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 #INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
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| Vol. 13 No. 94 | Monday
November 17, 2014 |
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We spoke to Achim
Martinka, Lufthansa Cargo Vice President, the Americas, who said he is
(thankfully) quite busy as 2014 winds down, but stands up here to be counted
as a big fan of Andreas Otto.
Florian Pfaff, vice president
area management Germany, who has known Andreas Otto since he came on board
had this to add.
“One of my first
thoughts at the time was that he would also fit perfectly into the Southern
California environment—just like I felt I would.
Path
To Vienna
Nils Haupt Was There Too 
“Andreas Otto was not always easy to
deal with—but he was always open to new ideas and new approaches,”
recalls Nils Haupt, the top marketing and public relations executive at
Lufthansa Cargo for more than a decade.Today, Haupt has taken on a similar giant responsibility at Hapag Lloyd, but he still remembers life with Andreas. “It was always about ideas, and in that atmosphere air cargo was exciting. “If you had a good idea he was willing to follow you—at least up to a certain extent. “When I was spokesperson of Lufthansa Cargo I tried to gather the airline and air cargo journalists regularly in Frankfurt to show them our innovations or present them our figures in the annual press conferences. “Regularly Dr. Otto met in the fall with journalists for a meeting which we called ‘Meet the Trends’—and we started in a dance club which was famous for House Music. “One day I suggested we do a presentation in a transvestite club in Frankfurt, which had just recently opened. “Andreas was skeptical. “But then we dared to do it—and it was one of the most recalled and loved events we created during our time together. “We had a formal presentation and then a transvestite show par excellence. “And still today—more than a decade later—journalists talk about it. “This ‘daring to do the unexpected’ was something which I admired and admire still today about Andreas. “He always was—and still is—a cool chap. “And I very much hope he will remain as cool and daring in his new job as well.” Geoffrey/Flossie
To our readers: We'd like to hear from you. Send us a Dr. Otto story and we will be pleased to include it in a future issue. *Thanks to Bubble Up and Toledo, Ohio a long time ago. |
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 So intractable are the problems now causing congestion at U.S. West Coast ports that demand for air freight could be boosted not just through Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also well into 2015. There is no escaping the astonishing mess and huge challenges facing U.S. ports and their shipper customers caught in a maelstrom of high demand, limited supply, and the inability of entrenched interests to see beyond their collective noses. Given the number of factors currently contributing to the delays that are now running to 21 days at some individual terminals, predictions by some analysts that air freight to and from the U.S. could see an elongated boom well into the first quarter of 2015 are not so far-fetched. So why is moving cargo via U.S West Coast ports so slow and unreliable? The causes are many and varied. 
Firstly, looming over the logistics industry is the ongoing contract negotiations
between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific
Maritime Association (PMA) that began on May 15, 2014, and continue today,
despite the previous contract expiring on July 1. This has skewed shipping
patterns throughout the year, forcing retailers to import more cargo early
to avoid the threat of industrial action and pushing more shippers to use
East Coast and Canadian ports, or switch to air solutions.In recent weeks, alleged union ‘go-slows’ at ports in the Pacific Northwest and threats of strikes have further choked up ports, and fears are now growing that a total shutdown of West Coast ports could happen if an agreement is not reached soon. Such is the gravity of the situation that earlier this month a huge array of shipper and transport associations addressed a letter to President Obama warning of the potential dire consequences and calling for mediation of the dispute. “The threat of a West Coast port shutdown is creating high levels of uncertainty in a fragile economic climate, which has forced many businesses to once again undertake contingency plans that come at a significant cost to jobs and our economic competitiveness,” said the letter. “The West Coast lockout 12 years ago cost the U.S. economy $1 billion a day. It took half a year for the ports to clear the backlog and recover from this 10-day shut down. A shutdown now could be even more costly.” Indeed, a study by the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation estimated the economy would lose nearly $2 billion each day of a five-day interruption, so the stakes are high. However, the current congestion being suffered at U.S. ports is not a simple matter of labor relations. U.S. ports are a long way from world-leading in terms of infrastructure or efficiency, while structural changes in the liner industry have also played their part in creating choke points. Another factor is the divestment of chassis by shipping lines, which is manifesting itself in a shortage of chassis inventory at the Port of Long Beach and other U.S. ports. “The situation could have been mitigated had the carrier community acted in greater alignment regarding chassis,” said Jason Bergman, senior vice president for Ocean & Truck Transportation at BDP International. He claimed that driver and truck shortages were also now a “brutal reality” that supply chain managers had to work around. “While wages have been rising to attract drivers, compensation structures—specifically for drayage—are tied to shipment/load volumes and asset utilization,” he said. “If a driver is sitting in a cab waiting for hours outside a port terminal in traffic to pick up a shipment, and he or she is not adequately compensated for the time, therein lies the challenge. “All of these factors are contributing to port congestion and long delays for drayage companies waiting up to five hours at port entry gates to pick up containers. The result? Fewer asset turns per day—as low as one to three turns per day versus the four to five needed for the trucker to earn sufficient income.” The equipment and labor crunch has come on top of ongoing supply chain flaws. “The winter Polar Vortex of 2013/2014—and ensuing frigid weather conditions—caused delays all through the supply chain, including reduced intermodal rail capacity,” said Bergman. “As a result some ports/hubs, such as Chicago, are still catching up. Consequentially, intermodal capacity on the West Coast has been impacted. There is very little a carrier can do when the culprit is Mother Nature.” The container shipping and port sector is also still trying to come to grips with the deployment of larger container vessels. “The new generation of mega-container ships with capacities of more than 16,000 TEUs is exacting added pressure on existing port infrastructures suited to smaller ships,” said Bergman. “Ports and terminals are challenged to build and expand infrastructure to handle both increased capacity and shipping volume.” 
“The causes of the [West Coast] delays are numerous,” said John
Wierzbicki, (left) Country Head of Ocean Freight USA at Panalpina. “Higher
year-on-year volumes moving via the ports, chassis shortage/dislocation,
driver shortages, unprecedented ‘safety inspections’ for trucks
at the terminals slowing the pace of work, and recently labor shortages
[at terminals].”BDP is now advising customers to make contingency plans via weekly conference calls with peak season client shippers in the event disruption continues into 2015. Bergman believes the chassis shortage can be addressed relatively quickly. “Some shippers and truckers are already purchasing chassis,” he explained. “If this trend continues, it will improve overall conditions.” However, many of the other issues facing supply chain planners may prove intractable in the short and medium term, bringing alternative shipping solutions and other modes such as air freight more heavily into play in the weeks and months ahead. “We provide multi-port strategies including alternative ports, inland rail terminals where available, air freight options, and other options to keep cargo moving when difficulties arise,” said Bergman. “We are seeing an increase in air freight volumes with mode-shifting from ocean cargo to our large network of cargo airline partners in high demand markets. BDP is deploying the air option in concert with inland surface transportation for our clients to meet seasonal, time critical inventory demand.” Panalpina is taking much the same approach to avoid lengthy U.S. import and export delays. The company has started offering clients the option to trans-load containers to 53’ trailers at its warehouses on the U.S. West Coast for truck delivery to inland points in order to avoid rail delays and to expedite delivery of shipments that have been delayed at the ports, while at the same time freeing up drivers and chassis for local drayage. “We have also negotiated for exclusive use of chassis and drivers with our drayage providers to ensure consistent availability of both equipment and drivers to Panalpina, but even this option has a limited capacity,” said Wierzbicki. “At this point any product sold for Christmas is either in the clients’ U.S. distribution centers or on the way to stores. Any product to be imported for Christmas will now likely move via air, and we are seeing an increased demand for air capacity.” SkyKing |
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 Aircraft
outfitted with special equipment are not as unusual as they seem. Air Force
One, the U.S. President’s personal aircraft, is perhaps the best example;
airlines such as Etihad (EY), Emirates (EK), and Qatar (QR) have taken “first
class travel” to new standards with showers and whole suites integrated
into the first-class sections of their A380 aircraft.Lufthansa (LH), however, is responding to different needs in a different way. Their rather aged A340-300 (which is as unpretentious as the city whose name it bears, Villingen-Schwenningen, a rather unremarkable city near Stuttgart) is now retrofitted to be a mobile MEDEVAC jet, destined to provide rapid uplift capacity for helpers involved in combating the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. German Minister for Defense Ms. Ursula von der Leyen recently took some heat after she pledged German logistic support—including German army and public servant volunteers—for the West African states plagued by the Ebola outbreak, promising that “no one would be left behind,” meaning any helper infected with the disease was guaranteed quick medical evacuation. However, German press soon jumped at the fact that neither the German nor other European forces had at their disposal aircraft outfitted for that special purpose. While two of the German state aircraft (another A340-300 and an A310) have the capability to quick-change to airborne hospital outfit, they’re unsuited for dealing with patients infected with highly communicable diseases such as Ebola, Lassa, or Marburg. This time it looks like they naysayers were off track and that Ms. von der Leyen has proven the critics wrong: Technical experts from Lufthansa Technics aided by specialists on infectious diseases from the German governmental Robert Koch Institute have already started with the modification of the aged LH widebody, which is scheduled for completion by the end of November. The A340 includes three separate “cells” where highly infectious patients can be treated by medics in full protective garb. These cells will have their own air conditioning packs and will be biologically blocked off from the area of the aircraft occupied by crew and non-infected medical passengers. In the meantime, Lufthansa Airlines is looking for volunteers among their workforce both in regard to cockpit and cabin crew. Operating this modified A340-300 for MEDEVAC purposes to and from Ebola-plagued West African states gets kudos and high praise all around as a great humanitarian action from the finest, most dedicated government & airline partnership in a long time. Jens |
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If
You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers |
Publisher-Geoffrey Arend •
Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Associate Publisher/European Bureau Chief-Ted
Braun Film Editor-Ralph Arend • Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend • Advertising Sales-Judy Miller |
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“Dr.
Andreas Otto has been the flag bearer for LH cargo and helped us to overcome
difficult situations numerous times,” says Jo Frigger, (left) CEO
of EMO Trans.
Jürgen
Siebenrock is vice-president-the Americas for Lufthansa.
"Otto
. . . Find'ich gut"
“What
most impressed me during this time is how calm he managed the team and
the difficult situation—other managers would have panicked or overreacted.
Andreas maintained his path and gave the team the confidence to make it
happen and turn around this company.
Amongst that group one name stands tall:
Klaus Holler.
On
Friday, November 21 in Atlanta, Georgia a grand airport tradition occurs
once again as an air cargo entrepreneur, Harold Hagans of Atlanta Customs
Brokers reaches out far and wide to host several hundred people to an
old fashioned home made turkey dinner with all the trimmings, as America
looks ahead one week from then to celebrate the wonderful holiday called
Thanksgiving.
100%
Green