MSC announced a new direct service, called NWC – WAF service, connecting Dakar and North Europe, and providing the best transit times on the market.

The new NWC – WAF service, dedicated to the export of reefer commodities from Senegal, will connect the country’s fruit, vegetable and frozen fish suppliers directly to key commercial partners across Europe including France, Belgium and United Kingdom in one week. MSC will connect Senegal with key European gateways such as Antwerp in 7 days, London in 9 days and Le Havre in 11 days.

MSC operates one of the world’s largest and most advanced reefer container fleets. We provide exporters with expertise at every step of the cold supply chain including dedicated reefer experts guaranteeing regular and frequent monitoring of shipments, from the receipt of the loaded container to its final destination.

The fleet deployed for this service will be ready to meet the demand for reefers throughout the season to transport fruit, vegetable and other fresh and frozen products from Senegal to consumers across Northern Europe with an average of 600 plugs available onboard each vessel.

Starting immediately, the service will rotate as follows: Antwerp– London Gateway – Le Havre – Tema – Lomé – Tincan/Lagos – Abidjan – Dakar – Antwerp

Since the beginning of November, Lufthansa Cargo has introduced weekly A321 freighter flights to Evenes Airport in northern Norway. A joint project between the Norwegian salmon producer and exporter Nordlaks, the freight forwarder Salmosped and Lufthansa Cargo delivers the freshest fish and seafood to global markets.

Evenes Airport is located near the city of Harstad/Narvik and is part of the province of Troms og Finnmark in Norway. Located north of the Arctic Circle, this region is considered the gateway to the Lofoten Islands, making it a very important market for fish and seafood. The area around Evenes Airport is home to a number of salmon producers. Both the catch of wild salmon and the income from salmon farming are growing steadily. In 2021 alone, more than one million tons of salmon were exported from Norway.

“Efficient logistics is key. Customers in Asia expect to receive fresh products of high quality. We are very satisfied that we can develop new and innovative solutions together with partners like Lufthansa Cargo and Salmosped to serve our customers”, says Eirik Nikolaisen, Chief Commercial Officer Nordlaks.

In view of the high demand for Norwegian fishery products, the direct A321 freighter connection will enable the shortest delivery times to the respective global markets. Transporting fish and seafood as premium products requires compliance with the highest quality standards for customers as well as authorities. Complementing the quality service promise, Lufthansa Cargo’s new connection also offers a novelty of transporting fresh produce from Norway directly to the Frankfurt hub and from there on to numerous destinations within the international freighter and passenger network of Lufthansa Group Airlines.

“I am pleased about this air cargo product innovation. Thanks to the flexibility of the A321 freighter, we are able to build a customized supply chain solution for individual customers. We are not only helping to ensure that fish and seafood from Norway reach their destinations around the world even faster, but also in the best and freshest quality. In some cases, we are cutting the delivery times from four to six days to less than 24 hours thanks to the direct connection via our Frankfurt hub”, emphasizes Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo.

LogiNext, a delivery automation platform helping fast food restaurant chains manage their delivery services has announced the addition of McDonald’s Philippines to its 1-click Carrier Integration Marketplace. As part of this new partnership, McDonald’s last-mile delivery provider, GrabExpress will also be onboarded onto their platform.

This one-of-a-kind partnership will now enable McDonald’s to automatically send delivery orders placed via its McDelivery app and web portal to the GrabExpress platform, to be delivered via a GrabExpress delivery rider.

LogiNext’s Carrier Integration Marketplace is a single click, no-code solution for brands like McDonalds to seamlessly integrate their delivery operations with some of the top delivery and technology providers across industries like Food & Beverage, Courier & Parcel and Transportation.

“The Carrier Integration Marketplace is a huge thing because it’s a win-win for everyone. Brands get easy access to carriers of their choice, and carriers (which could be food aggregator apps, delivery networks etc) can monetize their capabilities better. We’re super excited about adding GrabExpress to our marketplace given their reach and salience. This will enable other LogiNext clients to also access GrabExpress last-mile delivery services. We’re scaling up the marketplace aggressively so that more and more brands can take advantage of it,” says Dhaval Thanki, VP of APAC & MEA at LogiNext.

“McDelivery has become a high growth sales channel especially the past couple of years. Strategic investments made prior to 2020 have allowed us to set a strong foundation for delivery like having a clear technology roadmap, that enables us to onboard systems to stay ahead of the curve. LogiNext’s integration with GrabExpress is aligned with McDonald’s mission of a frictionless customer experience across all channels, allowing us to serve making delicious feel-good moments anytime, anywhere easy for everyone. Through this technology platform, we’ll be able to deliver signature McDonald’s meals faster and more efficiently,” says Oliver Rabatan, AVP of Marketing and Channels Lead at McDonald’s Philippines.

With GrabExpress joining LogiNext’s 1-click Carrier Integration Marketplace, new and existing LogiNext clients can now easily integrate their delivery operations with GrabExpress’s last mile service through pre-built APIs. Overall, this partnership will enable McDonald’s to march ahead as a progressive tech-enabled brand and push the entire F&B industry towards increased efficiency so they can keep delivering a great end customer experience along with meeting business objectives.