As an international company, Lufthansa Cargo places great value on demonstrating social responsibility as a contribution to sustainable development.

Assisting others is something we do as a matter of course. This can be on an ongoing basis, such as with our "Cargo Human Care e. V.” humanitarian aid project and cooperation with the “Werkstätten für Behinderte Rhein-Main e. V.”, or spontaneously through providing fast, efficient logistical support during serious crises and natural disasters. Lufthansa Cargo entered into a close cooperation with the “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” relief coalition in February 2013 to ensure aid gets delivered fast when major disasters occur. In December 2016 Lufthansa Cargo and the German Red Cross signed a cooperation agreement.

Take-off. Touch Down. Help out. The basic principle behind the "Cargo Human Care e. V." (CHC) humanitarian aid project is the provision of uncomplicated, professional medical help to people in need in Nairobi and assistance to poor, neglected young orphans. Lufthansa Cargo employees founded the charitable organisation together with German doctors in 2007. The Board of Lufthansa Cargo has supported the aid project from the get-go.

Working out of a dedicated Cargo Human Care Medical Centre opened in 2009 and in cooperation with local medical institutions and charitable organisations, "Cargo Human Care e. V.” provides practical help where it is really needed. 

CHC is focusing on the following projects in the rural area around Nairobi:

The Mothers' Mercy Home in Kianjogu, a children’s home for orphans, and the Cargo Human Care Medical Centre attend to the medical needs of underprivileged people in the surrounding area and look after the orphans. The John Kaheni Residence, a residential and educational centre for 18- to 24-year-olds, opened in late November 2015. CHC paediatricians provide medical care in the Nest project, a home for the children of incarcerated mothers. In addition to this, two villages comprising 224 families in the drought-affected region around Marsabit in northern Kenya have been supplied with food since September 2011. Sustainable infrastructure support, e.g. the building of wells, is planned.

Volunteers carry out the coordination work needed in Germany and provide the medical care locally. Lufthansa Cargo provides the flight tickets for the doctors and transports the medical equipment free of charge. CHC covers the expenses of the Kenyan staff at the Cargo Human Care Medical Centre and funds the medical treatments and operations in the local Nazareth Hospital.

More information on www.cargohumancare.com

Lufthansa Cargo has been working closely with the “Werkstätten für Behinderte Rhein-Main e. V.”, an organisation that helps people with disabilities find work, for more than thirty years. 

For example, around 280 employees of the “Werkstätten für Behinderte Rhein-Main e. V.” produce more than 6,300 new lashing straps for securing air freight per month. Some 11,000 straps are repaired each month at three locations. All of the products meet Lufthansa Cargo’s high quality standards, which comply with ISO norms. Ever since the WfB was first commissioned by Lufthansa Cargo to produce 10,000 lashing straps in 1981, these tentative links have grown into a firm partnership. 

The WfB Rhein-Main e. V. is a recognised workshop for people with disabilities, aimed at helping them participate in working life and contribute to the labour market. Lufthansa Cargo is very proud of its contribution to inclusion through helping many people with disabilities to acquire professional skills and enjoy secure employment thanks to its contract with the WfB.

A win-win partnership.

Lufthansa Cargo acts fast at times of crisis and disaster to provide easy access to transport capacity on board its freighters. This is either offered free of charge or at cost only. 

Lufthansa Cargo signed a cooperation agreement with the German Red Cross in late 2016 aimed at providing faster aid together. This cooperation helps considerably simplify and accelerate the preparation of aid flights. This facilitates the provision of effective support and supplies to those in need during crisis situations in which aid is required quickly. Lufthansa Cargo entered into a long-term partnership with Germany’s “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” relief coalition back in early 2013. The aim of the partnership, under the motto “Providing faster aid together”, is to ensure both partners are ready to act when disaster strikes and to facilitate the establishment of a fast logistics chain worldwide. Thanks to the new cooperation with the coalition, 22 renowned German aid organisations – including World Vision – are able to tap into Lufthansa Cargo’s logistical expertise and capabilities for international assignments. As a visible sign of the cooperation, one of the MD-11F freighters in the Lufthansa Cargo fleet bears the relief coalition’s logo. 

Lufthansa Cargo has already helped aid organisations transport relief supplies for disasters time and again in the past. 

A Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F was used in November 2013 to assist when the Philippines experienced a terrible natural disaster. Lufthansa Cargo operated a special flight from Frankfurt to Manila free of charge. The freighter was laden with some 60 tonnes of emergency supplies, including urgently needed food parcels, medical equipment, drugs, water treatment plants and tents provided by various organisations in the “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” relief coalition. As further examples, Lufthansa Cargo operated two relief flights to Haiti to help the earthquake victims in early 2010, while in August and September 2010, it organised several special flights to Pakistan with UNICEF to provide fast aid to victims of the catastrophic flooding there. 

The disaster relief organisations also benefit from Lufthansa Cargo’s many years of experience in the area of charters. With Network-on-demand, Lufthansa’s cargo arm can transport aid shipments quickly, professionally and flexibly to all destinations within and outside of the Lufthansa network.