DHL Global Forwarding has launched an air freight charter connecting Asia Pacific to Europe and the United States.

It has been launched in an effort to meet demand from customers in the technology, manufacturing and life sciences and healthcare sectors.

Managed by StarBroker, DHL Global Forwarding’s in-house charter team, the twice-weekly charter originates from Chongqing, China and flies to Amsterdam, Netherlands; Chicago, United States; Incheon, South Korea before returning to China.

DHL Global Forwarding global head of air freight, Thomas Mack, said: “While some passenger airlines have resumed operations, the situation in the air freight market remains volatile – especially as belly capacity is still tight As the leader in the air freight market, DHL Global Forwarding’s top priority is to provide our customers with sufficient and reliable air freight capacity.

“Not only are the resilient, agile and reliable supply chains of highest importance for an economic recovery, but also in preparation for the availability of vaccines and other essential medical supplies during the pandemic.”

According to a statement, South Korea has seen its export of healthcare products rise year-on-year by 26.7 per cent in the first half of 2020, with pharmaceutical goods in particular increasing by 52.5 per cent. China has exported 28.5 per cent more medical devices in the first five months of the year as compared to a year ago.

“Over the years, DHL has built up its expertise from globally certified facilities and staff to technologies that track shipments in real-time in addition to ensuring the integrity of such products throughout their journey. Getting the much-needed air capacity is the last piece in the value chain puzzle, so to speak, that ensures temperature sensitive products such as life-saving vaccines reach the communities-in-need,” added Mack.

In a recently published white paper DHL together with McKinsey & Company as analytics partner explores the logistics challenges for vaccines and medical goods during Covid-19. To provide global coverage of Covid-19 vaccines, up to 200,000 pallet shipments and 15 million deliveries in cooling boxes as well as 15,000 flights will be required across the various supply chain set-ups.