Schiphol: happy to do it all again
The biennial Air Cargo Forumconference and exhibition organised by The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) took place in Amsterdam earlier thismonth between 2 and 4 November. An ACWteamwas there for the whole of the event to bring you a flavour of the get-together
days at the event. At the official opening ceremony ofACF 2010,
T
JosNijhuis – president andCEO of the Schiphol Group – observed: “Cargo makes the world go round... Cargo gives an enormous impetus to business around the city and creating connections is what Amsterdam and Schiphol is all about.” Given the chance, Amsterdam Airport
Schiphol “would definitely hold Air Cargo Forum again”, says Enno Osinga, the gateway’s senior vice president for cargo. He believes the “stunning success” of this year’s
Nijhuis: “creating connections
event vindicated TIACA’s decision not only to hold it at a major air gateway, but also to throw the forumopen to aswide a cross-section of the air freight industry as possible. Osinga believes that one of the secrets of Schiphol’s success as a
is what Amsterdam and Schiphol is all about”
he International Air Cargo Association’s 2010 Air Cargo Forum (ACF 2010) in Amsterdamproved to be a great success, concurmany of the exhibitors, delegates and visitors who spent three very busy
host was that it played “a strong role in the con- tent of the event and I think it’s excellent that we didn’t just have the ‘usual bunch’ of speakers – not just the airlines and airports, but represen- tatives of the shipper and forwarders too. As an industrywe can’t just keep on talking to ourselves all the time.” Forumparticipants includedPeterBakker from
TNT and Bruno Sidler of Ceva, shippers, logistics providers and many people who are important in the industry, but who have not previously figured on the global conference circuit. Osinga added: “I think another important step
was the decision not to hold the second gala dinner on the final night, but instead to have an evening reception that was acces- sible to all – including the exhibitors.” ACF should prove to be a
recession-proof event, Osinga considers. “We’ve seen it grow from being a forum with an exhibi- tion attached to a forum and now with an exhibition in parallel. The economy might at times have an impact on the exhibition, but not on the forum.”
JOINING FORCES
The fact that TIACA has joined forces with FIATA (the international association for freight forwarders), IATA and the Global Shippers’ Forum (see page 9) can only widen the scope for future ACFs, Osinga went on. “We will not only be able to have different speakers, but a different dialogue too.” For their own part,Osinga and the Schiphol teamhave already
Opening ceremony: turning on the welcome sign at ACF 2010
Osinga welcomed a wider cross-section of the industry
followed up many of the business contacts made at ACF 2010. “For instance, we gained some very interesting leads in China. At
Busy start – the first-day queue for ACF 2010 registration
AirCargo Forum, people come to you – youmeet a lot of people that wouldn’t necessarily occur to you to go and see.” Also, the e-Freight agreement signedwith Sin-
gapore’s Changi airport will soon be followed by similar deals with other gateways, he predicted. Despite the growth of the Internet and video- conferencing, there is still huge value in face-to-face contact. For the future,Osingawould like to see a small
number of true global forums, where the emphasis must be on quality, not quantity. “My concern is that people will see the success of ACF and we end up with too many conferences as people think they see commercial opportunities. Two big conferences a year is ideal, three is doable,
along withmore specialised regional ones.” As for the future,Osinga’smessage to theACF
2012 host Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport and Seoul’s Incheon gateway, which takes on the event in 2014, is: “I hope you do even better than we have in Amsterdam. Hosting ACF is not a competition.”
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29 November 2010
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