UAE’s Emirates SkyCargo signs e-commerce MoU with Emirates Post

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates Airline, and Emirates Post Group (EPG), have signed an MoU to develop an e-commerce end-to-end global logistics platform, with a key focus on serving markets in the Middle East, Africa and West Asia.

This is being touted as the first of its kind partnership between an airline cargo carrier and a national postal operator combining the global network and capacity strengths of Emirates SkyCargo with the last-mile delivery expertise and partnerships of EPG’s ‘Emirates Post’ business.

Emirates SkyCargo has signed a first of its kind Memorandum of Understanding with @EmiratesPostUAE to create an end to end global e-commerce platform, positioning Dubai as a global hub for e-commerce. https://t.co/3vJdMWhX6f pic.twitter.com/c00QIDRqCF

— Emirates Airline (@emirates) November 17, 2021

The partnership aims to encourage e-commerce businesses to set up operations in the city, with nearly two thirds of the total global population can be reached within an eight hour flight from Dubai.

The MoU was signed by Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo, and by Abdulla M. Alashram, Group CEO, Emirates Post Group at the Dubai Airshow earlier this week.

“This partnership is part of our broader e-commerce strategy to provide support as a distribution partner to small and medium sized e-commerce players and other businesses, based both within and outside the UAE, who may not have the required infrastructure required to scale their business and reach a global audience. Through this partnership, we will now also be able to draw upon the logistical and last-mile delivery expertise of EPG’s Emirates Post to create a global platform for e-commerce centred out of Dubai,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional senior vice president, Cargo.

Emirates SkyCargo has previously also developed e-commerce solutions. In October 2019, the it launched Emirates Delivers – an international e-commerce shipping service targeted at end consumers in the UAE shopping from the US. There are more than 30,000 subscribed members and several hundred thousand packages have been delivered in the UAE since the launch of the service.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates bolsters cargo capacity with $1bn investment

This week, Emirates SkyCargo also announced that it will invest $1bn to induct two new Boeing 777Fs into its fleet in 2022 and convert four of the airline’s Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft into freighters between 2023 and 2024.

SkyCargo operated more than 27,800 flights on its passenger freighters and mini-freighters in the one year period from March 2020, transporting more than 100,000 tonnes of essential cargo including medical supplies and food.