Netresearch takes a look behind the scenes of the cargo area at Leipzig/Halle airport
It is our mission to support our customers in digitizing their sales. We achieve this by optimizing their IT processes so that employees can work more effectively with the systems.
In order to be able to implement this project successfully, we need to have a fundamental understanding of our customers' problems. It is particularly helpful when we can take a look behind the scenes on the customer's premises.
As part of our support for Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG as the digital lead agency, we were given the opportunity to get an overview of the cargo area together with our partner agency Elsterkind and thus gain valuable insights into the processes.
Netresearch intensifies cooperation with MDFAG
Over the past few months we have been in close contact with MDFAG. Our cooperation was also discussed, which we plan to intensify in the future: Together with Elsterkind, we will not only push forward the expansion and optimization of the MDFAG website, but also oversee digital communication.
The cargo area of Leipzig/Halle airport in particular will play an increasingly important role. In order to better understand all the processes and backgrounds, we took a look at the current status on site.
Our two-hour guided tour through Leipzig/Halle airport
In mid-June the time had finally come: Our colleague Thomas Wilhelm was able to exchange his Netresearch office - at least for a few hours - for the popular Leipzig/Halle airport. Together with Alexander Lägel (Elsterkind) he went on a two-hour guided tour of the airport facilities.
The airport tour was led by Gabriele Pokrandt, who works in the customer care & sales department. Our colleagues were at exactly the right address, because Ms. Pokrandt knows Leipzig/Halle airport like no other.
24/7 handling in the cargo area
After a general tour, we went straight to the cargo area. According to its own information, Leipzig/Halle Airport is one of the largest freight hubs in Europe and has Germany's second largest cargo hub.
The Antonov cargo planes coming from Ukraine and Russia were visited. In this area, by the way, the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict become very obvious: maintenance of the aircraft is carried out in completely separate areas on the airport since the conflict. This is a good example of how world events can also affect Leipzig/Halle airport.
All freight handling is currently taking place in the southern area of the airport. In addition to DHL and Amazon, the airport subsidiary “Portground” has a major share in this. They take on all logistics services, from standard air freight to special tasks such as animal transport or the processing and transport of dangerous goods.
“Portground has excellent handling facilities for cargo. The particular challenge here is to be able to handle the transported goods around the clock - 24/7 - and to scale the capacities up and down extremely quickly."
Together with Ms. Pokrandt, Thomas and the colleagues from Elsterkind also talked about the expansion projects and structures of other companies such as Amazon or DHL. It was only in November 2020 that Amazon Air opened its first regional air freight center in Europe.
And that was already the end of the two hours at Leipzig/Halle airport.
We would like to thank the MDFAG and especially Ms. Pokrandt for the highly interesting tour of the airport. Not only the processes and the enormous importance of the airport for logistics in Central Germany and Europe were impressive. The tour also provided us with important insights that we will incorporate into our future collaboration.
