Two days faster – or become extinct
05 / 03 / 2015
SHIPMENTS need to arrive two days earlier than is normal – or the air cargo industry will continue to lose customers to other modes.
Reducing transit times is the number one priority if air cargo is to remain competitive and give shippers compelling reasons to stay.
Recognising the need for urgent improvements, IATA has called for average end-to-end transit times to be cut by at least 48 hours by the end of this decade.
Currently the transit time is around six to seven days on average – a paradigm that, shockingly, has not altered since the 1960s.
Des Vertannes, global head of cargo at the airline association, is determined to see improvements.
“Generally, we need to move the goal posts,” he says. “Customers are paying for a premium service, but they are not getting one. It’s incumbent on us all to revolutionise the process.”
IATA’s aim is to raise quality standards – through sustainable reliability and speed of delivery.
“Let’s set ourselves a challenging goal. Let us commit to cutting 48 hours off the average end-to-end time of a consignment by the end of this decade. That would really make a difference to our value proposition,” Vertannes adds.
Read Nigel Tomkins’ full news analysis in the next edition of Air Cargo News 24 March 2014 – Issue 773
