DSV unveils details for new Phoenix-Mesa air cargo operation

Danish logistics powerhouse DSV A/S will start operating its private-label cargo airline next month at relatively unknown Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, a strategic move aimed at courting Arizona’s sprouting semiconductor and electric vehicle industries with direct service that bypasses crowded Los Angeles International Airport. The world’s third-largest freight forwarder by revenue in February signed a 39-month lease with the Phoenix-Mesa airport authority for a 22,000-square-foot hangar that will function as a makeshift terminal for processing cargo moving on large freighter aircraft. DSV has engaged Cargolux and Atlas Air to provide dedicated transport utilizing Boeing 747 cargo jets. Cargolux will begin weekly scheduled service from Luxembourg on June 5. Tentative plans call for Atlas Air to deliver cargo from Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan, to Phoenix-Mesa starting sometime in July, but final routing decisions are still being worked out, Mads Ravn, executive vice president and head of global airfreight procurement, told FreightWaves. Service to Phoenix-Mesa from Asia will actually piggyback on an existing operation provided by Atlas Air to DSV’s original U.S. hub at Huntsville International Airport in Alabama. Those flights continue to Miami and then to Sao Paulo. DSV intends to fly directly from Phoenix-Mesa to Latin America and offer export service back to Europe and Asia in the third quarter, said Ravn. DSV is hosting a ribbon-cutting Tuesday morning, attended by local officials and other stakeholders, to inaugurate the latest location in its airfreight network. Phoenix-Mesa “provides us with a serious competitive edge against our competitors … . Offering cargo aircraft capacity with the ability to exclusively manage the ground handling significantly strengthens growth opportunities — not only for DSV but for our customers as well,” said Niels Larsen, president DSV Air & Sea US, in an April news release.