The postal and logistics operator Trade House Meest Express LLC (Meest Express, Lviv) has launched air delivery from the United States to Lviv.
“Meest is the first Ukrainian postal and logistic company with its own air delivery from the United States. Today we met the charter flight we rented in Lviv – Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of the LOT airline – with parcels of our dear customers,” President of Meest Rostyslav Kysil wrote on his Facebook page.
He also said that this flight was the first transatlantic flight in Lviv.
The Lviv international airport said in a report that the Polish airline LOT performed the first test flight for Meest Express.
“We are very pleased with the opening of long-haul cargo transportation to Lviv. Since the onset of the aviation crisis, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have actively switched to finding alternative sources of income… Today, we have a beautiful Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner cargo aircraft from the airline LOT, performing a test presentation flight. Next, we will continue to work on which airline will deliver goods to Lviv,” Director General of the Lviv airport Tetiana Romanovska said.
According to her, the opening of such flights will save the situation with the financial condition of the enterprise and will provide an opportunity to improve it in the winter.
“From now on, the Lviv airport becomes not only a passenger, but also a cargo aviation hub,” Romanovska said.
Meest Group is part of Meest Corporation Inc. (Toronto, Canada). It provides postal and logistics services in 20 countries: Canada, the United States, Ukraine, Australia, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, China, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Israel.
The gross occupancy of logistics real estate in the Ukrainian market in January-June 2018 increased by 43% compared to the same period in 2017 and amounted to approximately 100,000 square meters, according to statistics given in the study of CBRE Ukraine international consulting company (Kyiv). According to the CBRE Ukraine survey, the share of occupancy of warehouses by large retailers was 58%, by light industry, pharmaceutical and medical companies some 26%. About 62% of rental transactions were associated with relocation or extension.
The share of large transactions (more than 10,000 square meters) was 23% and was represented by leasing 20,000 square meters by Comfy in the Raben warehouse complex near Kyiv, as well as 20,000 square meters by Eldorado with the move to RLC Fozzy Distribution Center.
According to CBRE Ukraine, the vacancy rate in the first half of 2018 decreased by 2 p.p. and amounted to 4%.
The declared rent rates in A class warehouses at the end of the first half of the year were in the range of $4.6-6 per square meter a month. Effective rental rates in A class warehouse complexes ranged from $3.4 to $5.2 per square meter a month, while in B class warehouse complexes they stood at the level of $2.5-3.4, where the upper limit has grown by 13% since the beginning of the year. As a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate, rates in U.S. dollars were unstable, while most of the deals were signed in hryvnia.
