APA Issue 1, 2021
KEEPING COOL SATS has continued to invest in equipment, manpower and new cargo handling solutions to serve its customers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, writes senior vice president for cargo services, Nazri Othman.
T
he air cargo industry has experienced sharp declines in cargo volumes with COVID-19 disrupting supply chains around the world since its onset last year.
As the crisis unfolded, supply chain disruptions contributed to shortages in essential supplies such as food and medical products in several countries. Like its peers in the industry, SATS worked around the clock to keep supply chains open and connected throughout its cargo terminal operations (CTO) network, which spans 10 countries. By preventing major disruptions to cargo movement, we helped to ensure that customers and communities would continue to have access to critical supplies, while protecting and supporting the industry. We simultaneously worked closely with the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to diversify its sourcing network to help strengthen Singapore’s food supply resilience and meet the daily needs of the public and essential workers at the time.
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In April 2020, IATA reported that industry-wide cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs) plunged 27.7% year-on-year, alongside a 42% reduction in cargo capacity annually with the absence of the belly capacity of passenger aircraft. SATS soon saw cargo tonnage and flights handled plunge to as low as 45% and 10% of pre-COVID volumes respectively in that same month. However, the company stayed resilient by further strengthening its hub capabilities and connectivity over the past year. This included SATS’ largest redeployment of 10,000 staff into new and critical roles across the group’s operations, ramping up training and development, as well as accelerating the enhancement of cool chain capabilities and capacity. As Asia’s first on-airport perishable handling centre in 2010 and the world’s first coolport to obtain IATA’s Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators on Pharmaceutical Handling (CEIV Pharma) certification in 2014, SATS Coolport in Singapore reaped the benefits of its early investment in pharmaceutical handling during the pandemic.
