“All
in all, a decent turnout and a great opportunity to visit with our business
partners, friends, and colleagues in one place over a couple of days in
a nice hotel,” Marco said.
“EMO Trans just had a great first
quarter with new business, the West Coast impasse winding down, increased
imports as a result of the strengthening dollar, and a new office in Japan.
“EMO is celebrating 50 years in 2015
and will establish subsidiaries in Mainland China and Hong Kong later
this year,” Mr. Rohrer said.
Tilo and Uwe revealed that EMO canvassed
their offices across the USA to ascertain the mood in each office, challenges,
and other concerns, and also positives that they might share with their
service partners at CNS this week.
The results were interesting.
 |
“There is a huge
disconnect going on at the ground handling level, resulting in long lines
of trucker queues awaiting pick up, including delays of many hours at
major and even minor gateways,” Tilo said.
“It seems to us that there are some
procedural applications that might be brought to bear, including better
usage of cell-phone and computer technologies for communications and to
get things moving,” Tilo added.
“As an example, at some gateways where
we need to get express shipments through quickly, because there are no
express acceptance docks, we end up in the queue with all other traffic,”
he noted.
“Some terminals are outdated, including
operations that are multi-door, but just one or two are open,” Marco
said.
“Gateway issues in Chicago include
construction that in some cases has had the net result of a flight taking
less time city-to-city than it takes to unload the plane and make the
cargo available for pick up by our truckers,” he added.
“We spoke to the point that the result
of massive third party handling has created a situation that needs closer
examination of how it is impacting our business as forwarders,”
Marco said.
“One look at the daily delays and
huge line up of trucks big and small at O’Hare speaks volumes about
the need for change,” Uwe said.
Tilo Weger makes the case with a practical
scenario involving the CNS host hotel:
“This Orlando hotel is the perfect
example of the real world of today and where air cargo should be.
“I don’t know if you have seen
that you can check in your bags for eight different airlines in the hotel
lobby, instead of standing in line at the airport.
“That is 2015.
 “Here
is another example that is even more interesting.
“I had my car parked by the valet
service and received a receipt ticket.
“When we were ready to leave I sent
a text to the valet with my number and immediately received the following
reply: ‘Flash Valet has received your request for ticket 146901.
We will notify you when your vehicle will be ready.’
“A few minutes later, I received the
following text: ‘Your car will be ready in approximately 5 minutes.
Please make your way to the valet stand.’
“If you compare this simple, web-based
solution to, say, waiting with 50 trucks lined up along the road to the
airport, waiting for hours, the differences are startling.
“After the queue on the road, the
trucker must again stand in line at a little window to drop off paperwork,
then go back and forth and wait some more until the cargo is finally located.
“It is past time as an industry that
we find a way to change things,” Tilo Weger said.
Asked how their statements at CNS were received,
Marco said, “All were fairly responsive and our conversations were
quite cordial.
“We were told that the airlines are
aware of the situation and all promised to work even harder toward some
intermediate and long-term solutions.”
“We can only hope,” Tilo smiled.
Geoffrey/Sabiha/Flossie |
