orwarders are ready to embrace the new Multilateral electronic Air Waybill (e-AWB) standard agreed by the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) and IATA earlier this year, although some believe it will favor larger logistics operators.
The aim of the e-AWB is to replace paper AWBs with electronic messages and remove the need for bilateral e-AWB agreements between airlines and freight forwarders. Airlines will instead have a single agreement with IATA that enables them to accept e-AWBs from all participating freight forwarders. Freight forwarders, for their part, will have a single agreement that will allow them to tender e-AWB shipments to multiple airlines at numerous airports worldwide.
     “I think this is good for everyone, including airlines and forwarders,” said Paul Tsui, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics. “Previously, forwarders and airlines had to spend substantial resources and time to review bilateral e-AWB agreements.
     “Now forwarders can simply sign one multilateral e-AWB agreement and work with a number of airlines who have already agreed to this multilateral agreement. This could save time and money between the two.”       Michael Blaufuss, Senior Vice Present, Air Freight, at Agility Logistics says he isn’t convinced the e-AWB is the single most important documentation advance in years, as its proponents suggest. But he does believe it is a good start toward removing paper from supply chains, promoting the use of e-freight, as well as being an eco-friendly initiative.
     He also believes it will help speed the movement of goods by reducing processing times, not least because many airlines are committed to ambitious targets for e-AWB use.
     “It was a big achievement that IATA reached a general e-AWB agreement with their members, which can be signed now on a global or regional basis between carrier and forwarder,” he said. “The burden of many different kinds of e-AWB terms by the various airlines is taken away. E-AWB will be big on the agenda of many forwarders these days, as it indeed simplifies processes once it starts working.”
     Blaufuss said the new system would favor integrators and larger forwarders, which have the most to gain from more efficient transactions and production cost reductions.
     But Tsui argues this will not necessarily be the case, with IT service providers able to offer technical support to SMEs to connect to carrier and terminal operator systems and improve e-commerce transactions. Haffa is now negotiating with IT service providers for a preferential services fee for SMEs to help them manage e-commerce systems and track processes on a real-time basis. “This will certainly increase the capability of SMEs to compete with MNCs,” he said.
     Tsui also dismissed the suggestion that forwarders could lose business to airlines if customers were able to buy services direct from airlines, a process that hit travel agents in the passenger sector as e-commerce took off. He believes shippers need integrated logistics solutions, taking in supply chain management, value-added, options and finance—services that many airlines are not able or willing to deliver.
     “I do not think the e-AWB will lead to forwarders being cut off from the chain,” said Tsui. “The situation is quite different between cargo and passenger; as airlines will not deal directly with shippers, everything will go through forwarders.
     “Cargo movements are complicated. Using forwarders, customers are able to reach out to a number of airline options instead of only one. Also, only forwarders are able to offer economies of scale through consolidation.
     “In addition, I do not see airlines as willing to offer long credit terms to anyone without proper accreditation. Customers are simply not willing to go through the accreditation exercise and only accept less than 30 days credit terms with a 15 day payment circle.”
     At the end of 2012, around 6 percent percent of air cargo trade was being conducted using e-AWB. IATA targets forecast this will rise to 20 percent by the end of 2013, and 100 percent on feasible trade lanes by the end of 2015.
      Blaufuss thinks, “100 percent at 2015 is a bit optimistic, but considerable growth is achievable,” while Tsui believes 12 percent take-up globally this year and 100 percent by 2017 are more realistic expectations.
SkyKing

     Air Canada has been Canada's largest airline and flag carrier since 1936.
     With a major cargo hub at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario, the carrier’s main base is Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Quebec.
     Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance and its cargo division has long had a reputation for service excellence and innovation, something we can attest dates back to the days of Mike Scullion, who led the charge during the 1970s, to the long tenure of Claude Morin, who moved from cargo upward at Air Canada.

oday Air Canada Cargo has the distinction of being led by a woman, Lise-Marie Turpin.
In fact, as Managing Director of Air Canada Cargo, Lise-Marie is the highest-ranking female air cargo leader in the Americas.
Lise-Marie Turpin was appointed Managing Director of Air Canada Cargo in September 2008.
She is responsible for all aspects of the cargo business for Air Canada.
     Lise-Marie was previously responsible for the cargo operation system-wide as Senior Director, Cargo Services.
     Since joining Air Canada in 1995, she has held a number of management positions including General Manager, Passenger Sales Europe, responsible for all sales generated in Europe, as well as Manager, Passenger Sales France, Spain, and the Benelux, and Manager Passenger Sales, Quebec.
     Prior to joining Air Canada, Lise-Marie held a number of management positions at Air France – Canada, in both Passenger and Cargo divisions.
     Lise-Marie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanistic Studies from McGill University.
     As IATA Cargo Network Services Partnership Conference 2013 takes off today in Phoenix, we asked Lise-Marie to share some thoughts about the year thus, far and what lies ahead for Air Canada Cargo.
     “Q1 has been challenging, as air cargo traffic remains soft, while up until now, passenger traffic has been relatively strong, resulting in a context of over-capacity in most markets.
     “No big surprises (markets, etc.), but we have felt some disappointment that Asia to the Americas traffic has not shown any signs of strengthening.
     “To date, 2013 is very similar to 2012.
     “Let’s hope that we will see an improvement in traffic toward the latter part of the year, as some predict.
     “In terms of where we want to to be with your business, Air Canada Cargo always wants to be ahead.
     “But 2013 did not start off quite as planned.
     “Having said that, we have seen some positive signs in April.”


     “We have quite a bit of good news.
     “First, we recently announced the upcoming induction of five new B777s into our fleet, the first one being introduced into our Summer schedule between YUL and CDG. In addition, we will be launching a new route between YYZ/IST as well as adding frequency between YYC and NRT, YYZ and YVR/PEK, and YYZ/ICN.
     “On July 1st, Air Canada will launch a new low cost carrier, Rouge, which will operate B767 service to two new destinations, EDI and VCE, as well as ATH.
     “Air Canada Cargo will sell all of the cargo capacity on Rouge routes moving forward.”


     “We have some excellent partnerships with a number of carriers around the globe.
     These are principally based on interline agreements. For example, we look forward to further developing our relationship with Etihad in a way that makes sense for both of us.”


     “I believe that there is a genuine willingness to pull together as an industry to confront our realities, be they regulatory, climatic, or economic in nature.
     “There appears to be consensus on the need for change, the need to improve our service offering vs. other modes of transportation.
     “It is now acknowledged that much can be achieved by embracing e-commerce and working through the basics to improve our speed of processes.”


     “International traffic represents approximately 85 percent of our business, which is in line with our wide-body fleet deployment.
     “As new aircraft come into our fleet, new markets will be opened.
     “Traffic within North America accounts for approximately 15 percent of our business.
     “Having said this, both sales to/from Canada and the U.S. to/from international markets via our hubs in YYZ, YVR, and YUL are important to our success
     “Air Canada flies to over fifty destinations in the U.S., largely with narrow body aircraft. However, we do operate some wide body capacity into LAX, which is supported by the perishables market.
     “We also have a very good trucking network to satisfy our customers’ air cargo needs.
     “The U..S is an important market for us both inbound and outbound.
     “At the moment, traffic is stable.”


     “With the introduction of the B787s into our fleet beginning in Q1 of 2014, we can expect to see our expansion in the Americas.
     “There are definitely interesting markets in South America that we are eager to develop, especially when we will have the appropriate aircraft type to deploy on a year round basis.
     “Air Canada Cargo has an excellent worldwide network, which is further expanded through our extensive trucking network and solid partnerships with our interline partners.
     “We can flow traffic quickly, reliably, and efficiently through our hubs in YYZ, YVR, and YUL.”
     “It should also be said that Air Canada Cargo has an extensive global reach deserving consideration when moving shipments beyond Canada.”
Geoffrey/Sabiha

     As an industry first, these two Canadian-based groups, IATA Ground Handling Council and ULD CARE
will run side-by-side meetings from May 5-8 in the Pacific Northwest with scheduled crossover participation.      The two meeting locations are within a few minutes of walking distance from each other, facing the harbor on the beautiful northeastern side of Vancouver.
     Wende T. DiMuro, FAA Aviation Safety Inspector, AFS-330, speaks at IGHC about “Regulatory Requirements for ULD Operations” with Trevor Howard, Air Canada’s Manager Cargo Safety and Dangerous Goods Standards, who will give a talk on the transportation of lithium batteries and share his hands-on experiences on how to manage the risk associated with their transportation. These presentations will be given to the ULD CARE group the following day.
     There will be a workshop open to IGHC members concerning IATA ULD Regulations (ULDR) – The Case for Best Practices in Ground Operations to Reduce Risk and Cost. Speakers and panelists will present the contents of the ULDR and identify opportunities for genuine change in ULD operations. In subsequent workshop sessions, participants will formulate action plans to minimize risk and reduce cost in ground operations while providing ULD CARE with a direction to make the best use of these changes.
     Additionally, Urs Wiesendanger, (right) Air Canada Cargo Network Control – ULD Logistics and Vice President ULD CARE will speak at the IGHC to elaborate how ULD CARE will expand its mission with airlines to embrace the entire logistics chain involved in ULD activities, including the Ground Handling community. His address is titled: “ULD Care: Don’t Risk It – Care for It!”
     Elaine Liew, Risk Management Consultant, IATA shares her experience in training airlines and ground service providers on modeling their risk and the pitfalls that leaders face, and will present to both groups. The talk is titled: “We Are All In This Together” giving live examples of what happens if there is little or no integration.
     IGHC features a list of high profile speakers, including Guenther Matschnigg, IATA senior VP Safety, Operations and Infrastructure; Henrik Ambak, VP Ground Services & Commercial IT, Cargolux; John Kleberg, Managing Director of Corporate Quality Assurance, United Airlines; Nick Careen, VP of Airports, Air Canada; Guy Defresne, TaxiBot Technical Project Leader, Airbus; and David Anderson, Head of Operational Safety, British, just to name a few.
     This will be the first meeting for ULD CARE since the new name was adopted. Industry and regulator updates will be delivered including SAE, ISO, and the FAA. The program also features technology presentations such as “M2M, Location and Environmental Tracking” which holds great promise and is of particular interest to both airline members and non-airline participants. A specific agenda item is devoted to focusing on how best to implement the IATA ULD Regulations for the overall benefit of ULD Operations and speakers include Michael Spry of Boeing, James Everett (right) with CHEP, Kuniaki Inaoka with Nippon Cargo, and Angel Cheung (pictured) with DAS Nordisk, all of whom will provide points of view from the perspective of their different businesses.
     ULD CARE will hear an IGHC presentation covering ISAGO (IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations) and the ground damage database.
     With busy agendas and a mutual effort to collaborate in matters of joint interest, it remains to be seen how the interaction between participants evolves and whether similar parallel meetings will be repeated. Watch this space.
Ted Braun

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RE:  Bellies Versus Freighters

Dear Geoffrey,

     I have much respect for Professor Issa Baluch, but I believe he is wrong in his statement:
     “Actually, in air cargo the challenge is always belly space versus freighter capacity,” says Harvard Logistics Professor Issa Baluch in FlyingTypers last week.
     I agree the challenge is always belly space vs. freighter capacity.
     But they do not work in cycles, but together. Belly space is naturally less expensive than freight space as passenger aircraft would go with or without cargo.
     And cargo is very profitable to a passenger airline because the most profitable thing you can put on an aircraft is the last thing.
     But because it is the last thing that goes on after the passengers, their bags, and the mail, it is not as reliable as moving cargo on freighters.
     Some cargo departments within passenger carriers trying to overcome this have developed different, time-defined services for different prices—expedited/must ride, economy/2 to 5 day, and space available. But in the end, the cargo on freighter is more reliable.
     Therefore the customer, in addition to knowing the measurement criteria of his shipment, also needs to know the service/time requirements of their product and hence choose the best, most economical method of transportation—be it truck, rail, sea, or air.
     The air cargo business is more complicated than this, but these dynamics are the main drivers.

Bill Boesch

     Bill Boesch, former President of American Airlines Cargo, was elected into the TIACA Hall of Fame two weeks ago in Dallas.
     Still at air cargo after a half century, Bill is working to bring the US Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) into better logistics support for the US military.
     Here he is pictured with life partner Shari (L) and daughter Heather (R) at the TIACA Awards dinner.

RE: Air Cargo Germany Down For The Count Letter

Hi Geoffrey,

     Your comments on Air Cargo Germany were never, ever disrespectful.
     Like Ulf, I am a German as well.
     The advantage of FlyingTypers is to simply bring facts to the point.
     And you do well in doing that.
     Very well

Your Friend
Harald
Harald Zielinski
Lufthansa Cargo
Head of Security & Environmental Management

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