In Germany it is now compulsory to wear a mask covering both nose and mouth in many workplaces, on public transport and in shops. As a result, the demand for protective masks has once again risen steeply.

Recently a Boeing 747 cargo plane carrying about 100,000 medical respiratory protective masks and 4500 protective coveralls from China landed at the international Frankfurt-Hahn airport in the Hunsrück region. This shipment – urgently needed during the Covid-19 pandemic – was bound for a wholesaler from Waiblingen who would then distribute them to hospitals and medical institutions. The delivery was picked up by a new Actros belonging to Rudolph Trucking & Handling GmbH. Rudolph specialises in the transportation of air freight by road and is certified by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation. The company has its own warehouse and x-ray screening capacities in the Air Cargo Centre at Stuttgart airport and carried out the transport job on behalf of the forwarding company Transmaritim International GmbH.

“For several weeks now we have been channelling up to four complete truck loads with protective face masks through our warehouse every day and then delivering them with our own fleet throughout the whole of Germany,” said Rudolph Trucking & Handling GmbH managing director and owner Bernd Rocker. “We are proud to be able to contribute towards containing the Covid-19 pandemic in this way.”

In the past three weeks alone, Rudolph Trucking & Handling has transported about 10 million masks to recipients in Baden-Württemberg.

In the meantime, medical respiratory protective masks have been classed as valuable goods and are subject to special protective provisions and close inspection by the authorities. Sometimes they are even transported with an escort. Since the beginning of the crisis Transmaritim has imported 500 tonnes of protective equipment to Germany, which includes protective glasses and visors as well as respiratory protective masks and protective coveralls.

The largest individual shipment that Rudolph Trucking & Handling has received and transported during the Covid-19 pandemic was 1.5 million masks bound for a government institution of the State of Baden-Württemberg at the end of April.

From left: Bernd Rocker, managing director and owner of Rudolph Trucking & Handling GmbH, Michael Schweizer, managing director of Transmaritim International GmbH, and Actros driver Ali Sakin in the Air Cargo Centre at Stuttgart Airport.