AYR Logistics announces new humanitarian initiative as it marks its 20th Anniversary

AYR Logistics Limited has announced, on the 20th anniversary of its incorporation, that it is making a donation-in-kind to newly founded UK Charity, HumanitAid, in the form of logistics management services, helicopter hours and transportation, worth approximately US $5 million (£3.6 million) over three years.

The donation-in-kind may be utilised to provide humanitarian support to new and existing initiatives, to cover medical and emergency relief missions. HumanitAid, will also be seeking matching donations from Governments, NGOs, CSR programmes and Charitable Foundations to cover operating costs and the provision of emergency supplies, vaccines and medicines.

Commenting on its donation-in-kind, Serge Sergeef, Founder and CEO of AYR said “Reaching 20 years is a huge milestone and we are very proud of our achievement. However now is not the time to be throwing a big party when there is so much in the world that needs to be done due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the worsening impact of climate change on so many countries and conflicts that still blight the lives of millions of people around the world.”

James Dubois, Chairman of the newly registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation HumanitAid, remarked “We are very proud to be working with AYR, which has an excellent reputation for safe and efficient operations, and grateful for the donation-in-kind, and it is now beholden on us to raise the additional funding necessary for these operations. We look forward to working with the international aid and charity communities to ensure its success.”

Both AYR and HumanitAid are keen to play a key role in the vaccine rollout, particularly in Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries in Africa, where there is the challenge of large and growing populations, of which between just 15% and 50% may be urbanised. These are vast countries with often weak transportation links to remote communities, particularly during the rainy seasons, meaning that helicopters are the only realistic way to move vaccines around quickly and efficiently given the temperature requirements.

On Covid-19 vaccination rollout, Serge Sergeef said “These countries are on the front-line. As we have seen with the original Delta variant, it spread rapidly through many countries and became the dominant strain after only a few months. The potential for variants from a largely unvaccinated continent, with poor medical facilities, such as Africa, doesn’t bear thinking about. We have to act and the time to act is now”.

Similarly, with climate change, James Dubois added “The latest report from the UN is unequivocable in stating that human activity is changing the global climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. As the UN Chief said: “it is a code red for humanity”. However, whilst the continent of Africa is one of the smallest contributors to carbon output and greenhouse gases, it will, disproportionately, be one of the worst impacted by climate change.

Action to reverse this will take years to accomplish and in the meantime, we want to be on hand to provide whatever logistical support and capacity building we can for the region.”

“We believe, AYR’s unique experience and capabilities, gained on the ground, providing logistics and relief for a wide range of humanitarian disasters including fighting Ebola in Liberia, providing food and emergency relief following flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters in Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, providing support and logistics for peacekeepers in Darfur and South Sudan, and firefighting in Greece and Turkey, makes it well suited to take a key role in this mission.” stated Serge Sergeef

“AYR has the logistics network, personnel, facilities and strategic hubs to develop and control the entire supply chain.” said Sir Mark Lyall Grant, a former British Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and a Trustee of HumanitAid, “I hope that donor Governments, multilateral organisations and NGOs will now engage with the private sector and recognise the role it can play in this monumental task.”