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WORLD AIRPORTS .COM ACW Digital is sponsored by FREIGHTERS.COM
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26/01/2022 16:53
The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,166
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7 FEBRUARY 2022
Kenya Airways resumes Dubai flights
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INSIDE
ACI EUROPE: A STOP START YEAR ... THE full year 2021 & December 2021 traffic report released by ACI Europe reveals the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airport industry ... PAGE 2
VINCI AIRPORTS TAKES ... AS of January 12, VINCI Airports has taken over the operation of Manaus airport, under a 30-year concession contract awarded by Brazilian civil aviation in April ... PAGE 3
XENETA ACQUIRES CLIVE ...
DNATA TO INVEST €200 MILLION IN NEW AMS FACILITY
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nata has announced a major, over €200 million investment in a fully automated cargo centre, dnata Cargo City Amsterdam, at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS). As one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind, dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will significantly enhance cargo capacity in the Netherlands and create new, direct jobs with dnata. It will enable dnata and its customers to substantially expand operations and business, stimulating local economy and trade. Located at Schiphol South-East, the 61,000 sq m facil-
ity will include increased, 19,000 sq m warehouse space, and be capable of processing over 850,000 tonnes of cargo annually. It will comply with the highest industry standards ensuring efficient and safe handling of all types of cargo, including perishables, pharmaceuticals, dangerous goods, mail, live animals, aircraft engines and vehicles. The facility is scheduled to become operational in 2024. dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be developed by Schiphol Commercial Real Estate and equipped by Lödige Industries with cutting-edge technologies.
David Barker, dnata’s divisional senior vice president for airport operations, said: “We are thrilled to announce a massive, long-term investment in our cargo operations. dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be a game changer in the regional cargo industry, delivering significant commercial benefits for our partners, their customers and the local economy. “Our new cargo facility will enable us to meet the rapidly growing demand for our efficient and reliable services, providing best-in-class solutions to our customers.”
XENETA, the ocean and air freight rate benchmarking, analytics platform and container shipping index, has acquired Amsterdam-based Clive ... PAGE 3
AUTOMATION IS THE NEED ... Jasraj Chug, director and co-founder, Cargoflash Infotech, notes automation is the need of the hour. Chug emphasises that as we think of business ... PAGE 8
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NEWS
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Kenya Airways ACI Europe: a stop resumes Dubai flights start recovery in 2021 NATIONAL carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced the resumption of daily flights to Dubai effective January 31, 2022. This follows the easing of travel restrictions that had been issued by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) on flights from Kenya and other African nations. The lifting of the travel ban into and out of Dubai takes effect from January 29, 2022, 14:30hrs Dubai time. It will impact flights travelling from Kenya, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Botswana, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
THE full year 2021 & December 2021 traffic report released by ACI Europe reveals the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airport industry. While passenger traffic across the European airport network increased by +37% in 2021 compared to 2020, it still remained -59% below pre-pandemic (2019) levels. Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe said: “After losing 1.72 billion passengers in 2020, we all had high hopes for a strong recovery in 2021. But last year proved another difficult one, as Europe’s airports ended up losing another 1.4 billion passengers compared to 2019. This means they remain under considerable stress, with systemic financial weakness across our industry.”
response to weakened demand in what is already traditionally a low season. This means the First Quarter will be disappointing, but that we should hopefully see traffic take a better turn as Spring approaches. Whether this happens earlier depends on the pace at which travel restrictions can be lifted, now that Omicron is prevalent. A
Freight and aircraft movements Freight traffic in 2021 increased by +21.8% throughout the European airport network compared to last year, and stood at +7.7% above pre-pandemic (2019) levels – with only marginal variations between the EU+ market and the rest of Europe. Aircraft movements were up by +23.3% compared to 2020 but down by -48% against pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
2022 outlook Looking at the months ahead, Jankovec said: “Uncertainties as to the evolution of the pandemic remain significant and limit visibility beyond a few months, at best. For now, the impact of Omicron is still very much on us as airlines keep pulling out flights and capacity in
number of countries are moving in that direction, but much more needs to be done. Today’s planned adoption by the EU of an updated Recommendation for intra-European travel should in principle confirm that travel regimes will at long last be based on travellers’ health status rather than their provenance. However, this will be meaningless unless governments finally adhere to the plan and effectively co-ordinate.”
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NEWS
VINCI Airports takes over Manaus Airport operation AS of January 12, VINCI Airports has taken over the operation of Manaus airport, under a 30-year concession contract awarded by Brazilian civil aviation in April. The company says that an effective co-operation between VINCI Airports and Infraero – a public airport infrastructure company – has enabled a smooth transition. Six other airports in the region – Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Boa Vista, Cruzeiro do Sul, Tabatinga and Tefé – will join VINCI Airports’ portfolio in February 2022. The third biggest cargo airport in Brazil, Manaus airport is a pillar of the economic and social development of the Amazon. VINCI Airports says it will work to develop the cargo activity of this platform by optimising its operation. Building on the good environmental performance of Salvador airport, which has become “the most sustainable airport” in Brazil since
VINCI took over operations in 2018, VINCI Airports will also deploy its environmental action plan in the Amazon. The objective is to reduce the CO2 emissions of airports, notably through the construction of a solar farm, and to improve their water and waste management. Finally, a forest carbon sink programme will be implemented there, to sequester their residual CO2 emissions, while helping to protect the Amazon rainforest and biodiversity. Nicolas Notebaert, CEO of VINCI Concessions and president of VINCI Airports, declared: “VINCI Airports is proud to be the new operator of Manaus airport and six other new airports in the northern block. We are renewing our partnership with Brazil to make this concession a new success, building on the very positive results we have obtained in Salvador de Bahia.”
Xeneta acquires CLIVE Data Services
XENETA, the ocean and air freight rate benchmarking, market analytics platform and container shipping index, has acquired Amsterdam-based air freight data analysts CLIVE Data Services to provide the most timely and comprehensive insights into the global ocean and air freight markets. This transaction comes seven months after Xeneta announced it was partnering with CLIVE to integrate its ‘dynamic load factor’ and capacity analyses into Xeneta’s market analytics platform. “We want our customers to have the best and most timely global ocean and air freight data trends,” said Xeneta CEO, Patrik Berglund (pictured, right). “The unique insights and timelines of CLIVE’s air freight data make it a great addition to our freight data offering. Our combined data services and industry expertise make us second to none in providing clear insights into the global freight markets. We gladly welcome Niall’s extensive air freight expertise to Xeneta’s leadership team to strengthen Xeneta’s technology and data-driven approach within the air freight space. Our recent Series-C funding is allowing us to speed up the delivery of new services and to further expand our global footprint.” Niall van de Wouw, co-founder of CLIVE Data Services (left), commented: “The recent partnership with Xeneta has given us valuable insights into our respective data offerings, and the additional value we can deliver by combining our expertise and resources. For CLIVE’S clients, this exciting new development will provide opportunities to further populate our data and give us the ability to help them extract more value from our data services. Our decision to team up with Xeneta was not only driven by the complementary service offering. Patrik and his team have built a great company with a unique business culture and I am really looking forward to becoming part of that.” The global freight market has been through its most dynamic period ever in the last two years. This has heightened demand for more timely data to help companies deal with this volatile time in an informed manner. By tracking daily fluctuations in the ocean and air freight markets, Xeneta supports its clients with making smarter ocean and air freight decisions.
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NEWS Etihad Cargo awarded CEIV Live Animals ETIHAD Cargo has been awarded IATA’s Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) for Live Animals. The UAE national carrier is the first airline in the Middle East and third globally to hold CEIV Live Animals, CEIV Fresh, and CEIV Pharma certifications. The certification was awarded following an IATA-led assessment of Etihad Cargo’s dedicated LiveAnimals, for animal transportation, and SkyStables, for equine transportation, products, as well as its logistics audit checklist to ensure compliance with standards, requirements, and Live Animals Regulations (LAR). The IATA certification endorses and accredits Etihad’s expertise for the transportation of live animals, reinforcing its position as the region’s leading international air cargo carrier and reaffirming its commitment to animal welfare. Martin Drew, senior vice president sales & cargo, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “The transportation of
live animals requires specific conditions and the CEIV certification further underlines Etihad Cargo’s experience and commitment to animal welfare and safe transportation.” The key benefits of CEIV Live Animals certification include improving animal welfare and safety through appropriate quality and risk management, and enhancing standardisation and professionalism in the handling and transportation of live animals in a multimodal environment. The certification also enforces compliance with the IATA LAR, elevating staff competency through efficient and robust training programmes, and enabling increased collaboration among stakeholders and certified trade lanes. Brendan Sullivan, IATA’s Global head of Cargo, said: “Achieving CEIV Live Animals certification means Etihad Cargo’s customers can benefit from extra assurance that their precious cargo is in safe hands.”
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Atlas Air and Flexport expand partnership
ATLAS Air, Inc. has announced an agreement to expand its partnership with Flexport, the technology platform for global logistics, to add a third Boeing 747-400 freighter to its existing fleet beginning in September 2022. This long-term charter agreement reflects the strong customer demand for Atlas’ services and dedicated international widebody airfreight capacity. The agreement between Flexport and Atlas Air will broaden Flexport’s network of dedicated freighters to include service from Asia to Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA) and soon, Chicago (ORD). The additional freighter will increase Flexport’s
dedicated airfreight capacity from Atlas Air by 50% and allow for enhanced schedule flexibility as new origins and destinations are added in 2022 and beyond. The move eastward across the US will improve airfreight accessibility for global shippers and enable them to design airfreight networks that best serve their interests as part of strong, resilient multi-modal supply chain strategies. “We look forward to enhancing our long-term relationship with Flexport as we continue to support the growth and expansion of its network with dedicated freighters,” said Michael Steen, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Atlas Air Worldwide.
FedEx Express launches AI-powered sorting robot
FEDEX Express today announced the launch of DoraSorter – an AI-powered intelligent sorting robot – in collaboration with Dorabot, a leading robotics solution provider for logistics. The sorting robot represents the company’s latest push in digitising its operations and building a smart logistics network to handle the ever-growing volumes of e-commerce-related shipments in the region. The first of its kind in China for FedEx, the DoraSorter robot is being deployed at the 5,200sq m FedEx South China e-Commerce Shipment Sorting Centre in Guangzhou. DoraSorter is already part of the daily sorting operations and is capable of handling small inbound and outbound packages from e-com-
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merce customers in South China. “With e-commerce taking centre stage in the future of retail in our region, the speed with which a parcel can be picked up and delivered to customers’ doorsteps has become a dominant factor in driving the adoption of sorting robots. Bringing DoraSorter to China as a pilot programme is a natural choice for us, given it’s the world’s biggest e-commerce market with an expected valuation of $3.3 trillion by 2025,” said Kawal Preet, president of the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region at FedEx Express. “As we look to build a data-driven, smart logistics network to help our customers thrive in the digital economy, this alliance with Dorabot is part of becoming the network for what’s next.”
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LATIN AMERICA
FEATURE
PALMEROLA AIRPORT: “AN ATTRACTIVE LOCATION FOR INTERMODAL CARGO HANDLING” LATAM launches Quito-Loja route On January 4, flight LA 1363 departed from Quito International Airport to the Catamayo City Airport in Loja, Ecuador, becoming the first flight that LATAM airline operates on this route. The route operates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Mónica Fistrovic, CEO of LATAM Ecuador, commented: “Expanding connectivity with the south part of Ecuador has been one of the airline’s great goals.” Ramón Miró, president and CEO of Quiport said: “Tourism and business will benefit from this new operation.”
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n December, after five years of construction, the new Honduran capital gateway Palmerola International Airport opened its runways and welcomed the first scheduled flights. The airport is 70km away from the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa and replaces the old Toncontin International Airport (TGU), which will now be used for domestic flights. The new project is estimated to have cost US$163 million. Munich Airport has played an important role in the Airport’s development as Martin Kamlah, senior international project manager at Munich Airport International explains: “The Munich Airport team advised Palmerola Airport on all airport-related issues and provided best-practice experience. “The support included close collaboration on the development of an airport strategy, master and business planning, terminal design, the draft of commercial concepts and tendering procedures, as well as the set-up of operational concepts, airport certification, airport system planning, system procurement and installation support as well as airline marketing strategies, operations preparation, readiness and operations management support.” Kamlah says that Munich Airport’s consulting subsidiary (MAI) will continue to support the newly opened airport now it is up and running. This will be supported with operational management, providing staff training and using its expertise to continue to develop Palmerola into a stateof-the-art airport. He says: “MAI will also focus on the effective use of newly installed technologies and systems, on maintaining high safety standards, optimising operational efficiency, improving the passenger experience as well as supporting stakeholder management and airline marketing.”
Under construction
“Due to takeoff and landing restrictions for aircraft and the maximum takeoff mass, the old Toncontin air cargo terminal is mainly used for trucked freight”
The new airport’s planned cargo facility will greatly benefit the country. Kamlah says a cargo terminal with 3,700 sq m (first phase) is still under construction. “Completion is scheduled for the end of the first quarter of 2022. A possible capacity expansion to an area of up to 10,000 sq m at a later date is already being planned. The cargo apron with 4 Code C or 1 Code E and 2 Code C positions will be completed with the cargo terminal building. “State-of-the-art security screening equipment will enable fast export clearance. The focus of the cargo facilities is on modern cooling systems for export and import of perishable goods. “A dedicated entrance and exit to the central highway connecting the main cities of Honduras and El Salvador is being built for fast landside cargo access. In addition, sufficient truck parking and manoeuvring areas will be made available. “Due to takeoff and landing restrictions for aircraft and the maximum take-off mass, the old Toncontin air cargo terminal is mainly used for trucked freight. The infrastructure and systems are outdated or non-existent, parking and manoeuvring space for trucks is very limited, and there is no potential for expansion due to the limited terrain around TGU. “Palmerola offers new routes and destinations plus belly cargo capacity which is nearly non-existent at TGU due to take off weight restrictions. Thanks to its central location and direct highway access to the south, includ-
ing Tegucigalpa, the north, including San Pedro Sula, and the west, including El Salvador, Palmerola offers an attractive location for intermodal cargo handling. These are ideal conditions to guarantee stable import and export volumes for the cargo sector,” Kamlah explains.
More jobs The new airport is expected to create up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. In the cargo sector alone, MAI estimate 300-500 direct and indirect jobs during the first phase. Will the opening of Palmerola Airport affect other airports in the region and country? Kamlah says: “From now on, TGU will only be used for domestic flights and small aircraft. We do not expect San Pedro Sula Airport (SAP) to lose much traffic that is originating in or traveling to the San Pedro Sula region. However, SAP is operating at the capacity limit, so overall growth of Honduran air traffic is expected at Palmarola (XPL) - also due to the large catchment area towards southern and central Honduras. “For certain destinations, XPL is also more interesting than SAP. Currently, air cargo import and export is mainly handled through SAP. Depending on the development of air freight capacity, including belly freight capacity, cargo volume could shift to XPL over time.” Building an airport is no mean feat, but building one in the middle of a pandemic may be even more of challenge. “Lockdowns and the introduction and control of biosecurity (BIOS) measurements have affected the construction and system installation process, and delayed the opening of the airport,” says Kamlah. He adds: “Since Palmerola was designed on the principles of flexibility to adapt to the growth of the traffic structure and regulatory changes, there were no major problems from an infrastructural point of view in introducing the BIOS concept and health checks in passenger flows. Intensive stakeholder management to ensure quick and passenger-friendly handling of health checks was and is essential.” Through its job creation the airport will help Honduras’ economic recovery from the pandemic. Kamlah also believes: “A positive image effect will attract further private investment (for example, in the logistics sector, the service sector or hotels). Airlines are also taking the opportunity to enter the Tegucigalpa market (for example, Spirit Airlines), which they were previously unable to do due to TGU operating restrictions. “We expect ticket prices to drop due to increased competition and lower operating costs, and the increased operational flexibility for airlines will lead to traffic growth resulting in positive impacts for the region and the country. “Overall recovery from the pandemic is expected to accelerate.” Dr. Ralf Gaffal, managing director at Munich Airport International, adds that MAI will continue its active role in Latin America. He says: “MAI is an active consulting and management partner of Latin American Airports since 2011. We have delivered a number of major projects in Brazil, Ecuador and Honduras. “MAI is an active player in the Latin American marketplace through management contracts and with its diversification into the cargo business. MAI will continue to increase its presence across the region through numerous engagements and with the support of its multicultural pool of experts.”
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LATIN AMERICA
NETWORKS: LATIN AMERICA’S FUTURE “Nations across Latin America are poised for constant growth across 2022 and 2023”
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ichard Charles, chief executive officer, The WACO System: The well-documented challenges of both inter and intra supply chain operations presented by Latin America demand a different approach to the usual solutions a 21st Century forwarder can rely upon. Differing inter-country compliance and customs regulations, fragmented track and-trace visibility, cross-border delays, bureaucracy, and red tape combine to affect a forwarder’s already slim net margins targets across the globe. Added to this list is the challenging geography comprising jungles, mountains, deserts, and high altitudes coupled with years of under investment in infrastructure by successive governments across nations. With a growing global network of independent freight forwarders, The WACO System’s solution based on business through established relationships and local knowledge offers a clear path forward. Co-operation agreements with Latin America-based forwarders in a bid to benefit from local bureaucracy know-how and local language skills are a part solution to the challenge. The WACO System provides high quality-assured collaboration with in-country experts that handle these chains and geographies daily. An independent freight forwarder based in Poland may not have a regular need to export to Chile but being able to collaborate with a likeminded business in Santiago or Viña del Mar as and when needed makes a region that was off-limits immediately accessible. Furthermore, the favour is returned when the Chile-based operator needs to export to
Poland and needs an in-country expert to move the cargo economically and efficiently. The limitations of this approach are reached when cargo needs to cross borders within Latin America. Each border presents different legislative and bureaucratic requirements, demanding the more flexible benefits of a network. WACO’s global network boasts 121 members in 116 countries with a combined network of more than 400 locations, employing over 21,000 freight professionals. In Latin America, The WACO System is growing and is already represented in 12 countries including Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru amounting to a network covering over half of the continent. This presents a well-established solution to the difficulties of moving trade between Latin American countries. Like-minded forwarders, already WACO members, collaborate on behalf of Europe-based forwarders, for example, to expedite the movement of goods using local languages and colloquial tongues, avoiding bureaucratic bottlenecks, and lessening the chance of cross-border delays. Nations across Latin America are poised for constant growth across 2022 and 2023, with the World Bank predicting 2.3% and 2.7% growth respectively across the continent. As Latin America continues to thrive, grow, and gain momentum, it will fall to local expertise and knowledge to make a success of supply chains that have been woefully neglected. The quality of business provided by local, independent forwarders can seldom be matched and the immediacy of The WACO System, with members already rooted in countries within Latin America, means it offers a dependable route today into what is set to be a growing market.
Alyne Fukuda on embracing Latin America’s opportunities
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ukuda is HAE Group’s country manager, Brazil. The Group has offices in Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
ACW: How has business been for HAE in South America? Fukuda: The last couple of years have given us a number of opportunities. Our partner airlines continue to expand their route network despite the challenges over the last couple of years with COVID. This presents us with an opportunity to expand our network for sales in Peru, Paraguay and Colombia. To supplement other airline networks, we have been highly active in the charter market with import solutions from Asia and exports to the rest of the world. ACW: What trends have you observed in the region during the pandemic? Fukuda: The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies to think outside the box and question their original business model as some trends, such as the move towards internet-based business, leaner cost structures or a flexible-cost approach.
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FEATURE Other relevant trends, such as digitalisation and technology-driven services, which facilitate remote activities, and cyber security, have been given special attention in the region. ACW: Which trends do you think are here to stay? Fukuda: E-commerce is a trend to stay from now on. During coronavirus-driven lockdowns and travel restrictions, customers increasingly turned to ordering goods online. And as that demand grew, so too did the need for timely delivery of those packages to the countries’ farthest corners. E-commerce is a growing trend in Latin America where people were forced to make shopping online and started to like of this kind of experience. ACW: How would you gauge market confidence in Latin America? Fukuda: Latin America, in addition to being a developing conti-
nent, suffers a lot from its unstable economic policy, affecting the confidence of the foreign market for investment in the region. Structural challenges and non-standard business practices also make the market challenging. ACW: Would you agree that Latin America has a lot of untapped market potential? Fukuda: Latin America is a potential block for several business sectors, as it suffers from problems such as lack of innovation and inadequate infrastructure, especially in the supply chain. The pandemic brought to the logistics sector an opportunity for expansion, with a leverage in virtual purchases as well as the increase in the opening of online stores, causing the delivery of products to grow more and more, however, the countries suffer from logistical inefficiency in operations, as it needs better condi-
tions for its highways and other access routes to the consumer for the final mile. ACW: Has the spread of Omicron affected operations in the region? Fukuda: The new variant caused the opening of the economy to regress, there were new flight cancellations, due to lack of crew as they were contaminated by the virus, an increase in hospital admissions and new government restrictions. ACW: What is the biggest challenge to aviation in the region? Fukuda: The biggest challenge for aviation is to grow during the pandemic. The airline industry is facing an uneven recovery from Covid. Regions with large domestic markets, faster vaccination rollout and less restrictive government policy will continue to recover faster than the other parts of the world.
More growth for ECS Group in Latin America
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CS Group believes 2022 is already set to be a strong year for airfreight in Latin America. Paco Ortega - regional VP Central & South America says: “The ECS Group moved 137,000 tonnes in 2021. For 2022 we expect more than 10% of organic growth.” João Ferreira, managing director, ECS Group Brazil adds: “With the current lack of ocean freight capacity and less passenger flights in the region, we expect that volumes and yields will continue to increase during the first half of 2022. ECS Group has had a vested interest in the Latam region since 2014, when it opened its first subsidiary, Globe Air, in Mexico. “We have been growing gradually over the years to the current organisation being physically established in Mexico, Equator, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Mexico,” Ortega says. “We have the firm determination of having almost full coverage in the Americas within 2022 or first semester of 2023. “We have recently opened an office in Puerto Rico, related to our North America subsidiary, Globe Air. The next step is to expand in Central America, where we are already exploring options. Thanks to our TCM contracts (TUI Group, Condor, Air Transat) we are also considering opening sales offices in the Caribbean, in airports where we are already have significant volumes like Curacao, Montego Bay, and Barbados.”
Valuable continent Ferreira adds that the airfreight industry in Colombia, Ecuador and Chile is built on the most solid foundations. “They have a structural business but are overly dependent on one product, flowers,” he says. “Argentina has a good mix of products like meat, bovine leather, pharma, automotive and horses. “Chile and Peru are more exposed to seasonality and weather events but are historically very strong with fish and fruit exports. “Brazil and México are very similar with a mix of automotive, tropical fruits, pharma and oil and gas shipments.” Ferreira thinks that Covid-19 related shipments will soon not be as common in the region: “I don’t think Covid-19 related shipments will be out there for a long time as some countries, like Argentina, Brazil and México, are already on the process of manufacturing locally.”
Attracting talent A problem not endemic to Latin America is attracting and retaining talent in the air cargo industry. Ferreira says that ECS Group is currently investing more structurally in human resources, so the company can offer a meritocracy policy that makes it more attractive to work for, more so than any other GSA in the region. “In Latin America we can find very dynamic people that are used to, and know how to react to, the political and economic uncertainties which are present in the region. “Our local team and our customers are easy to react and adapt to market changes. “From the head office, we work closely with them in order to make sure that they have the relevant assets and infrastructure, as needed by the local market.” Ferreira says that business in Latin America places a high value on establishing personal relationships. “Despite the new technological tools, the personal relationship is still the main pillar for doing business in Latin America.”
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THE BACK PAGE
AUTOMATION IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR
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s Jasraj Chug, director and co-founder of airfreight technology firm, Cargoflash Infotech notes, automation is the need of the hour. Chug emphasises that as we think of business post-pandemic, technology must be embraced. “New technology will increase efficiency, show real-time performance leading to an eco-sustainable operation, which in turn will lead to better decisions and increased returns,” he stresses. “Air cargo will be a critical zone of durability for airlines and airports in the foreseeable future, provided that the management make it a strategic priority to introduce simple, integrated and digital solutions to automate the entire process, end-to-end. “In today’s fast era of competition and commercialisation, the
implementation of technology and automation to longstanding air cargo management has become an obligation. “A positive trend to see is that the air cargo sector is gradually absorbing that conviction into their business,” Chug tells ACW. Observing the industry, Chug has noted that numerous global companies are yet to realise automation’s necessity despite the fact many businesses are now shifting their priorities, due to the pandemic.
The financial benefits of a one-time investment in digitalising operations are clear. “When the Covid-19 crisis hit, air transportation halted and passenger revenues plunged by approximately 69%. In contrast, cargo revenues surged 27%, as a loss of space in the bellies of passenger fleets triggered an unprecedented capacity shortage hence, throwing off the standard supply-demand balance. “This situation is now getting stabilised to a great extent owing to the implementation of digital solutions in air cargo operations and management.
Learnings What does CargoFlash make of the new business landscape and how will things change? Chug says: “During the current times, we witnessed the emergence of cargo bookings made on a single platform, thus allowing a convergence of multiple airlines and freight forwarders on a single interface. This is where our cloudbased platform, featuring all the next-generation ‘nGen’ systems, comes into the picture. “We also observed a rapid surge in e-commerce operations owing to which, we are persistently focussing on developing our door-to-door e-solutions, allowing the airlines to become virtual integrators. “We have successfully implemented the D2D’s (e-commerce) ‘First and Last Mile’ handling and tracking solution for its clients. The consumers can now seamlessly integrate their airline cargo terminal operations with the ‘first and last mile’ warehousing e-commerce platform. “Also, the company has applied advanced encrypted messaging technology in its cloud-based software solutions, by partnering with Luxembourg-based EDIfly. Followed by this, the company also got on board with its second and third-biggest carriers, to date, namely Philippine Airlines and Kenya Airways to provide an all-inclusive solution.”
Ahead of the curve “Cargoflash Infotech is thinking ahead of the curve and designing future-ready systems to collaborate between the key stakeholders of the air cargo industry. Cargoflash is directing the right kind of words in the global market, adhering to the need to implement digital solutions in air cargo management. “The company’s single platform solutions are allowing aviation stakeholders to access real-time information, which will be the harbinger for Proactive Data Analysis, leading to a better cargo product definition. “Service and Price recommendation engines will soon change the way air cargo is commercialised. With smart, seamless and intuitive solutions, Cargoflash aims to draw more potential stakeholders and spearhead the idea of how technology can simplify the entire air cargo operation as we effectively digitalise its management, worldwide.”
2022 Translating these trends into products, Chug says the way forward for the business will be launching the nGen Vani, a multilingual AI-Chatbot that will enable users to have human-like interaction with the system and get the desired information. “Following this will be a 3-D Warehouse Visualisation to assist warehouse supervisors to view the warehouse, real-time, and plan shipment storage/ retrieval based on the Loading Instruction Priority. “Also, we plan to introduce a Cargo Lens, using AI/ML, which is a shipment recognition technology. Further in 2022, we aim to further penetrate the global air cargo domain by providing integrated and advanced cloud-based solutions for air cargo management, on a global scale. Furthermore, the company is consistently emphasising the aspect of quality in its existing platforms and solutions whilst developing new software for the global air cargo domain.”
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