control, in other words, designed air containers that make loading and unloading easy and fast. We will be the first national cargo airline to have this solution for the transportation of life science cargo, without the risk of temperature alteration.
The partners aim to transport up to 4,000 tons per month in the first year of operation, with the potential to reach 10,000 tons by the end of 2025. The main target markets are: healthcare (pharmaceutical), electronics, automotive, and perishables.
Additionally, as they are exclusively cargo aircraft, they will be able to carry heavier loads, larger dimensions, and dangerous goods from classes 1 to 9, except for class 7, related to the transport of radioactive material.
“Shipments on passenger flights are important due to their greater distribution, but cargo aircraft bring many advantages. Firstly, the guarantee of space and schedule reliability. Secondly, the versatility of the loads they can carry.
And, of course, with greater consolidation, we have a larger scale, even more competitive conditions, and the best lead time and service level in the market,” explained Solon Barrios.
For other locations, the partnership also offers two options: connection to flights of other conventional airlines or last mile via road modal of DHL Supply Chain and POLAR.
