Dnata Cargo, the cargo handling operator at Dubai's air cargo terminals, is doing its bit to assist relief flights from Dubai carrying humanitarian aid to Pakistan.
In the past two weeks, Dnata Cargo has put extra hands on deck to facilitate the increased activity at Dubai's air cargo terminals, and has also waived all Acceptance and Documentation charges for shippers of relief goods.
At the Freezone Logistics Centre (FLC) alone, Dnata Cargo has handled more than 30 fully-laden freighters, or some 600 tons of relief goods to Islamabad. Almost all the 45 operators based at the FLC had at least one flight carrying humanitarian aid, using AN-12, IL76, and IL18 aircraft to uplift tents, clothes, blankets, food, medicines and mineral water to the affected areas. Major operators of relief flights include Jet Set, Fab Air, Royal Airlines, Aerospace, Qeshm Air and Galaxy Air.
Dnata Cargo also have a well-coordinated operation to handle the continuous flow of relief goods at the Main Cargo Terminal, where Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) alone has carried some 77 tons of relief goods to date on their regular Airbus 310 services to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.
"We also chartered additional two IL76 aircraft to uplift another 77 tons of humanitarian aid from the Pakistan Consulate," said PIA Sales Promotions Officer, Syed Nisar Zahedy.
"It is indeed a good gesture from Dnata Cargo to waive the acceptance and documentation charges to support our relief operations at this most challenging time."
Jean Pierre De Pauw, Senior Vice President Dnata Cargo, said, "On one particularly challenging day we handled humanitarian cargo from 20 seven-ton trucks and five 40-feet trailers which arrived simultaneously with relief supplies from various aid agencies. Many of the Dnata Cargo team put in extra hours and effort to handle the extra load and ensure that all the cargo was processed efficiently so that it got to its destination without delay. Warehousing space constraints was also solved with creativity, by deploying additional forklifts and tractors to unload the cargo from trucks arriving at the docks, and directly load them onto pallets which were then promptly towed to the ramp area."
Dnata Cargo staff also made personal contributions to relief efforts by collecting and dispatched 25 packages of tents, clothes and medicines. Six staff members from Dnata Cargo also volunteered to join the Airport Emergency Team at Islamabad to assist with the deployment of relief efforts on the ground.
This is not the first time Dnata Cargo is involved in providing logistics expertise during humanitarian relief efforts. During the tsunami relief efforts in early 2005, Dnata also actively facilitated and provided humanitarian aid, an initiative which received recognition from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
