Tone of cautious optimism for final quarter of 2014 for global air cargo
20 / 03 / 2015
"The air cargo industry is seeing stability" Michael Steen, Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings told attendees at Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Miami. "The question to ask" he added, "Is it sustainable growth? While there is solid growth in many markets of between 3-5% there is pressure on yields".
Doug Brittin, Secretary General, TIACA said that while it’s good for the industry to see an upturn there are long term challenges including a "perfect storm of regulatory issues". Shawn McWhorter, President Nippon Cargo Airlines Americas supported the view of positive growth and said, "what is most encouraging is the increase in movement of capital equipment which is vital to sustain economic growth". Daniel Bleckmann, Regional Director, South Americas, Lufthansa Cargo mentioned growth in the oil and gas industry that had fuelled substantial growth, so much so that Lufthansa Cargo has established a team dedicated to this category. "In South America Brazil is a big issue due to the economic downturn, but there is strong growth in Mexico as a result of the new business approach to near-sourcing".
As is often the case at forums like this the issue of modal shift was discussed. "It’s not about modal shift,"said Michael Steen, "there is so much new business to be had if we can deliver speed and efficiency". Sean McWhorter added,"delivering as promised is important. Having transparency of movement and reliability is vital". He said that presently there is more demand than capacity. Forwarders were cautious and didn’t buy enough capacity, now need it. FedEx is looking at the peak of peaks being in December driven by e-commerce.Doug Brittin commented that "everyone wants a high level of transparency across the supply chain. This is key to our ongoing success".
Daniel Bleckmann said that the economic crisis over the past few years had made all players more flexible and added "the outlook is encouraging but in January all clocks go back to zero"
