They say the best things in life are free. One look at the joy and friendship in this picture, taken almost twenty years ago, will confirm that. Networking at the second CNS Partnership Conference in Dallas are (L to R) first CNS President Jack Lindsay, second CNS President Anthony (Tony) Calabrese, and original CNS Board Members Brian Barrow and Buz Whalen, with American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall.

     As Cargo Network Services (CNS) gathered in 2015 for its 25th Annual “Partnership Conference,” in Orlando, Florida, a private survey of a representative group of air freight forwarders and cargo agents disclosed the existence of widespread doubts in IATA’s core adherence to the principle of the airline-intermediary “partnership.”
     Respondents largely indicated that the turnaround in forwarder/agent opinion deepened as a direct loss of independent authority and action, and the organization’s reduction to just another IATA unit.
     Over the past quarter-century, the annual CNS partnership conferences have gained worldwide prominence. As seen by most of the interviewees, the “partnership” had tilted in favor of the air carriers.

Present At The Creation

     A quarter-century ago, I was invited by the sparkling new Cargo Network Service to contribute my experience to determine an answer to a vexing question: Should CNS, or should it not, invest time, effort and money in mounting a truly first-class air cargo conference? With the approval of CNS president Jack Lindsay, the invitation had been extended by Anthony P. Calabrese, then director of product development, who was aware of my intimacy with the industry’s growing number of cargo conferences. I agreed to cooperate—but before I continue with this report, I find it necessary to outline the air cargo industry landscape at that time. The scheduled airlines’ long-delayed awakening of the shipper as an important source of revenue was enriched by their flair for promotional ideas and public relations. Not much time passed before one of the carriers invited a section of the shipping public—forwarders, air cargo agents, industrial traffic managers and purchasing agents—to a luncheon meeting where they would be treated to a lesson in air cargo economics as well as to a tasty portion of roast beef.
     Competitor airlines gradually followed with their own versions of satisfying appetites while getting across a hard sell.
     It took a while, but as these meetings became longer, more detailed, and more sophisticated productions, I gradually became aware that something was amiss: In virtually every instance, the airline representatives in the audience seriously outnumbered the customer attendees.
     I editorialized on the problem. Didn’t the lopsided audience division matter to the carriers? Were they delivering the right message from the platform? What confined the users’ response to disappointing limits? The few readers who bothered to answer failed to cast convincing light on the puzzle.
     Tony Calabrese was one of my oldest and closest friends in the industry. Our nexus, I think, was a shared love of classical music. Typically, when we sat down with cups of coffee to discuss the unfairness of an IATA rule or recent breakpoints on electronic goods, it would wind up with criticism of a conductor’s use of his baton or on concert artists’ foibles. This time, with Jack Lindsay present at our meeting at CNS’ offices, Tony came right to the reason for the meeting without the usual preliminary formalities: On the basis of my wide experience, what is my personal reaction to a proposal to sponsor an annual air cargo conference that would take it around the country?


I Told You So

     “Oh, no,” I groaned, and I proceeded to repeat my argument especially when travel expenses and hotel fees were involved. I predicted failure, and I foresaw myself saying to Tony, “I told you so.”
     Tony was unfazed by my opposition, arguing that CNS’ built-in membership of several thousand agents represented a live pool of prospects. There existed an area of common interest and values. I cited the example of the Civil Aeronautics Board’s sponsorship of the one-day air cargo conferences scheduled in as many as six cities throughout the United States.
     After the third meeting, appalled by the paucity of active interest on the customer side, the board cancelled the remaining shows. In Chicago, with John C. Emery, Jr. as featured speaker, the meeting’s sponsor was forced to resort to an invitation to a local business school’s transportation and export students to fill vacant seats.
     Tony was probably aware of these incidents. In his calm, evenly stated way, he bore down on his confidence in the CNS agents’ homegrown support. This was basic. There were, too, the forwarders and shippers.
     In the end, Lindsay (after whose retirement a couple of years later Tony was to succeed as CNS president) went along with Tony, and the first of Partnership Conferences was born. Over the years the Partnership Conference, which sprang from Tony’s fertile mind, was recognized as one of the world industry’s best.
     During the closing hours of the initial meeting, Tony and I were sitting next to each other at a dinner table. We chatted about the day’s highlights. He had an idea that he wanted to implement next year, and before he could get into the details, he was interrupted by an aide who handed him a sheet of paper. Tony glanced at it briefly, smiled, then the smile broadened into a grin.
     “Customer attendance 18% over airline attendance.”
     Whereupon he leaned over to me and sweetly whispered in to my ear, “I told you so.”
Richard Malkin

malkin101@aircargonews.com