“2016 was a year of growth for Swiss WorldCargo,” declared Ashwin Bhat, Head of Cargo, “and we have invested in the future: during 2016 we introduced into service six Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in addition to three Bombardier C series aircraft. This growth continues into 2017, in the 1st quarter of this year we have welcomed into our fleet another two 777.“Thanks to the continued support of our partners and customers, we could utilize the additional capacity within our network as per our expectation, despite a tough business environment.
      “Along with the capacity growth, we also enhanced our offering and capabilities to our customers.
     “It was well acknowledged.
     “We are hopeful the business environment will continue showing resilience and carry forward the positive trend of Q1 into the rest of the 2017.
     “Irrespective of the market situation, we have a clear strategy and plan under which we have a good number of new initiatives in the pipeline for 2017.
     “We improved transparency for our customers by enhancing our shipment track and trace capability along with implementing a technologically advanced website, which went live in March.
     “In an experience economy, we will be implementing new capabilities within the organization to further enhance customer experience and care; with these initiatives we want to stay on the forefront of being a customer champion,” Ashwin said.
     “Swiss WorldCargo remains focused on increasing our market shares and further bettering our product and service portfolio, particularly in the pharma and life science segment.
     “These enhancements covered the whole gamut from quality (implementation of quality corridor between ZRH and SIN) to increasing our packaging solutions offerings to our customers (reliable, high-quality, door-to-door, temperature-controlled solution with va-Q-tec) to allowing approved active tracking devices and providing a 24/7 dedicated intervention team in order to respond to the visibility requirements of the pharma industry.”

CEIV Certified & Upward

     “After getting our hub CEIV certified and GDP compliant, we are now in the process of getting Swiss WorldCargo organization as a whole CEIV certified.
     “This move serves as an example for further vertical industries we are currently focusing on,” Ashwin assured.  

People Rule Over Disruption

     “In today’s world of disruption,” Ashwin smiles, “one value that remains appreciated and stable is the need for ‘quality.’
     “Through its highly trained people, qualified partners, and strict and reliable processes, Swiss WorldCargo embodies the value of quality.
     “We are therefore a trusted brand overall, offering innovative and reliable solutions and services.
     “In a people business, our worldwide teams are considered industry experts in transporting special cargo, offering flexible and focused support.
     “Our team focuses on continued success for our customers, and we use all our values and strength to make it happen on a daily basis, globally.”

The Freight Forwarder Play

     “The forwarders are very important—this is without question.
     “Firstly, they have a number of options in the market and they can decide to work with any one of the other carriers/providers.
     “Their decision to work with us reaffirms our offering and strategy.
     “And we again are a strategic part in their supply chain and the success of their customers.”
     “Speed is of the essence in today’s world; hence the aim for me and my team is to be even faster and more nimble in implementing our plan and strategy in 2017.
     “I would wish for a more collaborative and mutually beneficial business approach to meet the challenges on the ground, to state one example.
     “Lest we forget, at the end of the day, shippers are the end customers who are at the beginning of a supply chain.
     “Hence, everything we offer the forwarders should finally meet the requirement and needs of the shipper.
     “This is what we explain as our main message from our hearts; it’s also part of our latest advertising campaign.”

“The new structure of Swiss WorldCargo is designed to make us more agile and put our customers in the center of all our activities,” declared Ashwin Bhat, head of cargo, as he introduced new team players during a recent rollout at Swiss headquarters in Zurich.       Pictured with Ashwin (center) from left are Head of Cargo Business Development & Customer Experience Team Andrés L. Perez, Head of Cargo Area & Contribution Management Alexander Arafa, and Head of Cargo Quality & Services Christian Wyss.       “In a people business like air cargo, it is extremely important that a well-structured organization and skilled professionals with individual strengths and diverse and varied experience deliver these services,” Ashwin Bhat said.

Something New For 2017

     “We have a number of new initiatives in the pipeline for 2017.
     “All of them are focused on our customers and our customer’s customer.
     “As mentioned at the top, we have improved transparency for our customers by enhancing our shipment track and trace capability and implementing a technologically advanced website and new capabilities within the organization to further enhance customer experience and care.”

Some Final Thoughts

     “All of us,” Ashwin Bhat offered, “have accepted the changes digitalization brought to our private life.
     “However, somehow we are skeptical to accept it in our industry.
     “I am not just talking about eAWB, etc. This cannot be our ambition.
     “I am talking digitization in a wider context.
     “Either we in air cargo accept, lead, and infuse it in our daily way of working, or else someone from outside is likely to disrupt and dictate to us,” Ashwin Bhat concluded.
Geoffrey

     A decade ago when TNT Logistics changed its name to CEVA Logistics, the brand became a four-letter word because, as the company said, “creating a brand name with four letters rather than three allows us to stand apart from TNT, UPS and DHL.”
      Like its global competitors, the company has also instituted a strong, color-based brand identity: the logo developed is a deep burgundy that sets it apart from TNT’s orange, FedEx’s purple, DHL’s yellow, and UPS’s brown.
      Ceva is also a town in Italy, a famous geometric theorem, a computer company, and the name of a veterinary medicine company.
      But CEVA, in this case, is purely “a created name,” the company said.
      Today while air freight markets may be a spin, Helmut Kaspers, Chief Operating Officer Air and Ocean at CEVA Logistics, is full of positives.
      However, he admits that future demand growth for the market overall will largely need to be fuelled by a reduction in global economic headwinds as air freight is put under increasing pressure from land and sea shipping options.
      Kaspers told FlyingTypers that currency fluctuations and the growth of manufacturing centers in Asia were creating new opportunities for those with the know-how and footprint to exploit the fastest growing trade lanes.
      “The key lanes with sizeable growth potential are still some of the Asian exporting nations, in particular Thailand and Vietnam, which have all seen significant volume growth in the past,” he said. “We continue to be optimistic for trade lanes from Europe such as Germany and Netherlands to Asia Pacific and to North America as they are being driven by a strong U.S. Dollar.”
      The business will be particularly driven by Asian exports to North America and Europe, where consumer demand is increasing. In Asia, especially China, imports from the U.S. will remain weak due to the strong U.S. Dollar.
      “Latin American markets such as Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela continue to be a challenge.
      CEVA is maximizing returns for its own bottom line and those of its customers by taking a “calculated risk” approach to provide competitive service solutions. “Once we win a new contract, we use the current market situation combined with optimized consolidations to maximize returns,” said Kaspers. 

      The company has also enhanced its Supply Chain Solutions arm in recent times. “We are constantly working on product developments to better innovate and empower access to our services and to enable automation and management by exception,” he said. “Our teams are currently piloting several new features of our Matrix SCM application such as Matrix SCM Role Based Access—this is for customers and their shippers and enables faster setup, roll-out, and adoption of end-to-end supply chain visibility and exception management applications.”
      Another service upgrade comes in the shape of Matric SCM shipper booking request, a service that enables bookings to be completed via an online Shipping Order function. Data is then used from the system to trigger exceptions and plan bookings. “Productivity and data quality will therefore improve significantly as the booking request is entered only once at the source,” explained Kaspers.
      The drift of some freight to ocean, alongside other trends such as miniaturization, near shoring, and expansion of ground transport options on major lanes such as Asia to Europe are presenting challenges, however. According to Kaspers, this means air freight demand growth will largely be dependent on GDP growth, or by faster high-tech product life cycles.
      “On the other hand,” he added, “with low fuel prices and the current over-capacity situation on a global basis, we expect rates to remain at a relatively low level going forward; though this will not lead to shifting from ocean back to air, it might facilitate ‘stock emergency’ types of airfreight shipping.
      “The share of high-tech goods will drop. Automotive, which is mostly emergency shipping, will continue with the usual cyclical ups and downs.
      “Driven by the increase in wealth, average age, and overall population, pharmaceuticals/healthcare and life style products will also show higher than average airfreight growth. Wealth and population growth will also stimulate perishables growth.”
SkyKing

Vol. 16 No. 33
Lady Lynne Steps Up At IAG Cargo
Chuckles for April 5, 2017
Lightbox for April 5, 2017
Trump Effect Pt. 4 - Trump & The Airlines
Two For Asia