| 
 Change,
as the result of the less than spectacular past couple of business years,
is certainly in the wind.
It may be driven by world economies, or
it could be the freighters, or maybe even a paradigm shift of priorities,
but AFKLMP cleared the air on many subjects Thursday April 18 in Amsterdam.
“The Group” summoned the global
air cargo press corps for a meet up as Passover and Easter Eve advanced,
to deliver a clear and simple message.
A gauntlet has been thrown down declaring
that AFKLMP, partner airline companies flying under separate banners,
are in the game together for a solid air cargo future.
When you think about making a statement
of objectives and principles in air cargo, what emerged at this event
can also be viewed as a master class for air cargo marketing.
Not since Jacques Ancher (who interestingly
enters the TIACA Hall of Fame exactly one Thursday later on April 24 in
Istanbul, Turkey honoring his industry ground breaking leadership at KLM
Cargo twenty years ago, pictured (right) at one of his press events) held
sway, has a press gathering at AMS been quite this clear and to the point.
 What
instantly stands out here as takeaway is that whether carried aboard a
larger or smaller passenger aircraft or freighters, or via even closer
cooperation with partners (including Delta), AFKLMP Cargo armed with specific
objectives and goals is driven to not only keep pace with current market
trends, but will also lead the way moving ahead.
“We specifically will return to profitability
by 2016,” said Erik Varwijk, (left) Executive Vice President, Air
France-KLM-Martinair Cargo.
“We will achieve positive results
as world economies rebound by leveraging our three airline strong culture
for air cargo. Our principal focus will be on investing in our offerings
and prioritizing getting very close to our customers in every aspect of
our business.
“We are about maximizing cargo contribution
to the group by being the customer’s preferred airline and the leading
European provider of air cargo services,” he declared.
“AFKLMP intends to be among the top
three airline cargo resources on the planet,” Varwijk added.
 What’s
Hot
At this point there is good indication that
some of the group’s new programs are working.
“As example, our new tool to expedite
business called “Click & Book” is an instant success.
“Our customers love it!” Eelco
van Asch, Senior Vice President Sales & Distribution declared.
“Over 100,000 C&B quotes have
been offered as the numbers keep growing daily,” van Asch added.
Taking The
Temp of Pharma
“Healthcare is trending upward as
a major area of growth in our service offering, with business building
above 5% per year,” said Ramon Delima, Vice President, Variation
and Industries.
 “AFKLMP
Pharma ambition: grow business 10% every year (Q1: 20% growth), said name
(pharma)
“We have been keen on setting the standards for Pharma airfreight
solutions:
Pharma Active; Pharma Control 2-8° C; Pharma Control 15-25° C;
Pharma 2-25 ° C.”
Has that paid Off?
“Currently we hold a 50% market share
from North America to Europe (WorldACD).
“Part of the reason for our position
in movement of Pharma emanates from our people of course and also from
dedicated operations, sales and product management in our centralized
one business unit for Pharma with separate cool storage and specialized
active container handling in Schiphol and Paris,” Delima said.
“What’s more, we are currently
investing EUR 25 to insure our continued leadership in this sector by
strengthening the cool chain, with new Pharma Control 15-25 °C temperature-controlled
facilities in Schiphol and Paris.
“We are also investing in better cool
facilities worldwide, as example in Cairo, Egypt.
Partnerships are also being developed all
up and down the cool chain.
“Recently we began real-time monitoring
of temperature sensitive shipments in partnership with K&N RFID.
Mailing It
In
 “As
we know, from our online figures—a 5% uptick in international shipments—increasingly
are driven by e-commerce, so we are exploring every aspect of growth and
opportunity and product enhancements.
Currently AFKLMP Cargo says its annual growth
is pegged at 7%.
“But 12% of turnover is Express and
Mail,” reports Stephane Bocquet, Vice President Express and Postal
Services.
“Our plan is to focus on increasing
E&M growth to 25% by 2020.
“Our aim towards postal organizations
worldwide is to position AFKLMP to handle e-commerce for both the B2C
and B2B segments.
The group is targeting business with integrators,
couriers, as well as forwarders with a strong e-commerce focus.
But there are also new players entering
the domain (e.g. Distance sellers, comparison sites).
“Again, with resources— our
people and a long-held committment to this sector of our business we can
offer a high level of reliability with worldwide coverage, daily regular
services and growing belly capacity on our combined passenger fleets,"
Bocquet explains.
Dedicated
Business Unit
“AFKLMP today includes highly specialized
warehouses in hubs CDG and SPL as core to our service offering.
“We have long held an active front
running role in Postal Corporation ‘IPC’
“In terms of postal product enhancements,
our new legacy systems for Cargo / Express (Cargobus) and Mail (Stamp)
with enhanced end to end tracing are operating at new facilities at SPL
as well as our other state of the art facility at CDG.
“Our industry leading “Closer
Hub” in collaboration with Sodexi and Geopost further reduce transit
handling times for Postal and Express flows,” Bocquet added.
 |
Out
of Freighters?
 A
good way to get straight answer to this “hot potato” question
is to go directly to a market expert who markets all-cargo lift and that
would be Christophe Boucher, Vice President, Asia & Middle East, AFKLMP
Cargo.
“Is there a decision,” Boucher
says rhetorically
“No.
“I think if you look at the profitability
of the full freighter, then yes, they are not profitable.
“And I think that in a company that
is properly run, yes, you have to ask yourself some questions.
“For the time being, our target here
in India is to optimize our capacity.
“That’s definitely our target
and we hope to be able to keep freighters in India.
“I doubt if the mother company will
accept the kind of losses that we had last year,” Christophe Boucher
said.
Geoffrey/Sabiha, additional reporting Tirthankar
Ghosh |
