NORTH
AMERICA
readily available and less
expensive.
Getting around congestion
Still, cargo has to be brought
up to the handling facilities
at the airports, so the landside
congestion remains a problem.
To alleviate this, Hartsfi eld
Jackson Atlanta International
airport introduced a truck
staging scheme for its south
cargo area two years ago.
While this has helped, Elliott
Paige, the airport’s Director of
Air Service Development, is
planning a better solution. He
is looking to electronic truck
management schemes that
some European gateways have
introduced. To that end – but
also for other purposes – he
wants to establish a cargo
community system to facilitate
electronic data fl ow between
parties involved in cargo at the
airport.
Historically, most US
airport authorities have
limited their involvement in
cargo to a landlord role, but
the idea is spreading that they
could play a more active part.
In April, the Houston
Airport System signed an
agreement with Cabo Frio
airport to develop a pipeline
for air cargo between two
of the largest oil and gas
clusters in the Americas. The
Brazilian airport is located
close the epicentre of the
South American country’s oil
production.
Last October, Dallas/Fort
Worth signed an MoU with
Aeroports de Paris to develop
the trade lane between the
US gateway and the French
capital. For its part, Atlanta
has a collaboration agreement
with Amsterdam Schiphol,
where the main focus is on
cargo development, according
Revenues have risen for most freight
carriers but at the same time cargo
momentum has slowed somewhat
to Paige. They look to align
their standards and develop
trade corridors together, he
adds.
Dallas has identifi ed
the growing trade between
Asia and Latin America as a
promising avenue to position
itself as a transit hub. As
perishables constitute the
mainstay of the fl ows from
south America, a cooler was a
key ingredient of their plan.
This came to fruition a year
ago, when handler dnata
opened a perishables facility
at the airport. The move has
helped Nippon Cargo cultivate
traffi c out of Mexico going
to Asia, reports McWhorter.
Without the cooler, this would
not be viable, he says.
The switch to high yield
This development also
meets a growing focus on
high growth and/ or high
yield traffi c. As yields on
general cargo have begun to
retreat, so this is gaining in
importance. United Cargo has
hired staff with experience
in both pharmaceuticals and
logistics to grow its pharma
traffi c. Indeed, Krems says that
he would like to see half of
United’s business come from
special cargo.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines is
aiming to push its live animals
and dangerous goods business
this year, says Vince Ryan,
Vice President North and
South America. Last year it
enjoyed double-digit growth
put a stronger focus on it, says
Imbriani.
Not surprisingly,
technology is another theme
high on many an operator’s
agenda. American is in
the process of replacing a
patchwork of 91 different
legacy system elements
with a new IT platform.
According to management,
this is going to be a game
changer that will enable a lot
of new functionalities and
service improvements for its
customers.
Much of the effort
in technology is on the
customer facing side, from
moving bookings and air
waybills on-line to enhanced
visibility. Delta Cargo, which
saw electronic bookings rise
15% last year, is working to
offer real-time visibility of
shipments through ULDs
equipped with Bluetooth
technology. Another objective
for the carrier this year is to
provide live text notifi cations
for booking changes and
tracking notifi cations.
Air Canada Cargo is now
tinkering with artifi cial
intelligence, ahead of the
airline’s passenger division.
It is participating in ‘SCALE
AI’, a supercluster supported
by the Canadian government
that aims to “build the next
generation supply chain and
boost industry performance
by leveraging artifi cial
intelligence technology.”
Strauss sees a host of
possible applications, but
for now he is focusing on
capacity, pointing to marked
discrepancies in allocations,
bookings and actual volumes
tendered.
“This is going to give us
another level of tools and
insights,” he concludes.
in pharmaceuticals and
e-commerce.
“E-commerce, perishables
and pharma are not slowing.
These are at least a third of the
market,” remarks Strauss.
Airlines are not the only
players who are seeking a
larger slice of the premium
cargo segments. For Team
Worldwide, one of the main
drives this year is to home
in on some verticals, notably
pharmaceuticals, medical
equipment and aerospace
traffi c, especially the aircraft
maintenance and AOG sector.
The company has been
carrying this type of traffi c
for years, but now it wants to
We had to walk
away from some
business
Jan Krems, President of Cargo, United
Airlines
14 June 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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