The rising demand for speedy delivery of merchandise has spurred Etihad Cargo, the freight division of Etihad Airways, to introduce three new freighter services from Europe.
The carrier has launched the additional flights, operating Boeing 777 freighters, from East Midlands and Stansted airports in the United Kingdom and from Copenhagen in Denmark.
The new routes bring the carrier’s number of freighter destinations in Europe to nine. Etihad Cargo already operates maindeck capacity, or non-passenger jet haulage, from Amsterdam, Frankfurt (Frankfurt Main and Frankfurt-Hahn), Milan, Brussels and Zaragoza, as well as belly capacity on its passenger flights from the continent.
The European Union is one of the UAE’s biggest trading partners, with non-oil trade between the two totalling US$65 billion in 2015, according to Eurostat. In the same year the UAE was the eighth-largest destination of European exports, excluding intra-EU trade, and the EU’s 13th-largest trading partner overall.
The Abu Dhabi carrier’s route expansion follows that of the region’s third of the ‘Big Three’ carriers Qatar Airways – the other two being Etihad and Emirates – which in March launched new freighter routes to Budapest and Prague.
The carrier in December added an Airbus A330F, bringing its fleet of those aircraft to eight, and a newly-built Boeing 747F jumbo jet nose loader to add to the existing double-decker in the cargo fleet. Three more Boeing 777 freighters are scheduled to arrive by the end of this year, bring the fleet of 777 cargo planes to 11.
The senior vice president of Etihad Cargo, David Kerr, said the new routes meant the Abu Dhabi airline was now well placed to benefit from the rise in freight capacity needs.
“We have responded to our customers’ demand for freighter capacity out of Europe, and our freighter fleet gives us the flexibility of deploying capacity when and where it is required,” he said.
“These three new services will connect producers with consumers halfway around the world. Manufacturers in the UK and Denmark can now get their merchandise to their customers in the Middle East even faster, in as little as 24 hours in some cases.”
As well as boosting Europe-UAE trade links, the airline is also hard at work helping to grow the country’s National Innovation Strategy.
Etihad has teamed up with Cognit, the joint venture established between Mubadala and IBM Watson to be the exclusive provider of Watson technology in the Mena region, to launch a joint hackathon, in celebration of the nationwide Innovation Week 2016, being held between November 20 and 26.
UAE Innovation Week, part of the National Innovation Strategy, is a week-long initiative designed to acknowledge and promote the country’s position as a global innovation hub.
The Cognit and Etihad hackathon will take place at Etihad’s state-of-the-art Innovation Centre, and will feature the skills of over 30 talented computer science and engineering students. The students were selected from leading Abu Dhabi based universities, including the Institute of Applied Technology, Higher Colleges of Technology, Khalifa University and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Hackathon participants will use IBM Watson’s cognitive technology to create new innovative applications to benefit the travel and aviation industry – one of the cornerstone sectors to support the diversification and growth of the UAE economy.
“Cognit was launched during UAE Innovation Week 2015 and I am proud to be able to celebrate along with the rest of the nation to promote the ICT talent and continued ICT transformation in our nation,’ said Amal Al Jabri, the general manager of Cognit.
“The hackathon, in partnership with Etihad, demonstrates an important commitment Cognit has not only to advance the interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem) subjects and skills with students, but also to the broader local developer and start-up community who can help ignite the UAE’s knowledge-based economy aspirations.”
Robert Webb, the Etihad Group chief information & technology officer, said developing cognitive computing skills was a vital element of future growth.
Cognitive computing is the simulation of human thought processes in a computerised model. It involves self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to mimic the way the human brain works.
“Etihad has been a true pioneer in the investment and advancement of transformative technology, including IBM Watson, not just within the aviation industry but the business environment.,” Mr Webb said.
“We believe cognitive computing will shape the future of aviation, locally and internationally, and the hackathon alongside our partner, Cognit, demonstrates our passion for challenging the status quo. We encourage the students to think creatively to develop new solutions that could revolutionise our sector.”
chnelson@thenational.ae
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
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The National's picks
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How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier
Sunday's results:
- UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
- Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
- Oman v Hong Kong, no result
Tuesday fixtures:
- Malaysia v Singapore
- UAE v Oman
- Nepal v Hong Kong
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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