Ray Curtis (right) gets excited about attending air cargo industry events, but when it comes to choices he really gets worked up about show venues that also offer an opportunity to do some good, lasting business.
     So while the big thoughts this week are being sprung and sung in Los Angeles, Delta Cargo’s vice-president of sales muses about the gigantic Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America.
     Scheduled for Boston Convention Center March 16-18, it is the largest seafood trade event in North America.
     By the numbers, the event attracts over 19,000 buyers and suppliers of fresh, frozen, packaged, and value-added seafood products, equipment, and services.
     Attendees travel from more than 100 countries to do business at the exposition.
     No other event in North America provides seafood professionals with direct access to qualified buyers and suppliers representing all areas of the seafood industry.
     So as bags are packed and an all-star Delta Cargo team wings its way to Boston, we ask the boss to survey the landscape, or in nautical terms to weigh anchor and offer air cargo an overview of what attendees and others can expect.
     “Delta Cargo is of course well-known throughout the industry as a major shipper of perishables such as fresh and frozen seafood around the world,” Ray said.
     “The annual Boston Seafood Expo is a prime opportunity for us to meet face-to-face with our customers from around the industry.
     “The show provides an unequalled venue to promote our worldwide network and global reach, which is expanded even further by our North American joint venture partners Air France, KLM, and Alitalia.”

     “Shipping perishables such as seafood is major business for Delta, and we are focused on growing our high-value product lines, like perishables.
     “Our company continues to invest in the cargo business; last year we invested in a new 3,000-square foot cooler facility in Detroit that opened in September.
     “The cooler expands connecting opportunities between the West Coast and Europe and Latin America for perishable shipments.
     “The cooler can store up to 4 built pallets and 12 LD2 containers at any time, with drive thru access.
“We also expanded our hours in Detroit and are now available for our customers 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
     “Delta is up-gauging our domestic fleet, which provides additional cargo capacity and greater capabilities for dangerous goods as we retire 50-seat regional aircraft and add Boeing 737-900ERs, Boeing 717s, and CRJ-900s.
     “These are cargo friendly aircraft that we know will benefit our seafood customers as well.”

     “We are investing in Seattle and have already announced significant capacity increases to multiple domestic and international destinations which underscore our commitment not only to the Pacific Northwest but to the seafood industry.
     “Delta Cargo is also focused on building our organization and we now have the optimal team in place that will allow us to accomplish our key objectives.
     “Last year, Sharon Poindexter joined our team as Director of eCommerce and Technology.
     “Sharon and her team are focused on removing paper from our business and providing efficient options for our customers to do business with us from booking to eAWB submission and tracking shipments.
     “We are making investments in deltacargo.com to improve the user experience and provide enhanced functionality that is valued by our customers.
     “Lisa Wallace (right) joined the team as director of revenue management and alliances. Lisa and her team are focused on building our existing partnership with Air France-KLM, where we have anti-trust immunity for our transatlantic flights, and on developing our new joint venture with Virgin Atlantic, where we have anti-trust immunity between the U.S. and the U.K.
     “Alex Clayton is our new General Manager of Premium Products.
     “This was another investment the company made in our cargo business, illustrating the importance we are placing on building our premium product portfolio.
     “Alex and her team have been busy certifying stations to handle our Pharma business and we now have 45 stations that are ready to handle Pharma shipments.”

     “We know that our customers expect operational reliability for their shipments.
     “Even standard air-freight shipments are considered premium as compared to other modes of transportation (ocean, trucking).
     “Scott Barkley is continuing to lead the team to build processes and standard operations procedures and measure and report progress on a daily basis.
     “The entire leadership of Delta Cargo is working together to achieve our objectives, which are shared across the entire division.”

     “Feedback from our employees is essential to our success – our third annual employee survey just opened.
     “Employee feedback is very important to our company and is taken into account in decisions that are made.
     “Delta Air Lines is a great company and remains focused on the cargo business.
     “It’s an exciting time for the team and we look forward to the opportunities ahead.”

     “We have defined clear operational procedures for our teams that outline the handling of seafood and other perishable items.
     “Shipments are accepted and set to ride as booked.
     “We assign perishables a higher boarding priority because of the nature of the product.
     “If the shipment doesn’t ride as booked for any reason, we bring it back to the warehouse for storage in coolers whenever possible, depending on the city, or we hold it in the warehouse protected from the elements until it is able to ride on next available flight.
     “We also measure our performance daily and make adjustments when necessary so that we can serve our customers well.”

The Big Show Is In Boston S/H
     “The Delta Cargo team will be well represented in Boston.
     “For that event we have sales account managers whose main focus is on perishable products.
     “We will be in a booth with our joint venture partners AF and KLM.
     “Christine Waggett will be leading the Delta team.
     “She recently celebrated her 30th anniversary with Delta and has been in Boston for the majority of her career.
     “Christine has worked closely with her customers to ensure the optimal container is utilized when seafood is shipped on different aircraft types around the world to ensure the products are fresh when they arrive at destination.
     “She was recently promoted to the East Coast Perishable Manager because of her knowledge and expertise in the perishable market.
     “I can tell you that it was great to be on the same team as Christine when I came to Delta Cargo six years ago.
     “She is Delta Cargo in Boston!”
Geoffrey

We are the world in one city. We are the 15th largest economy in the world handling 40 percent of all air cargo throughput in the U.S.A.

Eric Garcetti
Mayor of Los Angeles

We are combining two great airlines. Progress will be made through seamless integration.
   The contribution from our cargo division strengthens the airline.

Robert D. Isom, Jr
COO, American Airlines

Air cargo had profound and spectacular growth in the 1990s and early 21st century.
   Unfortunately those halcyon days are over.
   In 2013 the top 20 world economies passed 23 percent more protectionist measures than in 2009.

Fred Smith
Fed EX CEO

Michael Webber
Webber Air Cargo
Airport Consulting

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     EMO Trans L Top session Wednesday 0830 at IATA WCS is titled “Supply Chain Management” chaired by EMO Trans Chairman and CEO Jo Frigger (pictured right in Los Angeles with EMO Trans President Marco Rohrer.
     Panel brings together people from Hewlett Packard, Intel, UPS and several ground handling companies.

      EMO Trans Los Angeles celebrated thirty years of service last year and in fact was among the company’s first U.S. branches. The recipe for continued success is longevity and loyalty from its staff members, and a keen sense of serving the customer.
     But the very steady management group is also a key factor.
     In its more than 30-year history, EMO Los Angeles has had only three Branch managers—Hardy Zantke, Marco Rohrer (Marco was elected EMO President in in 2014), and now in 2014 Guenther Eberle.
     Looking a bit deeper, two EMO staff members who helped open the branch are still there today; in fact, Barbara Newman and Gisela Spees were recognized for their 30 years with the company in 2013.
     “A majority of our employees are beyond or approaching the 10-year anniversary mark,” Guenther says.
     “We’re known for our unmatched experience and knowledge of how to bundle services in the marketplace.”

     EMO Trans Los Angeles’ current location near LAX is an approved TSA Certified Cargo Screening Facility, with more than 30,000 square feet of warehouse space, and is home to more than 22 staff persons. “We also have a satellite office in San Diego supervised by Shannon Mahnke,” Guenther explains.
     “Between our offices, we cover an operational territory from north of Paso Robles to Las Vegas, NV, down to the southern border in San Diego County.”

     The branch offers a balanced mix of services with departments almost equally staffed in all divisions: customs brokerage, air inbound, air outbound, ocean inbound, ocean outbound, and warehouse and sales. And there’s a little bit of everything in its customer base.
     An overview of recent projects include:
          *Importing and clearing Bluefin tuna for an airline caterer at LAX and Swedish candy by ocean for a start-up company in downtown L.A.
          *Groupage/consolidation container outbound service to Tahiti (French Polynesia) and Amazon-type buyers’ consolidations to Australia and New Zealand
          *Streamlining 7am deliveries for hundreds of TEUs per month for an automotive infrastructure importer on the outskirts of Ventura County
          *Organizing exhibition goods for a round-the-world schedule
          *Occasionally chartering large cargo airplanes like the 747F or AN 12
     In The Stars For EMO S/HEntertainment remains the top industry in the greater Los Angeles area, based on number of people employed in that sector.
     But right after show biz, logistics, transportation, and distribution are the next busiest business, even ahead of fashion, hospitality and tourism, financial services, and aviation.
     “Since we all didn’t make it big in Hollywood, it looks like we made a good choice to pursue a career in logistics!” Guenther laughs.
     EMO Trans LA is also as diverse in personnel as the global markets it serves, with seven different languages spoken!

     Shipping cars is one of the branch’s specialties, including exporting exotic cars by air and ocean to Europe and the Middle East.
     EMO Trans LA also airfreights camouflaged test cars from a prime brand automotive manufacturer and then arranges customs clearance and just-in-time delivery in a high-security environment to the test grounds.
     “LAX offers more than two dozen dedicated cargo flights weekly in all directions in addition to the countless ‘belly capacity’ passenger planes.
     That depth of services allows us to grow our airfreight activities, traditionally a strong suit for the EMO Trans group,” Guenther said.
     “The global trend toward ocean freight has also positively impacted our business.
EMO Trans LA now manages the second largest ocean inbound volume within the company’s U.S. organization, with lots of further growth potential.
     “The Long Beach/Los Angeles/San Pedro Bay ports together create the largest ocean import gateway to the nation,” Guenther explains, “and we are handling quite a bit of it.”
Geoffrey/Flossie

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