Alarming Travel . . . Filipino workers walk past an Ebola virus ‘signs and symptoms’ flyer posted at a street in Manila, Philippines, last week. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in western African countries have been evacuated after an Ebola virus outbreak.
     The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the number of deaths from Ebola has risen above 1,550 in West Africa and the number of cases could be four times higher than that officially registered in some areas.
     It also called on airlines to resume "vital" flights across the region, saying travel bans were threatening efforts to beat the epidemic.
     Many airports in Southeast Asia started to scan travelers coming from Western African countries in order to avoid contamination.

“Folks are not paying attention to the dangers of Ebola,” Issa Baluch said last week when we met up in Boston.

     “News reports state that more than 1,500 people have died from the Ebola virus in West Africa.”
     The World Health Organization recently declared the outbreak an international health emergency.
     Companies such as Peoria, IL, based Caterpillar Inc. and several mining companies have evacuated employees from Liberia.
     British Airlines has canceled flights to the region.
     Exxon and Chevron say they’re waiting to see whether public health authorities can contain the Ebola outbreak in three West African countries.
     The first confirmed U.S. patients who contracted the disease in Liberia were two American relief workers. They were repatriated and hospitalized, and recovered after being given an experimental drug called ZMapp, said to be in short supply.
     Although there is no cure for Ebola, there are preventative measures and people can survive if they are rehydrated and treated for their symptoms in a hospital.
     Issa Baluch is involved in a major farming initiative in Ghana as part of the Agribusiness Knowledge Center, a non-profit research and training facility developed in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Science, Technology and Globalization Project of the Harvard Kennedy School.
     The aim of the center is to build key strategic alliances to help empower Ghanaian farm families and protect the environment.
     “As part of this project, MIT and Harvard have interns working in Ghana—we have recalled all of our interns because of the severity of the situation,” Issa said.
     “Many carriers have stopped service and that impacts the economies and business across West Africa.
     “Not only will it impact air travel, but it will create shortages of food, fuel, and other supplies.
     “Port cities receiving ocean transports from Ebola-affected countries are also either banning or considering a ban.
     “There will be serious repercussions from not paying attention to the Ebola pandemic.”
Geoffrey/Flossie

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Cold War Conservative Prime Minister of Great Britain (1957-63) Harold Macmillan delivered a speech, which became known as “Winds of Change,” to the South Africa Parliament on February 3,1960.
     He acknowledged the coming decolonization of Africa as the British Empire was falling apart there.
     “The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact,” Macmillan said. The British Prime Minister also once famously concluded, “A week is a long time in politics.” Well, a year is a long time in air freight.

     The last time FlyingTypers caught up with Jeff McCorstin, president of UPS Global Freight Forwarding in Asia Pacific, he was downbeat on air freight due to excess supply and sluggish demand. Fast forward a year and the veteran Big Brown executive is far more upbeat, thanks to the economic resurgence in Europe and the U.S., and more sensible capacity management strategies by carriers.
     Last year the straight-talking McCorstin predicted demand would only expand by 0.9 percent in 2013 after contracting in both 2011 and 2012, but the view in Q3 2014 is altogether more optimistic.
     “In 2011, 2012, and 2013 there was hardly any growth,” he said. “But in 2014 we are seeing much stronger performance, and cargo volumes are up about 4.6 percent globally,” he said.
     He forecasts that 2014 will be the first year since 2009 that the air freight business will see a proper peak season.
     “I would say last year we had a mini peak, but this year we expect a proper peak season,” he explained.
     “Over 2008-13, I think overall demand growth for air cargo came in at about 1 percent, but this year we’ll have a peak. As a strategic logistics provider, we’re already talking to our customers and preferred airline partners to ensure we have the right capacity. We can also access UPS’ own integrated network.”
     According to McCorstin, the improvement in air freight markets is occurring despite the ongoing ‘miniaturization’ of cargo, the use of Cloud IT systems, and the near- and re-shoring strategies of some manufacturers—all factors which stifle demand for air freight. Indeed, he believes the modal shift away from air towards ocean, and from Asia to Europe also moving to rail, is continuing. “Even within air freight products there has been a strong shift to deferred or consolidated services,” he added.
     Rather, the recovery in demand is down to manufacturers boosting output in Asia in response to improving demand from Europe and the U.S. “A healthier global economy is driving air cargo demand,” he said. “UPS experienced pretty robust second quarter revenue and volume growth across our Supply Chain, Freight, International Package and Distribution businesses. UPS Supply Chain and Freight also saw double-digit operating profit growth. We expect this growth to continue.”
     However, while UPS Forwarding’s Q2 results noted strong improvements, market pricing on key Asia to U.S. lanes continued to put pressure on rates for the international air freight industry.
     McCorstin expects better alignment between supply and demand to start improving margins for cargo airlines in the future. He cites the reduction of freighter capacity by carriers in the face of excess bellyhold space and the demise of some freighter operators as evidence that the market will self-correct.
     “More medium and small freight operators have left the market,” he said. “The larger passenger and freighter operators have also parked capacity so airlines are helping balance supply and demand by not moving freighters uneconomically.
     “There is a lot more wide-bodied capacity coming and I think these will increasingly be used to meet the needs of the freight market and there will be less reliance on freighters.”
Sky King

IATA Certifies Brussels Cool

     Last week, IATA announced that Brussels Airport “has become the first European shipping hub to adopt a cold-chain certification program for pharmaceutical cargo” which IATA claims to “go beyond GDP requirements.”
     GDP, for those not familiar with the term, means “good distribution practice.”

EU Already Has Standards

     By comparison European Community (EC) “Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use,” already in place and practice in the 2013/C 343/01 Guidelines and based on Article 84 and Article 85b (3) of EC Directive 2001/83, are based on recommendations developed by the WHO (World Health Organization) and FIP (International Pharmaceutical Federation).
     These standards cover the entire process chain of development, purchase, production and distribution of pharmaceutical materials.

Brussels Not Alone

     So for Brussels airport, this does not mean that the airport will be an isolated island of knowledge but, according to IATA spokesman Chris Goater, the designation translates into “ground handlers, freight forwarders, truckers and airlines that use the Belgian airport will be trained how to ship pharmaceutical products in temperature controlled conditions.”

The IATA CEIV Scheme

     The new IATA CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) certification scheme in short aims at making all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain aware of the particular needs for these highly sensitive and perishable products as well as providing standards for their handling, storage, transport and distribution.
     So far the IATA CEIV is a win-win situation:
     If adopted by further hotspots of pharma excellence and distribution, CEIV will help to speed up transport of pharmaceuticals in a safe and controlled environment, thus helping to avoid spoiling the highly perishable cargoes and avoid costly claims against forwarders and airlines as well as detrimental effects on public health because of the non-availability of these products.
     CEIV could also help also secure the position of the air transport sector as the transport mode of choice when transporting these commodities, since lately shippers have considered surface transport even for perishable and highly demanding cargoes.

CEIV Boosts Employment

     Not to be overlooked in all of this is that CEIV will put a considerable number of “Independent validators” in the position to make a living – no small feat since these validators will require initial training from IATA and the CEIV scheme itself should secure an additional stream of revenue for IATA themselves, much like the IOSA and ISAGO auditors which largely consist of senior staff from airlines and IATA strategy partners whose jobs were made redundant.

Spreading The Wealth

     While the latter may sound overly cynical it actually isn’t.
     The professional experience and track record of these auditors is impeccable and so are their achievements.
     However, the term “independent validators” suggests an independence which certainly is neither there nor actually desirable, since a very particular expertise is required to carry out such validations.

New IATA CEIV (Center of Excellence for Independent Validators) certification is promising it will raise awareness amongst all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain and provide standards for their handling, storage, transport, and distribution. It might even draw some business to air cargo. But IATA should wait for a solid success and then pat itself on the back.

A Broader View

     IATA’s self-proclaimed mission is “to represent, lead and serve the airline industry”.
     While IATA as a whole is far away from being a charitable organization, and while many of IATA’s multifold activities are about generating revenue, there is one basic insight too often overlooked:
     Although the pricing of some of IATA’s products has at time drawn heavy criticism from users and stakeholders, one valid question has actually never been answered by even the most outspoken critics.
     Who else has the resources, the expertise and the international standing to push initiatives and improvements ahead?
     ICAO - as well as other UN bodies such as the WHO - move in closed circles with most unable for one reason or another or extremely reluctant to interact with anyone but government representatives.
     National organizations are simply not able to roll out something the industry stakeholders within the air transport industry would be willing to adopt as a whole.
     The failed EC ETS scheme which has drawn understandable criticism not just from IATA and individual airlines but also national governments such as the U.S. and China makes this point.

The Uni-Ampli Voice

     So indeed, it seems that the leadership role IATA claims is at this point in time at least, not challenged.
     And while IATA is not a regulator – something they’re ready to admit although at times like to forget for themselves; they are the unified – and amplified – voice of the air transport industry.

About IATA Manuals

     The IATA Restricted Articles Regulations were in place since 1956, long before regulators came up with the idea of regulating the air transport of dangerous goods by means of the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air in 1983 1st edition.
     While one might have assumed that the ICAO TI should have made the IATA DGR redundant, but the not very user friendly format and the non-existing support from the side of ICAO warranted the continued unchallenged status of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as the field manual applied to the transport of dangerous goods within the air transport industry.
     Gradually, it was IATA who pushed and established standards for other types of cargoes, such as Live Animals (by means of the IATA Live Animals Regulations in its current 40th edition), the Airport Handling Manual in its current 34th Edition, the Perishable Regulations in their current 13th Edition and others rather specific publications, such as the Airport Development Manual.

Manuals Are Big Business

     Consider that the IATA manuals are just the outward face of a booming business. Standards mean standardization, and standardization requires training, subsequent further standards for the exchange of data and construction of equipment and, maybe most important, seamless implementation and validation of what else, standards!

What Goes Around Comes Around

     IATA says CEIV certification scheme “goes beyond the GDP, as all industry stakeholders can decide to undertake the certification whereas traditional GDP are more focused on wholesalers or distributors”, adding that the certification would also “incorporate all the specificities of the air cargo industry whereas the GDP are generic across all modes of transport; and to that effect IATA has the expertise.”
     Since IATA has applied their traditional requirement (known from dangerous goods, IOSA and ISAGO certifications) that CEIV certification will require biannual renewal, both uniform high service standards and a secure stream of revenue should result from the CEIV scheme.
     Who Else But IATA?
     There is nothing wrong in an organization such as IATA taking the lead, filling gaps regulators have left and settings standards which are actually beneficial for everyone – not just the cold chain stakeholders in the traditional sense, but also the ultimate user of various vaccines and medications for whom the fast, secure and unaltered availability of these substances may often prove a matter of life and death.
     But we gently suggest that instead of rehashing the world of good IATA is doing all over again, IATA should let the facts speak for themselves.
     A good product is it’s own best advertiser, and supposedly this product will meet both industry demand and result in benefits to various stakeholders as well as the consumer.
Jens

     Google was born in the mining part of California, so it makes sense that it has a large, visible operation on Main Street, smack dab in the middle of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
     There’s gold in the daily street life, as an endless parade of eager, smart, and well-to-do young people attend Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where the yearly cost of gaining an education can top $60,000.
     Google X, the experimental part of the global giant, has partnered with Nick Roy, an MIT roboticist who took a two-year sabbatical to lead “Project Wing,” the Google scheme to develop package-delivering drones. The story sparked the public’s imagination with visions of small, solar-powered aircraft filling the skies.
     “It’s a matter of when, not if,” said one observer.
     It has been just four years since Google bought Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, which among other things could deliver internet access to various parts of the world (Google has branded that effort “Project Loon”). So it’s little surprise that research with self-flying vehicles would include a variant that might carry merchandise.
     “Project Wing” is underway, but Google expects it will take several more years before a fleet of drones is fully operational.
     Test flights in Australia two weeks ago delivered a first aid kit, candy bars, dog treats, and water to some farmers after traveling a distance of roughly one kilometer, or just over a half mile.
     Now if they can only figure out how to deliver rain to those farmers.

     Google's video of the test flight is set to the music of the 1969 pop song “Spirit In The Sky”
Geoffrey

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