Airline cost-saving boost for Jettainer

OUTSOURCED ULD management may not be everyone’s idea of low-hanging fruit, but Jettainer wants to shake the cost saving tree.
The 100 per cent Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary has around 80,000 ULDs under its control for 14 airlines, with another three likely to sign up between now and early 2015.
Jettainer head of marketing, Martin Kraemer, sees plenty of new business opportunities, with 90 per cent of IATA carriers still performing ULD management in-house.
“There is a trend to outsource ULD management. Number one because of the cost: we can do it more efficiently. And then every airline is constantly trying to cut costs. They will take a knife off the tray or an apple out of the breakfast meal,” he says.
“We are one of the last low hanging fruits for easier cost cutting and increased efficiency. But our apple is at the back of the tree and not easy to spot. We have to drag them [potential customers] around to see it.”
When Jettainer signs up a new customer, it buys the entire ULD fleet, an incentive for carriers to outsource because it receives money for releasing an asset off its balance sheet.
“We normally have five year contracts and so far they are all renewed. We must be doing a good job,” enthuses Kraemer.
And while Jettainer is one of only two major ULD fleet management companies worldwide, there is new competition to combat: software companies with off-the-shelf logistics solutions for in-house ULD asset management.
 “We could sell our software but we don’t. We are a full service outsourcing company and we do the full outsourcing package. We bring IT, network and human resources,” he adds.  
Read Roger Hailey’s  full interview in Air Cargo News  14 July 2014 – Issue No. 781