Cargo iQ names new board members and shares key objectives

Cargo iQ has added two new board members, has re-elected its chair and vice-chair, and has unveiled its key strategies for the future.

Fedor Novikov, marketing director at Volga-Dnepr Group, and Clark Fritzsch, global head of business process management for airfreight at forwarder at Hellmann, have been admitted to the board of the 64-member Geneva-based group.

Novikov replaces a board seat vacated by Mark Albrecht of United Airlines, and Fritzsch replaces Markus Muecke, managing director of Im3pact AG, who has moved from being a voting member to advisor to the board.

They join Cargo iQ chair Henrik Ambak, who is also senior vice president of cargo operations worldwide at Emirates SkyCargo, and vice-chair Kerstin Strauss, vice president of air logistics operations, global air logistics at Kuehne+Nagel.

At the same time, Emanuel Hille, director eCargo solutions at Champ Cargosystems replaces Laurent Jossa from the same company as an observer.

New board member Fedor Novikov said: “For the last 18 months, the role of air cargo has been more visible as the entire cargo industry delivered vital supplies across the globe in the battle against the Covid-19 spread. Now it is time to scale up initiatives and implement projects and plans aimed at further enhancing the quality of the supply chain.

“I think that Cargo iQ is on the right track with this as it has been nurturing an innovative spirit since the first day of its work.”

Clark Fritzsch added: “As the airfreight community has been quite fragmented in terms of standards in quality control and transparency, joining the one interest group that is fully committed to finding a solution across most participants within the airfreight supply chain is the best way in pushing this industry into the ‘23rd century’. I hope and believe I can add an additional view to move the agenda forward.”

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Cargo iQ board’s is made up of 13 voting members, including representatives from Agility Logistics, Air France KLM Martinair, AirBridgeCargo, Cargomind (Austria), Cathay Pacific, DB Schenker, DHL Global Forwarding, Emirates SkyCargo, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Kuehne+Nagel, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo and Swissport International, supported by observer Champ Cargosystems and advisor Im3Pact.

The new board members were formally welcomed at Cargo iQ’s working group attended by more than 100 people last month.

The organisations key objectives for the year were also agreed and included achieving 100% reporting; reaching out and engaging with small and medium sized forwarders; and truly enacting Cargo IQ’s quality management system (QMS) by enhancing service delivery support in addition to post-event reporting.

Henrik Ambak explained: “Cargo iQ’s objectives for 2021 are designed to move closer to our overall goal of 100% visibility in a concise manner and support the parts of the community which need our QMS most. Both AirBridgeCargo and Hellmann have shown their commitment to Cargo iQ’s objectives and their contribution as board members will accelerate and support our progression.”

Sub working groups discussed issues for Cargo iQ members to work on in coming months including included cargo messaging, care protocols, smart data and suggested changes to the audit process.

They also discussed improvements to the Cargo iQ master operating plan, as well as updates for its Encore platform, which maintains offset agreements between carrier and forwarder members.

The groups also discussed exception handling code procedure and ways for road feeder service providers to complement airlines in their offline procedures.

Following additional meetings, they will report back in November.