DUBAI MOBILISES FOR MOZAMBIQUE
Express logistics companies in Dubai mounted a huge relief eëort throughout April to get critical supplies and food to victims of the recent cyclone that slammed into East Africa.
Collaboration between The UPS Foundation and leading humanitarian relief organizations brought urgent relief by land, sea and air, while Air Charter Services operated emergency flights into southeast Africa and the Inter
national Humanitarian City in Dubai coordinated the response of leading NGOs, from the Red Cross to the WHO.
“We express our deepest sympathy to those who have been affected by the tragic turn of events that have recently taken place,” Rami Suleiman, UPS president for Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa (ISMEA) told Logistics Middle East.
“With UPS’s regional headquarters based in Dubai, a world humanitarian hub, we have the opportunity to lev
erage public-private partnerships to support the communities we serve by delivering aid during humanitarian crises,” he added.
“Our regional freight forwarding team has been coordinating flights from Dubai to deliver crucial supplies to help those who have been impacted.”
The number of people impacted by Cyclone Idai had climbed to more than 3 million people, with 700 people reported dead, a number that was projected to increase at the time of writing.
UPS and the UPS Foundation collaborated with the UN Logistics Cluster and relief organisations, including The World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNHCR, CARE and MedShare to get relief supplies to Mozambique aboard four flights in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
“The situation is heart-wrenching, and the need for help is urgent,” said Eduardo Martinez, president of The UPS Foundation and UPS chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Air cargo operators and express logistics companies leveraged Dubai’s position as a lrst-response hub to air lift relief supplies to Mozambique throughout April
“The collaboration with our United Nations and disaster relief network partners is allowing us to address immediate needs for food and shelter, and to bring supplies that will be critical during the recovery period,” he said.
The multi-modal relief strategy included two flight rotations from Nairobi, Kenya into Beira, Mozambique on behalf of UNICEF to bring ready-to-eat meals that will provide essential nutrition to more than 7,000 people, and collaboration with The World Food Programme on the airlift of two amphibious transport vehicles called “SHERPs” from the Ukraine to Beira, Mozambique, to deliver food and supplies to isolated communities where roads are impassable or no longer exist.
Dubai has also been tasked with the first-response part of the mission. UPS and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) transported more than 190,000 lbs. of core relief items, including tarps, buckets, solar lamps, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, food preparation equipment and blankets, to Lilongua, Malawi.
In addition, 168,000 water purification sachets were
WITH UPS’S REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS BASED IN DUBAI, A WORLD HUMANITARIAN HUB, WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEVERAGE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS TO SUPPORT THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE BY DELIVERING AID DURING HUMANITARIAN CRISES,”
RAMI SULEIMAN, UPS PRESIDENT FOR INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA (ISMEA)
flown from Dubai to Lilongwe, in addition to the activation of US $25,000 of the advanced relief funding provided to CARE by The UPS Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase tarps and blankets which are being transported to Beira via ocean transport.
In collaboration with MedShare, UPS also transported an ocean container of medical supplies that will help more than 12,000 people in Malawi, while 15 pallets of cholera and typhoid treatment kits which will help prevent the outbreak of water-borne illnesses in Mozambique were flown in through collaboration with the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN).
Air Charter Service is another of the air cargo operators joining in the fight. The company has chartered aircraft to fly a total of almost 500 tons of humanitarian aid, as well as almost 100 doctors, into disaster-struck Mozambique so far.
Air Charter Service is also working in conjunction with various aid agencies and governments, flying in a variety of cargo, including cholera vaccines, water treatments, mosquito nets and tarpaulins.
“We even had one flight that was transporting an entire field hospital to the region, including X-ray machines and 4x4 vehicles,” said Dan Morgan-Evans, group director of Cargo at ACS. “In total so far we have chartered aircraft for just over 480 tons of equipment, on a variety of aircraft, ranging from Antonov 12s and Ilyushin 76s, to Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 777s, with more to come in the next few days.”
“Our offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa have all been involved in the relief effort,” he added. “As well as the huge amount of cargo, we also had a Boeing 737 transporting 80 doctors to Beira in Mozambique.”
In the first four days after the cyclone hit, Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC) operated six emergency flights to the region. At the time of writing, more than 550 metric tonnes of relief items had been sent, including a consignment of 91 metric tonnes donated by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation to provide ready-to-use supplementary food to treat 15,000 children suffering from moderate acute malnutrition in Mozambique.
According to Amadou Diallo, DHL Global Forwarding CEO for the Middle East & Africa, Dubai is shouldering much of the humanitarian logistics burden, not only because of the commitment of the UAE leadership, but also because of the city’s location.
THE COLLABORATION WITH OUR UNITED NATIONS AND DISASTER RELIEF NETWORK PARTNERS IS ALLOWING US TO ADDRESS IMMEDIATE NEEDS FOR FOOD AND SHELTER, AND TO BRING SUPPLIES THAT WILL BE CRITICAL DURING THE RECOVERY PERIOD,”
EDUARDO MARTINEZ, PRESIDENT OF THE UPS FOUNDATION
“Many NGOs and aid organisation have offices and DCs here, and so this is the ideal city to use as a logistics hub for humanitarian relief,” he told Logistics Middle East.
With its geographical location and longstanding reputation as a cluster for global aid and relief organizations, Dubai currently plays host to several major logistics hubs including the International Humanitarian City, the largest humanitarian hub worldwide from which nine United Nations (UN) agencies and 48 NGOs currently run logistics operations.
It’s for this reason that DHL Global Forwarding has established a Global Competence Center for Humanitarian Logistics in the city. “The centre is a cross-business unit involving the entire DHL Group to help logistics companies and NGOs respond to the various disasters and humanitarian crises occurring in the region,” says Diallo.
“The level of preparedness – whether it be expedited customs clearances, readi- DHL Global Forwarding. ness to handle dangerous “Our work on the front goods like chemicals or line, has helped us build and medicines, or processes for maintain familiarity with the on-ground collaboration nuances of compliance, regubetween multiple agencies lation and international stand– directly correlates with ards that apply to movements the efficiency of humanitarian of critical goods,” she says. logistics,” explains “Humanitarian logistics Fatima Ait Bendawad, head requires dedication and coordination of Global Humanitarian Logistics with different stakeholders Competence Centre, to get critical goods to
those in need, gaining trust and working with numerous partners to coordinate shipments in situations which often require short turnaround times,” added Massar Diop, director of humanitarian logistics, DHL Global Forwarding.
The Centre offers non-governmental organizations, aid agencies, and their suppliers and manufacturers a broad range of services including air and ocean freight, customs clearance, warehousing and local distribution of humanitarian shipments.
Following the instructions of Sheikh Mohammed, the IHC is keeping its humanitarian air bridge open to further support agencies to rapidly deploy humanitarian aid to those in need.