Today, we are pleased to have Alexander Krause, who joined deugro on January 1, 2026, and is based in Dubai, UAE, as Global Head of Airfreight. He is sharing insights into the airfreight market and his daily work.
Alexander brings over a decade of global logistics knowledge and experience. He started his career with Panalpina Denmark, later held operational and sales roles at Scan Global Logistics in Norway and Denmark, and further deepened his expertise at GAC in Bahrain. From 2018 to 2022, he worked at Kuehne + Nagel Norway, where he completed the Talent Leadership Program and supported specialized project cargo. Until the end of 2025, he served as Head of Airfreight at K2 Project Forwarding AS, overseeing the airfreight product, leading business development, and implementing IATA certification and security protocols.
Hi Alex, based in Dubai, UAE, you are operating in a high-risk region that is currently affected by significant challenges—not only for global supply chains but also in terms of personal safety. What impact does this have on you personally and on airfreight operations?
Thank you very much for taking the time—despite the current tense and challenging situation—to share insights into your role and deugro’s airfreight activities with us. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your responsibilities?
AK: In my role, I am primarily responsible for ensuring consistent, high-quality airfreight solutions worldwide, as well as for further developing and expanding our airfreight services across both new and existing clients. This includes strengthening our global footprint and ensuring that our airfreight offering is clearly positioned across markets and countries.
While deugro is widely recognized as a global project freight forwarder for complex and large-scale turnkey projects, as well as for handling challenging breakbulk shipments—whose main transport legs are predominantly executed by ocean or overland transport—airfreight solutions often do not receive the same level of attention. Therefore, an important part of my role is to further promote and position our strong, globally integrated airfreight products and solutions among both existing and potential clients.
Air freight, like ocean freight, is a broad field within logistics—albeit with higher time pressure and higher costs per kilogram. What characterizes deugro’s airfreight department?
AK: deugro’s airfreight department focuses on providing reliable, flexible, and globally integrated airfreight solutions for both exceptional project cargo and general cargo, both of which require an individual approach and tailored solution design.
This includes everything from urgent spare parts and complex project-related components to fragile, sensitive, high-value, or temperature-controlled cargo.
Our airfreight services cover the complete range of solutions—from consolidation and deconsolidation to all major destinations, transport packaging and securing, on-board courier and AOG deliveries, customs brokerage and transport insurance, as well as warehousing and distribution—from cargo pick-up to last-mile delivery.
We also offer global transfer and routing solutions. In cases where limited routing options may hinder a cost-effective airfreight solution or put pressure on budgets—potentially requiring charter flights for specific routes—we develop tailored alternatives. Regardless of how remote the destination may be, we can design individual routing solutions by combining regular services from different airlines across various trade lanes, ensuring a seamless airfreight connection to the final destination. Throughout the entire journey, all handling requirements, customs procedures, and regulatory aspects are carefully coordinated and fully taken into account.
In addition, deugro has a specialized Air Chartering department that comes into play whenever standard airfreight solutions are no longer sufficient. Whether it is oversized, heavy, or bulky cargo requiring dedicated aircraft and transport engineering, or shipments that demand solutions outside scheduled routes or regular flight schedules due to urgency or destination—this is where topics such as full and part charters, aircraft selection, technical feasibility, and airport handling constraints become central.
In the current market situation, where the key driver for clients is often not cost but the assurance of on-time delivery, deugro’s Air Chartering experts work closely with our airfreight teams to develop tailored solutions—especially as ongoing disruptions in global commercial airfreight schedules may require even smaller shipments to be moved via charter in order to reliably meet client requirements.
A key characteristic is our close integration with deugro’s global network of more than 70 offices across over 40 countries, enabling us to seamlessly combine airfreight with additional transport modes and tailor global end-to-end supply chain solutions to each client’s specific requirements. This allows us to deliver true 360-degree solutions for both general cargo and complex project cargo.
As a leading project logistics provider with a more than 100-year track record of successfully delivering the most complex turnkey projects, deugro is primarily recognized for transporting project cargo. Does this also apply to the industries you serve and the types of cargo you move by air freight?
AK: Yes, our clients primarily come from project-driven industries, including traditional and renewable energy, mining & metals, oil & gas, petrochemicals or pulp and paper, to name just a few. Accordingly, a significant share of the cargo we transport by air freight consists of time-critical spare parts, energy and industrial equipment, and machinery components.
It is important to highlight that our focus in air freight lies in the tailor-made design of effective and resilient, client- and cargo-specific logistics solutions and concepts that serve as an integral part of our clients’ individual supply chains. Our clients benefit from more than 100 years of experience in delivering complex logistics solutions, as well as from our extensive expertise in the specific requirements and standards of these industries. This experience forms the essential foundation for efficient and resilient air freight solutions and supply chains.
