Lufthansa Cargo strengthens eCommerce market at Frankfurt Airport

At the international trade fair transport logistic 2023 in Munich, Lufthansa Cargo AG presented its ambitions for Frankfurt Airport: Frankfurt is to become one of the world’s most important e-commerce hubs in the future. Together with its subsidiaries – logistics service provider heyworld and customs broker CB Customs Broker – Lufthansa Cargo is actively driving forward the expansion of the eCommerce business at Frankfurt Airport. “We clearly experience and see eCommerce as a growth market,” said Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo. “A decisive success factor for online trade is the resilience and speed of the supply chain. We want to make Frankfurt a leader in this segment by offering an integrated, holistic solutions for shipping, customs clearance and the further transport of eCommerce shipments.” In addition to expanding its European medium-haul network and adding two more A321 freighters to its capacity, Lufthansa Cargo via its subsidiaries and partners is also focusing on new software solutions and expanding the capacity of its eCommerce hub in Cargo City Nord.

Commissioned by heyworld in 2019, shipments at the eCommerce hub in Cargo City Nord can be automatically separated from classic freight and quickly transported onward. “Our eCommerce hub at Frankfurt Airport enables us to meet growing customer needs for fast deliveries,” explains Boris Hueske, Managing Director of heyworld. “As a logistics partner, we complement Lufthansa Cargo’s offering with innovative software and forwarding solutions that significantly accelerate the clearance and onward transport of eCommerce shipments.” In doing so, heyworld orchestrates the entire transport chain and in this way enables eCommerce shippers to find cost-efficient, fast and transparent solutions.

An important and highly complex chain link in Lufthansa Cargo’s complete solution is the customs clearance of large eCommerce shipment volumes. This area is filled by the customs clearance agent CB Customs Broker. For this purpose, the company recently developed its own software that meets both the data protection and regulatory requirements of modern online trading. The software solution makes it possible to clear large volumes of individual shipments through automation in a timely and cost-effective manner. The fast and smooth customs process is made possible thanks to a modular structure, predefined IT interfaces and modern encryption technology. The software solution is already capable of meeting the requirements of ICS risk analysis, including 1-to-1 referencing, and is currently being adapted to meet the requirements of ICS2. This makes the company one of the first customs clearance agencies in Germany to have digitized 90 percent of the necessary customs clearance processes through the use of its own automation software, enabling it to handle the ever-increasing order volumes of a growing eCommerce market in a very short time. “Our new software solution is a real driver for online trade at the Frankfurt location. With this solution, eCommerce shipments can be cleared much more easily and thus processed faster overall “, says Uwe Glunz, Managing Director of CB Customs Broker. “Via API interfaces, the solution can be individually adapted and docked onto customers’ existing logistics management systems. This simplifies the exchange of data and documents required for customs clearance and speeds up the entire process.”

The ambitions of the customs expert go even further: At transport logistic 2023, Glunz announced a new joint venture with the handling company GEORGI Handling. With a new eCommerce terminal in Cargo City South, the two companies want to additionally expand the business in the direction of the international market. In the future, airlines from Asia, which frequently land in the south of Frankfurt Airport, will also be able to use the complete package and have eCommerce shipments handled automatically and quickly.

“With the new solution and partnership of our subsidiary CB Customs Broker and partner GEORGI, as well as the offer of heyworld, we can accompany our customers from the first to the last mile of their freight transport – all from one source,” Ashwin Bhat concludes.

Lufthansa Cargo, CB Customs Broker and heyworld are represented at transport logistic in hall B1 at booths 100 and 101/202.

With a turnover of 4.6 billion euros and a transport performance of 7.2 billion freight ton kilometers in 2022, Lufthansa Cargo is one of the world’s leading companies in the transport of airfreight. The company currently employs around 4,100 people worldwide. Lufthansa Cargo’s focus is on the airport-to-airport business. The route network covers around 300 destinations in more than 100 countries, using both freighter aircraft and cargo capacity from passenger aircraft operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings Discover and SunExpress, as well as trucks. The majority of the cargo business is handled via Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa Cargo is pursuing the goal of becoming the world’s most environmentally friendly cargo airline. To achieve this, the company relies on state-of-the-art technologies and constant investments in the area of sustainability. In 2022, important milestones were reached, such as the investment in the continuous expansion of the B777F fleet, the expansion of the short- and medium-haul network with A321 freighters, and the continuation of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel program. In 2023, Lufthansa Cargo plans to successively equip its B777F fleet with Sharkskin technology, implement further digital services and contribute to reducing CO2 emissions through sustainable logistics solutions. Lufthansa Cargo is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and the specialist for the logistics business of the Lufthansa Group.

heyworld GmbH is a digital logistics partner for cross border eCommerce transport solutions. Heyworld orchestrates the entire transport chain from the first to the last mile including customs clearance and returns. In doing so, heyworld enables eCommerce shippers with cost-efficient and fast airfreight-based solutions tailored to customers’ time-critical needs. With a team of 40 employees, the company operates its own eCommerce hub at Frankfurt Airport with a sorting facility and its own software platform. Heyworld is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo AG and the specialist for eCommerce shipments.

As a full-service customs agency, CB Customs Broker GmbH is an expert in customized customs clearance and digital customs solutions. In addition to all standard customs procedures, CB Customs Broker also offers customers automated complete solutions across various industries. The company’s 30 years of experience enables individually tailored solutions and thus smooth, fast and efficient customs clearance. Through a consistent division into business segments for different industries, CB Customs Broker can simultaneously offer customers a broad range of consulting services for all customs procedures as well as deep specialization within the segments, and thus respond even better to individual requirements of different industries. With a team of 60 employees, the company aims to become the first fully digital customs brokerage agency in Germany and one of the leading providers in Europe. To achieve this, CB Customs Broker uses an almost infinitely scalable software solution for customs clearance of large and complex shipments. With this software, the company is the only customs clearance agent in Germany licensed for the Atlas IMPOST procedure, and in 2022 already completed over 20 million IMPOST clearances smoothly. Since 2022, CB Customs Broker, as a subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo AG, has been accompanying customers together with heyworld from the first to the last mile of freight transport – all from a single source.