France Cargo Handling (FCH) has been launched after Swissport International sold off its cargo services at airports across France to its former chief executive officer (CEO) of its French unit Claudine Bonthoux.
The new French cargo handler is made up of Swissport Cargo Services (SCS) France and GH Team Freight and is privately owned. No financial details of the venture have been revealed.
Former SCS France CEO Bonthoux is now owner, president and CEO of FCH. She has extensive experience in cargo handling as aside from her role at Swissport International as she has also worked in key roles for Aviapartner and WFS in the USA.
On the FCH website, Bonthoux said she wants to offer “both cargo infrastructure improvements and high quality of services, modern and innovative solutions”.
FCH will provide cargo handling at 13 French airports and is also offering a trucking service to and from its stations in France. These shuttles will be regular or occasional, depending on the volume.
FCH has 12 warehouses at airports across France with over 24,000 square metres of storage including 8,200 square metres at Paris CDG, 4,700 square metres at Lille, 322 square metres at Brest, 1,500 square metres at Lyon, 1,500 square metres at Mulhouse, 1,000 square metres at Marseille, 1,040 square metres at Nice, 1,200 square metres at Nantes, 1,700 square metres at Strasbourg, 300 square metres at Toulouse and 1,500 square metres at Rouen.
Among the airlines FCH will handle cargo for are Aeroflot, Finnair, SAS, Yangtse River, Kalitta Air, KF Aerospace, JAL Cargo, Atlas Air, WOW Air, Silkway but it will also handle for a host of others.
On the FCH website the company said it will focus on quality with “enthusiasm, dedication and a never ending passion for excellence” while training will be a major investment along with managing performance and identifying issues quickly as they are the “keys to providing our customer the highest quality services and full support”.
FCH also says it will focus on customers in all areas of the business within its “philosophy, goals and visions, customer support”.
Swissport International previously announced plans to sell SCS France and said it had agreed to sell its French cargo business to Bonthoux with the ownership change coming into effect around the end of June, 2018.
Swissport International chief financial officer, Christian Goeseke said at the time: “We are satisfied that we could find a setup for SCS France, wich ensures continuity for our customers and offers positive prospects to our employees in France. We wish Claudine and her team the best of success.”
