Lufthansa Cargo's need for speed has seen it load the 100,000th tonne of cargo via Fraport's Speed Gate at Frankfurt Airport in CargoCity South.
Freight is unloaded at four automated gates at the press of a button, security checked within the gates and subsequently brought directly to the aircraft.
Lufthansa Cargo's board member operations, Sören Stark, ceremoniously pressed the button to send the 100,000th tonne of cargo airside through Speed Gate.
Stark said: “With optional mobile add-ons, such as our ‘Mobile Acceptance’ and ‘Customized Import’ services, we are putting Speed Gate to the best possible use and offering our customers a service tailored to them at the Frankfurt hub. We collect the cargo from the customer, either loose or on pallets.
"As part of the cargo acceptance service, we also check the built-up pallets directly at the customer warehouse. With the import service, we offer our customers the option of having their cargo delivered directly from the aircraft to their warehouse via Speed Gate. This makes waiting times a thing of the past.”
He added: “Our customers have responded very well to both service offerings: 81% of the cargo units built by our customers at CargoCity South, known as BUPs, were accepted via the mobile service in the latest quarter already.”
When Fraport opened Speed Gate almost four years ago, the infrastructure was mainly aimed at cargo handlers without airside handling facilities.
Anke Giesen, executive director Operations at Fraport, said: “In the meantime, we created an offering of benefit to many companies. With Speed Gate, we are helping to make the hub even faster and more agile for our cargo customers.
"We are pleased that Lufthansa Cargo, as our customer and partner, is using Speed Gate so intensively, with all of the resulting customer benefits. We firmly expect Speed Gate to become a more important tool for other cargo companies and their customers as well.”
