Davel takes on CEO role at MSC Air Cargo

Jannie Davel has been appointed chief executive at MSC Air Cargo after having been in the role of senior vice president air cargo for the last two years.

Davel said in a LinkedIn post on September 30: “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as chief executive at MSC Air Cargo.

“As I look back on the last two years, I’m filled with immense gratitude for the milestones achieved, the lessons learned, and the opportunities that have shaped my journey—culminating in my recent promotion to chief executive.

“Leading a world-class team and helping build MSC Air Cargo has been an incredible experience, and I owe so much to the support and inspiration of my family, mentors, and colleagues.

“I’m excited about what lies ahead and ready to take on the challenges of this new role with renewed energy.”

Prior to joining MSC in October 2022, Davel was managing director commercial at Delta Cargo, based in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Before joining Delta, he had a brief stint as senior vice president at Florida-headquartered Global Feeder Services and also worked as vice president cargo commercial operations – Americas at Emirates SkyCargo for over two years.

Earlier in his career, he spent nearly eight years working for DHL Global Forwarding in various global regions.

Swiss shipping firm MSC has grown its share in the airfreight market in recent years. The shipping company launched MSC Air Cargo in 2022, with a deal for US carrier Atlas Air to operate four new Boeing 777-200 freighters on a global ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance). The last of these freighters was delivered to Atlas in January.

In October last year, the company revealed more plans for MSC Air Cargo’s network development in North America, Europe and Asia.

The shipping giant has also been active in the acquisition space. In March this year, MSC subsidiary SAS Shipping Agencies Services Sàrl entered into a put option agreement for the acquisition of 42.06% of the share capital of France-based international air and sea freight forwarder Clasquin.

And in August 2023, the company acquired a majority stake in Milan-based airfreight carrier AlisCargo Airlines.

MSC also submitted a joint bid with German airline Lufthansa for a stake in Italian airline ITA Airways in 2022, but subsequently dropped out of the project.

The company has further been growing its logistics business. SAS completed the acquisition of Bolloré Africa Logistics, now rebranded as Africa Global Logistics (AGL), at the end of 2022.