Panalpina, a Swiss-based freight forwarding company that maintains its U.S. hub in Huntsville, has added two flights per week from Huntsville to Viracopos, São Paulo, with dedicated scheduled charters using Atlas Air 747-400 freighters.
The extended service is part of the recently renewed long-term agreement between Panalpina and Atlas Air. It offers scheduled main deck capacity to South America from the U.S. and a record transit time of less than 40 hours from Hong Kong to São Paulo.
“Our customers in the U.S. have a need for fast and efficient connections to Brazil, ” says Lucas Kuehner, global head of air freight at Panalpina.
The new service is tailored to companies that manufacture heavy earth-moving equipment. Brazil, with its large agricultural and mining industries, is a promising market for these companies, but getting the goods there can be challenging. So far, the companies had to export via large, congested airports with limited freighter capacity.
“We offer an alternative — scheduled main deck capacity to Brazil from an uncongested airport that puts high priority on cargo, ” says Roberto Schiavone, head of air freight for the region Americas at Panalpina. “Export cargo can be easily trucked to our unique air freight gateway in Huntsville. There we offer an airside facility and short distances. This allows for fast expediting and full control on the ground. In addition, customers benefit from cargo consolidation and customs clearance services.”
Panalpina provides daily road services from several major U.S. cities to Huntsville. From the Chicago area, transport takes as little as 16 hours. Panalpina also manages import customs clearance and delivery to the final destination in Brazil.
Text by Dave Helms
