endpiece
Better spirits
Guy Tordjman, president of Paris-headquartered cargo general sales agent ECS Group (the recently rebranded European Cargo Services), believes: “People seemto be inmuch better spirits these days; they aremore aggressive, and they are fighting to performwell”
“
With air freight volumes from our client carriers
approaching the levels they were at before the economic crisis, demand is definitely picking up again. Rates are showing a tendency to rise too, which demon-
strates confidence on the part of aircraft operators. In fact, the rates are not just stabilising, they are actually rising above pre- crisis prices inmany parts of theworld. One important change that could result from the tough
times experienced in the last couple of years relates to utilisa- tion of bellyhold as opposed to freighter space. Rates have risen as volumes are returning and some capacity has been withdrawn fromthemarket, so all-cargo aircraft are now a vi- able option.
It seems to me that there are now signs that some companies have realised freighters are not profitable unless the rates are there. Several airlines are pushing in this direction already and it’s good for the business. I hope this will be put into practicemorewidely now. Whether the apparent recoverywill last is another question.
The financial downturn was unusual in comparison to others we have seen in the past – itwas truly very dramatic. It’s natural that after such a dramatic drop there is a recov-
ery: stocks are empty and companies become more confident, so they re-order...Will a global economic crisis like this happen again? No one can say – butwe hope not.
Air freight demand in Asia has remained strong. Countries like China, India and Vietnam all need to keep developing and progressing, and there is no reason why the air freight industry in Europe and the US should not take advantage of that. Asia is absolutelyworth investing in. At one time,we didn’t
push too hard in that market but the renewed traffic flows have prompted us to look at that region again, and we are starting to re-invest there. It’s the engine of growth.
I believe that exports to Africa also suffered less than other sectors – volumes fell by around 5 percent at most, compared to Europe where the decline was about 25 percent. Africa is not a hugemarket – compared to theUS or to Asia,
it’s rather a small nichemarket. But it stayedmore or less stable during the crisis, so I don’t think volumes will increase too much. Itwill remain a stablemarket.
Closer to home, air exports fromthe EuropeanContinent are doingwell; Germany in particular has regained its strength following the decline it suffered, which was significantly worse than other countries in Europe. This hasmade Germany’s recovery seemmore dramatic than that of its neighbours. Indeed, we have seen volumes carried by our client airlines out of Germany returning to the levels seen in 2008. Spain is also holding upwell despite the current economic difficulties there.
So far in 2010, we have consolidated our development in Asia and are strengthening our presence in the region. The company is nowperforming just aswell as it did before the crisis, and it is in a position to make more acquisitions to growits reach, should the opportunity arise. What is more, for 2011, the plan is to expand the group’s
network, aswell as investing further in the consolidation of its existing activities and in the development of various new products that are currently being researched.
48 AIR LOGISTICSCHINA ”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52