IATA sets out to show air cargo’s worth at WCS
07 / 02 / 2024
Brendan Sullivan. Source: IATA
“Air cargo’s success matters” to the global economy is one of the key messages that IATA’S global head of cargo wants to share at the trade body’s 2024 World Cargo Symposium (WCS).
Brendan Sullivan has highlighted the importance of growth in the air cargo industry ahead of the WCS from March 12-14, pointing out that airfreight provides solutions for shippers both in normal and extraordinary times.
“Air cargo is an unsung hero of the global economy. In normal times, it delivers some 35% of the value of goods traded across borders. In the pandemic, air cargo brought medical supplies and vaccines to where they were needed. And today it is providing a vital transport alternative for some products as Red Sea shipping lanes face geopolitical uncertainty. Air cargo’s success matters.
“When air cargo’s global leaders gather in Hong Kong for the IATA World Cargo Symposium, ensuring the future reliability and growth of this critical sector will be top of mind with an agenda focused on sustainability, digitalisation, safety and security.”
Ronald Lam, Cathay Group chief executive, Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, and Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s senior vice president sustainability and chief economist, will join Sullivan in setting the scene for the conference with keynote addresses during the Opening Plenary.
Other airfreight experts contributing during the Plenary will include Tom Owen, director of cargo, Cathay Pacific; Michael Steen, chief executive, Atlas Air; Vivian Lau, chief executive, Jardine Aviation Services Group; Kirsten de Bruijn, executive vice president cargo, WestJet; and Marco Bloeman, managing director, Accenture and head of Accenture Cargo.
The event’s overall theme of driving sustainable and inclusive growth will be supported by three tracks:
Sustainability, which will include sessions on tracking progress towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050, ESG reporting, optimising operations for environmental performance, reducing single- use plastics, and circular strategies for Unit Load Device (ULD) components.
Digitalisation, which will include sessions on data-driven strategies to improve performance and reduce costs, achieving the efficiencies of OneRecord, and the potential for generative AI in air cargo.
Safety & Security, which will include sessions on Annex 18 Regulatory oversight of freight forwarders/handling agents for dangerous goods shipments, fire containment strategies for lithium battery shipments, ULD airworthiness, the latest developments for the safety of live animal shipments, and implications of an integrated risk management framework.
IATA WCS 2024 brings the latest digitalisation, safety and sustainability insight
