Although Emirates SkyCargo is not immune to the slumping world business situation, as summer 2012 chugs along, there are developments of expanding new markets as the Dubai powerhouse continues its upward climb to new altitudes.
     Here our old friend, Ram Menen, DSVP of Emirates SkyCargo, shares some insights of what’s up and ahead.
     “Spain has been quite a success story for us.
     “On the cargo front, we are delighted to bring Barcelona back on line with a daily passenger/cargo operation—we used to have thrice weekly online freighter operation pre-crisis in 2008.
     “We are now featuring a double daily combination operation to Madrid and continue to serve Zaragoza three times a week with our freighters.
     Emirates will also begin our daily passenger operation to Lisbon March 9, 2013 that will offer our customers quite good distribution coverage in the Iberian Peninsula.
     “That move will also greatly enhance our time to destination for our customers in both directions in the region as well as the entire network.
     “The overall market condition is still quite subdued.
     “Inbound Europe, U.S., and hence, the outbound China markets are most effected.
     “Though we were cautiously optimistic about the last two quarters getting better in traffic terms, our optimism is slightly dampened because of the current economic indicators.
     “The EU crisis and lack of quick resolution to this seems to be dragging the economies in the rest of the world into uncertainty.
     “Oil prices, which are no longer supply and demand driven, still remain high and are putting undue pressure on household expendable income, which is affecting the sales of consumer goods.
     “We are hoping that the world’s largest consumer market, the U.S. will be on a better wicket after the elections and will give the rest of the world a boost.
     “At this stage it is very difficult to predict anything. We are more in ‘managing the moment’ mode and continue to monitor the markets very closely. These are short-term challenges that we have to deal with.      “However, we are all in it for the long term, hence, we continue with our fleet and network expansion program.
     “We will be adding four more B777Fs in the next 8 months.
     “In terms of developing events I am a bit surprised at the lack of ability to predict anything, even a quarter in advance.
     “Interestingly, the world’s best economic minds are also struggling to make sense of what is going on!
     “The challenges that we are having to deal with in 2012 will probably have a positive effect on how the world will behave and how economies will operate in the future.
     “The excesses of the last two decades are now being exposed and we are all currently going thru the pain of the correction process. The regulators, hopefully, will modernize, update, and reform regulations that will be able to deal with the 21st century realities and prevent the kind of challenges, especially on the financial institutions front, that we are going through.
     “The socio-political situation in the Middle-East is also bringing in a more open political environment in the region. All in all, the world seems to be going thru a renewal process.
     “Moving ever forward at Emirates SkyCargo, we will continue to support the various industry initiatives like e-Freight, Secure Freight, etc.
     “This will all bode well in streamlining our business processes and continue to bring added cost efficiencies, from which all can benefit.”
Geoffrey/Sabiha

When it comes to China everybody wants the big picture: Here visitors try out professional cameras on display at The Photo & Imaging Show last week in Shanghai.

      China is still on pace to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2020.
      Now, China has made some moves to goose up the world’s second-biggest economy by cutting interest rates for the second time in a month.
      That action inspired the well-respected USA financial publication Barron’s to write:
      “To us it looks like the Great China Growth Story may be falling apart.”
      Obviously what is happening in China is old news to air cargo, with the general slowdown felt by all serving as testament to that.
      New Yorker Online reported this week:
      “Nike says that its Chinese stockrooms are piling up with inventory.
      “Similar complaints are coming in from McDonald’s, Caterpillar, and Procter & Gamble Co.
      “Within China, the stakes of a slowdown are high as well: for half a century, political scientists have recognized that political unrest does not tend to erupt in places that are most deprived; it hits when a pattern of rising growth and expectations abruptly stops.
      “And that is Beijing’s worst fear.”
      Adding to China’s woes is a flat real estate market, which, as construction slowed, has impacted commodity prices for copper, steel, and other building essentials.
      China as manufacturer to the world must now factor into its plan the overall slump in Europe and America, and that the reality of 2012 has either left China exports piled up, or caused manufacturing to idle down considerably from its former mega-clip.
      No doubt, the current situation reaches out and is felt by every sector, including the nation’s large merchant ship fleet that, without orders, must go out and sail around looking for business, or worse—stay stuck in port.
But all is not gloom and doom.
      Recently, The Financial Times wrote:
      “The market may have bottomed—a development that could reignite the construction boom and have big implications for economic growth.”
      So what happens next?
      In approaching the end of its hyper-growth, few doubt that China will lift itself from being 1/5th the size of the U.S. economy, to eclipsing the U.S economy, within ten years.
      Now China seems more like other Asian economies in the past (South Korea comes to mind), as the easy-pickings business gravy train has left the airport.
      Looking down the road a bit further, if growth just continues apace at say 7 percent per annum, by 2100, China's economy could be six times the size of the U.S. economy.
      So despite what may someday look like a period of adjustment in 2012, there is no doubt the order of economic change in the world will continue.
      No one can underestimate what may happen as China moves along to its apparent destiny in the world, although timetables can be tricky.
      What absolutely cannot be predicted is the growing impact of social media across China.
      As more and more of the world is connected via the world wide web and devices continue to build in numbers and shrink in size, “netizens” might feel that they exist at least some of the time in a whole different place.
      Right now, Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter reportedly has over 300 million members, or about as many people as there are in the USA.
      Speaking of China social media, we like checking in occasionally with Tea Leaf Nation. www.tealeafnation.com
Geoffrey/Sabiha

     “There can be no talk as yet of a real crisis,” Karl Ulrich Garnadt Executive Board Chairman & CEO of Lufthansa Cargo says reporting a 9.2% decline in volume for the first six months of 2012.
     “Extreme volatility has been a hallmark of our industry for some time now, and we know how we have to deal with it. Lufthansa Cargo temporarily suspends flights from its schedule or closes down routes permanently when they cease to be financially viable.
    “This flexible, demand-driven management of our capacities is one of our strengths that we are also relying on now.”
    A bright spot in all of this were load factors for the passenger and cargo fleet that remained about constant at 68.4 per cent.

Jack Lampinski, Managing Director, The Americas Swiss WorldCargo On New Newark Service

Please click on image to view video

     Think you have problems?
     What would happen if you woke up one day and discovered that you had sprung a leak?
     Well that is exactly what could have happened to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and the carrier decided to do something about it.
     Biman hired Kale Consultants to streamline their billing process and to do that little thing with “Finnese MBSTM,” the Kale IT solution now applied to Biman’s billing processes.
     Kale said the system’s “Ensure SIS (Simplified Interline Settlement) compliance works for both inward and outward miscellaneous billing processes and reduces paperwork while also saving money in terms of ownership via it’s SaaS model (Software-as-a-Service).”
     Finesse MBSTM also “prevents revenue leakage in miscellaneous billing due to centralized Contract management,” Kale said.
     To find out more about Finesse MBSTM, including what the letters MBSTM mean: Mitul Mehta, VP Marketing, mehta@kaleconsultants.com
Geoffrey/Flossie

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     Although the always oh-so-hot days of mid-August are usually referred to as “Dog Days”, the recent spate of record-setting July heat in the USA and lack of news (including even fewer cargo pressers from the usual suspects), raises the belief (or hope) that perhaps August will actually get busier for both the air cargo business and its media.
     So while the Tom Cruise divorce rules the tabloids, USA Today ran a story datelined July 9 that quoted a traveler who said that the British Airways’ initiative to Google frequent fliers was “creepy if you don’t sign up and consent to it.”
     For its part, BA actually gave 2,000 iPads to staff in order to identify frequent fliers that filled out survey information and contact these travelers prior to a journey to see what else could be done to jolly them up; it seems like a nice thing to do and much better than the poke in the eye some trips turn into.
     We like the idea that airlines are expressing how they feel about passengers in real time.
     Like the guy who said that he was quite impressed on a flight from England when a Delta crewmember actually thanked him for the business.
     “It’s not much really, but it’s nice to know,” the rider told USA Today.
     Works for us.
Geoffrey/Flossie

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