Delta Cargo Vice President–Commercial
Ray Curtis gets excited and deeply involved whilst attending air cargo
industry events. He can also get pretty worked up about show venues that
offer an opportunity to do some good, lasting business.
Big thoughts were sprung and sung in Shanghai
recently, after which Delta Cargo’s vice president of sales moved
back stateside to attend the gigantic Seafood Expo North America/Seafood
Processing North America in Boston, followed by a quick post Easter trip
to Intermodal Sao Paulo. The CNS partnership conference is up next on
the agenda, proving Ray Curtis moves as nimbly from show to show as he
does from success to success–here, FlyingTypers catches up with
the top executive.
In Boston
for Seafood
“We’ve been participating in
the Seafood show for nearly 30 years, and year after year we find great
value in being a part of this event. It’s an ideal opportunity to
connect with our customers and stay up to date on this important segment
of our business.
“Delta Cargo is a competitive option
for seafood and other perishable products; we have a far-reaching global
network and a fleet of aircraft that can deliver perishables to destinations
all over the globe and be fresh on arrival.”
Reliability Keys Success
“Operational reliability is extremely
important for time-sensitive shipments.
“Delta is running a very reliable
airline. In fact, 2014 was an exceptional year for our company. We finished
the year as the number one U.S. global network carrier in key DOT categories,
with an on-time performance of 83.7 percent and completion factor at 99.2
percent. Delta had 95 days where we completed 100 percent of our mainline
flights. This is something we are very proud of as a company and are focused
on continuing our momentum this year and beyond.”
Perishables
As A Foundation Business
 “Perishable
products are a key component of our business and we will continue to make
investments to support the efficient and reliable transportation for these
products in line with the needs of our customers.
“In fact, we have increased the staffing
of our product team, led by Alex Clayton, which will allow us to more
keenly focus on needs and growing our business in this market and others.
“Our worldwide cooler facilities are
set up to support the temperature control environments required to store
perishables in transit and on arrival.
“In 2013, we invested $700K in a 3,000-square-foot
cooler in our Detroit facility, which features two drive-through doors
with pallet-capable storage that increases capacity for shipments of pharmaceuticals,
flowers, fish, and seafood as well as fruits and vegetables in ideal climate
conditions.
“During the spring of 2014, we opened
a 36,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art co-location facility in Miami with
Virgin Atlantic, one of our joint venture partners.
“This warehouse has a 7,200-square-foot
cooler space with temperature tracking capabilities and monitoring systems
allowing for ideal temperature control, which is great for perishable
products.
“So, we are continuing to make investments
to support this key component of our business.
“We were pleased with the season last
year where we were fortunate to grow our business.
“In 2014, we moved more than 31,000
tons of seafood around the world with the majority originating in New
York and Boston.
“Our excellent season out of Seattle
and Alaska also contributed significantly to that number.
“We were especially pleased with the
salmon season in Alaska where we moved more than 2.5 million pounds out
of Anchorage in five months.
“Salmon from Santiago and tuna from
Palau were also good markets.
“Because fish is time-sensitive, we
foresee positive trending for air to continue being a preferred mode of
transportation in the future.
“Also, as the world becomes increasingly
more health-conscious—consuming more fresh and organic foods—we
see fresh fish having growth potential as the demand for it increases.
Paperless
Air Cargo
Taking a wider view, Ray Curtis has some ideas
that he believes should be shared industry wide.
“The air cargo business needs to continue
to evolve and become more efficient for all players in the supply chain.
“At Delta, we are highly focused on
removing paper from our business and providing our customers with intuitive,
easy-to-use self-service options for booking, submitting AWBs electronically,
and tracking their shipments throughout the lifecycle.
“We’re seeing real success in
our efforts to remove paper from the business and ended 2014 with international
eAWB penetration of 41 percent and 75 percent domestically.
“This is an area we remain committed
to growing.”
How Goes
The Shipment At Delta
“We’ll start with our people
because they’re what truly set us apart from our competition; we
have the best people in the business.
“Our team strives to take superb care
of our customers at each interaction from booking to delivery.
“We make every effort to protect fish
from the moment we accept it until it is delivered.
“When a shipment is accepted, we inspect
the boxing/packaging to ensure it complies with all of our instructions
and IATA’s regulations.
“When these guidelines are followed,
shipments can withstand a transit time of 48 hours in the event that there’s
a delay in the arrival.
“To further protect fish and keep
it as fresh as possible, we intentionally wait as close to departure time
as possible to take it planeside for loading (approximately one hour).
“Upon arrival at the destination,
we continue to monitor the handling of fish and keep it in coolers until
it is picked up by customers.
“Our team is well-trained on the importance
of and the care required for the shipment of seafood.
Performance Is Job One
“As I mentioned before, Delta’s
operational performance is exceptional.
“We’re continuing to make investments
in technology that also support the shipping process.
“Our teams are actively working closely
with their customers to educate them on the benefits of booking their
shipments electronically and moving from paper to electronic air waybills.
“In the second quarter of this year
we will be launching a newly-designed customer experience on deltacargo.com
that will offer more intuitive self-service options for booking, electronic
air waybill submission, and tracking shipments, further simplifying the
user experience.
“Modernizing our business is something
we need to work together as an industry to achieve.
“We operate in a very competitive
market. In the air cargo industry, our planes don’t fly any faster,
so we have to make an impression that makes customers want to do repeat
business with us.
“We have an unwavering focus on customer
service.
“Look, we realize they have options,
and we want them to continue to choose Delta Cargo for their shipping
needs.
“Our people continue to make the difference.”
Next Week At CNS Partnership
“Our theme is to connect with our
customers.
“The team is looking forward to seeing
our business partners and colleagues this year at the CNS Partnership;
they are our focus and why we do what we do.
“We’re committed to providing
the products and services our customers need to grow their business.
“It’s incredibly important for
us to continue to have conversations with our customers about their needs
and where we can make improvements.
“CNS also provides an additional opportunity
to thank our customers for the business they continue to give us year
after year,” Ray Curtis declared.
Geoffrey
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