Lufthansa Cargo has for the second time conferred its Cargo Climate Care Award at its environmental conference in Frankfurt. The award, worth a total 16,000 euros, went to young researchers, customers and staff for innovative ideas aimed at making airfreight more climate-friendly. Attending the conference were 200 representatives from the logistics industry, science and political life, reflecting the importance the issue has acquired in the air cargo business.

'In view of the immense success of the first Cargo Climate Care Conference two years ago, it was only natural for Lufthansa Cargo to stage the meeting again this year,' observed the cargo carrier's Chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt. 'Success in the efforts to reduce significantly the impact of goods transport on the environment is of crucial importance to the entire logistics industry.' An essential element of that strategy is research into alternative fuels and their ongoing development, Garnadt noted: 'Lufthansa Cargo and the entire Lufthansa Group intend to assume a leading role in the use of biofuel in our industry.' The Lufthansa Group is currently engaged in intensive research into the use of biofuel in routine operations. A bio-synthetic fuel envisaged for the purpose is currently undergoing certification.

The winners of the Cargo Climate Care Award were chosen for the innovative solutions they had developed to improve the climate balance of the logistics industry. In the customer category, the prize went to Austrian cargo-partner GmbH. The Company, headquartered in Fischamend near Vienna, has developed and implemented an intelligent package of measures to improve the Company's climate balance. Driven by a policy of 'creating awareness', 'optimising transports' and 'furthering new technologies', the company has obtained certification of its environmental management system to the ISO 14001 environmental standard, introduced biogas vehicles into its truck fleet and set up green round-tables to encourage environmental sustainability.

For outstanding projects instituted by young researchers, Lufthansa Cargo awarded two first prizes this year, each endowed with 5,000 euros. Dr. Bernd Oberwinkler from the Montanuniversit't Leoben (Austria) received the award in the 'Aircraft Technology' category for his work on the development of forged titanium (Ti-6AI-4V) components that are damage-tolerant and resistant to operational stresses. His research is aimed at more exact dimensioning of aircraft parts to help reduce weight and emissions of future-generation aircraft. Three other young researchers - Lucas Burgey, Joseph Geier and Erwin K'ber from the industrial engineering faculty at Munich University were awarded first prize in the 'Logistics' category. They received the accolade for their work on 'reducing the weight of ULDs with aluminium foam plates', 'increasing usable loading space with flat ULDs' and 'better utilisation of container space with software-supported loading'. Their efforts are designed to make the use of containers more efficient and lighter, thereby reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

Also among the prizewinners were staff from Lufthansa Cargo. First prize in this category went to Dalila Lotan from Tel Aviv, who landed the award for developing and implementing a recycling system.

The jury for the second Cargo Climate Care Awards consisted of Professor Hartmut Fricke from the Institute for Aviation ad Logistics at Dresden University, Bj'rn Helmke, Editor-in-Chief of the DVZ logistics newspaper, Dr. Karlheinz Haag, Head of Environmental Issues of the Lufthansa Group, and Karl-Heinz K'pfle, Lufthansa Cargo Board Member Operations.