Cargo operations are now back up and running at London Heathrow following the fire at an electricity substation that forced the airport’s closure on Friday March 21st.

While triumphant messages of a return to normal cargo operations have been ringing out from the airport this week, many stakeholders believe there is a significant backlog that will take a little longer to clear.

Following the blaze at the sunstation in Hayes, Heathrow confirmed in the early hours of Friday morning that it would be closed all day, with cargo handling zones also included in the areas with little or no power.

The airport has since faced scrutiny over the way the incident was handled and questions remain as to why there were no measures in place to prevent a full closure. The government’s Energy Secretary – Ed Miliband – has since ordered a full investigation.

Over 1300 flights were diverted or cancelled on Friday, and while Heathrow was open on Saturday, some airlines did not return to their full schedules until Sunday. It is inevitable that a disruption of this kind, during the busy weekend period for air cargo, will result in backlogs.

Naturally, MultiFreight systems and cloud services continued uninterrupted.