News / Cargo flowing more smoothly as ground handling disruption eases at Frankfurt

© Jakub Rutkiewicz |

Ramp and warehouse congestion has eased at Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s biggest hub for air cargo traffic, according to Lufthansa Cargo.

“We continue to experience problems with ground handling at our Frankfurt hub from time to time – resulting in delays and some flight cancellations – but not to the same extent as at the beginning of July,” a spokesperson for the German carrier told The Loadstar.

“At the moment, we have a challenging task to fulfill with regard to the rebooking wave from last week’s ver.di [union] strike, and a tight staffing situation at Frankfurt. This leads to slight restrictions and delays when it comes to transporting shipments on time.”

The spokesperson added: “The temporary relocation of four freighters on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays to Munich ended last weekend and all freighters flying for Lufthansa Cargo are operating via Frankfurt again.”

In an update on ground handling operations, a spokesperson for FRA’s operating company, Fraport, said there had been no new developments in recent weeks, but added: “The measures taken by Fraport and the airlines are helping stabilise operations, and we continue the close cooperation with our partners on site.”

Elsewhere in Europe, Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo said it remained unaffected by the ground handling issues at its main hubs, Paris-CDG and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

“We continue to take necessary measures, such as limiting bulk (loose) cargo on certain flights and extending MCT (minimum connecting times) for Express, to mitigate possible handling capacity restrictions. Overall, we are in good shape,” said the carrier group.

At Liège Airport, ramp and warehouse handling of cargo is not impacted by a lack of staff, according to the airport authority, while it’s a similar picture at another Belgian airport, Brussels, The Loadstar was told.

“Cargo operations at BRUcargo, the dedicated cargo zone of Brussels Airport, are running according to schedule without disruptions or extra waiting times,” said a spokesperson. “At BRU we have four cargo warehouse and three airside handling agents and they are operating at normal staffing levels. So there are no delays or backlogs in processing cargo shipments and those booked on freighter and passenger flights are loaded on time.”

The spokesperson added: “Furthermore, the implementation of the Digital Green Lane, in collaboration with the BRUcargo community, is leading to gradual reductions in waiting times in the landside cargo processes. This type of digitalisation project is enabling operational optimisation of the cargo flows. It will be further enhanced by systematically increasing the number of slots booked to deliver and pickup cargo in the coming months.”