Shape Up or Ship Out

Written by Marcia MacLeod, this month’s Airline Cargo Management publishes an interesting story about the shippers’ viewpoint. Shippers claim that missing paperwork, fuel surcharges and damaged or lostcargo are all to blame for the decline of the air freight industry.

The existing structure of the air freight industry, with forwarders booking space and paying the airline, makes it easy to forget the most important side of what is really a trading triangle: the shipper. While tripartite talks do take place, many shippers feel they have to scream to make themselves heard.

Please visit the website of Airline Cargo Management to read the entire story.

The Rise and Rise of the Integrators: Part Three

In the final installment of his in-depth article, Paul Jackson, chairman of Triangle Management Services, brings us up to the modern day.

By the mid-1980s, TNT was firing on all four cylinders and investing 18 % in Airborne, a US-based freight forwarder with an overnight US air network – seen at the time as a move of genius. However, Abeles was thwarted by US regulations against foreign ownership of airlines and a determined management who awarded themselves ludicrous “golden parachutes” – high-value termination contracts in the event of takeover.

Please visit Post and Parcel to read the entire story.

Air Freight Emerging from the Economic Crisis

Despite the difficulties that our industry is facing today, the Chairman of TIACA remains optimistic, he tells to IATA’s Airlines International.

Ulrich Ogiermann, Chairman, the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) explains why he believes air freight has a bright future: “The air cargo industry will emerge stronger than other transport modes”. Towards the end of 2008 and throughout 2009, the air cargo industry saw a dramatic downturn in volume, reflecting reduced spending in the wake of the global recession.

In 2010, the air cargo industry’s first goal must be to stop the bleeding from the wounds incurred in 2009. We may see some growth as the year progresses but it will be 2011 before there is a sustainable improvement, and forecasts predict that not until 2013/14 will we return to the market size we enjoyed in 2007 and early 2008.

The air cargo industry will take time to recover properly and must decide what it will do to make air freight more attractive to customers. I expect to see more volatility over the next 12 months because there are still many unknown factors and bubbles waiting to burst at any moment.

The full story can be read on IATA’s website.