Please visit our new blog post for the latest information on our Ukraine relief efforts.

As we announced in a post on March 4, Flexport.org is organizing shipments of humanitarian aid to refugee sites across Eastern Europe including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova. At the onset of the crisis, UNHCR estimated that 4 million people were expected to flee Ukraine. As of March 22, 2022 the number of refugees has already exceeded 3.6 million.

We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support and donations from around the world. Every dollar counts especially given the scale of the crisis.

If you'd like to contribute to send aid, please donate at Flexport.org/Donate

Here's the latest update on our ongoing aid efforts

Aid Shipments Update March 23

Thank you so much from everyone on our team for your continued generosity and support. As of March 22, a total of 76,447 donors contributed $24.48M.

Scale of the Crisis
The number of refugees is now close to 3.5 million people—including an estimated one million children—that have fled Ukraine. The scale of the crisis continues to widen, and our relief work is even more important, with our efforts receiving increased visibility from high-profile individuals and organizations.

Flexport.org Coverage
Last weekend, President Zelensky tweeted about Flexport.org’s participation with Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ GoFundMe, further reinforcing the critical nature of our response.

We are humbled by this visibility and proud of the support we are able to provide to Ukrainains through this effort.

Flexport.org Shipment Update
As of March 21, Flexport.org has delivered 777 cubic meters (CBM) of essential relief aid to refugee sites in and around Ukraine:

• 60 emergency relief beds and 12 CBM of necessary surgical equipment delivered to Ukraine for Project C.U.R.E. and Airlink, with support from Air Canada.
• 430 CBM of emergency medical equipment, including surgical equipment and medical grade personal protective equipment (PPE), delivered to Ukraine’s bordering country of Moldova, in partnership with Airlink, Globus Relief and World Hope International and with logistics support from Atlas Air and Alliance Ground International.
• 229 CBM of hygiene kits delivered to Poland in partnership with UNICEF.
• 42 CBM of emergency medical equipment, including PPE, syringes and IV solution, shipped to Germany, with Ukraine as the final destination, in collaboration with Airlink and Project C.U.R.E.
• 16 CBM of necessary relief aid, including blankets and hygiene supplies, shipped to Poland in partnership with Orphan Grain Train.

Our Logistics and Non-Profit Partners
This effort wouldn’t be possible without the involvement and help of our logistics providers and humanitarian aid organizations, who bring their long-standing expertise in disaster response.

This successful relief effort, which demanded a highly complex supply chain, multi-faceted project coordination, and specialized skills to source and transport goods, depended on the collaboration of multiple nonprofit organizations and logistics providers and speaks to the impact of our partnerships.

Here’s a short video made by our logistics partner Alliance Ground International that shows the behind-the-scenes of this recent shipment, as well as additional photos of the shipments en route:

Aid Shipments Update March 14

On March 14, another plane full of lifesaving medical supplies just left Chicago for Amsterdam where Flexport.org has arranged for our trucking partners to transport them to Moldova. Thank you to our partners Atlas Air for flying the supplies and AGI, Airlink, World Hope International, and Globus for partnering with us to get critical aid to Ukrainian families. Together with our partners, we've acquired over 220,000 lbs of medical supplies that were specifically requested by the Moldova Ministry of Health to support over 300,000 refugees. This shipment contains 650 cubic meters (CBM) of emergency medical equipment including surgical equipment, bandages, face shields, syringes and other medical grade PPE. (For reference, one CBM holds almost 1500 gowns.)

On March 10, the first Flexport.org aid shipment, in partnership with Project C.U.R.E. and Airlink, landed in Warsaw, Poland. The cargo is being moved to Ukraine next. This Air Canada shipment contained 60 emergency relief beds and 12 cubic meters (CBM) of surgical equipment such as gowns, gloves and drapes. For reference, one CBM is almost 1500 gowns.

The situation in Ukraine is highly fluid and we’re constantly adjusting to our aid partners’ needs as they evolve. This week we’re discussing the following shipments:

• 238 CBM of dignity and WASH kits to Poland
• 16 CBM of relief aid supplies, including blankets and hygiene supplies to Poland

For reference, the average cargo plane can hold at minimum 130 CBM. Some of the largest cargo planes we’re looking at chartering can hold up to 650 CBM.

Here's a video of our CEO Ryan Petersen talking to Bloomberg about our relief efforts and how we’re using our logistics expertise to help millions of refugees fleeing the crisis.

Here are some photos of our first shipment that was flown from Toronto to Warsaw.

Here are some photos of our second shipment that was flown from Chicago to Amsterdam from where flexport has arranged to have them trucked to Moldova.

Donations Update

As of March 13, 65,890 donors contributed approximately $16.77 million to the Flexport.org Fund. PProminent early donors include Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, the Ron Conway family, Shopify, Paul Graham, Chamath Palihapitiya, the Byers family, First Round Capital, the Yuri and Julia Milner Foundation, and the FTX Foundation. We are also very appreciative of Mila and Ashton’s GoFundMe fundraiser and the continued support and attention this has brought to our relief efforts. A huge thank you to the individuals, corporations and nonprofits who donated already.

A contribution of $400,000 pays for a plane load of critical relief supplies and the transportation costs to charter a plane from the U.S. to Eastern Europe. To give you an idea, one plane approximately fits 325 hospital beds and mattresses, or 85 pallets of medical supplies, or 1350 cartons of sanitation kits.

On-the-Ground Support

We have activated partnerships with a select group of established humanitarian aid organizations including UNICEF, Project HOPE, Project C.U.R.E. and Airlink to ship a wide range of critical supplies to Ukraine and neighboring countries. We’ve also engaged logistics partners like Air Canada, Atlas Air and Sovereign Speed to provide discounted and expedient global freight solutions for these shipments.

The Need for Long-Term Aid

Flexport.org takes the long view on humanitarian aid. Refugees are displaced on average for 20 years. Historically, recovery programs are notoriously underfunded and supporting those impacted by the conflict will require aid beyond the immediate response—support that may take years. With this long-term mindset, Flexport was able to supply 53 million units of relief supplies to 70+ organizations reaching over 100 million people globally during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The situation in the region is highly fluid and we’re constantly adjusting to our aid partners’ needs as they evolve. We will try to keep this blog as updated as possible.