Panalpina, a global leader in automotive logistics, has enhanced its service offerings between Sao Paulo and Luxembourg in response to growing cargo capacity requirement of the automotive industry.

The expanded service adds 65 tons of loading capacity on a fully chartered DC 10-30 aircraft that will leave Sao Paulo every Wednesday for the round trip service to Luxembourg. This new service complements an on-going Boeing 747-F- charter that connects Sao Paulo with South Africa every Monday.

According to Bruno Sidler, Panalpina's CEO, "A dedicated charter service was first initiated in 2002 to provide shorter transit times, guaranteed cargo capacity and easy connections to flights anywhere in the world." Panalpina uses Luxembourg as a primary hub to route cargo efficiently to destinations throughout the world. The dedicated flights from Brazil's industrial center serve the major automotive companies, original equipment manufacturers and third party suppliers to the industry. Panalpina's use of dedicated charter service through its cargo hubs enables the company to control the cargo from A to Z resulting in more reliable and shorter transit times to any destination worldwide.

The success of Panalpina's product portfolio to the automotive industry results from its direct orientation to provide logistics support for core industries. "We substantially increased our share of the business from existing major customers in the high-tech, oil, healthcare and automotive industries," attributed Sidler. "This enabled us to provide high flexibility and additional capacity on very short notice. It also enables us to offer consistent, predictable freight rates without the rate spikes that come from seasonal shortages in carrier capacity.