Mixed fortunes prevail There is good news and bad news in Europe’s biggest air freight market. Some gateways are seeing


strong volumes and expect a record year. But at others, and at flag-carrier Lufthansa, volumes are drop- ping as the Continent’s logistics industry continues to struggle against widespread economic caution


R


eto Hunziker, managing director of Lufthansa Cargo Charter Agency (LCCA), says the company’s plan is to increase its global coverage. He out- lined: “Our long-term plan is to


expand, to test new segments and to enhance our portfolio. South America is a key part of this. At the moment we are in Miami, which is low risk; but we will invest later if necessary, maybe with an office in Brazil,” where con- struction and other industries are on the rise. Hunziker remarked that another key area for


the broker is Africa. “Like South America, this is a fragmented market and so it is not an easy


one. But unlike South America, it is difficult to say which country would be a good place to start for us. “South Africa has potential, plus you have


flowers at Nairobi and oil and gas in Angola. The level of investment from China into Africa is tremendous but it’s going into all different countries – Nigeria is important but there are more to come. Then looking towards the Mid- dle East, there are new political situations such as in Egypt and Libya, so we are following developments,” he added. LCCA recently appointed a general sales agent (GSA) for Montreal, in addition to the


agent it has for Houston. “We can take on a GSA in order to test a market instead of invest- ing in our own staff and offices,” Hunziker explained. “It’s a matter of finding a


GSA that understands our busi- ness, because with the scheduled carriers they have an asset and need to find business – but with us, it’s the other way around. We get business and then need to find the asset: we have a service rather than a product. “Cost is key; many markets


lanes, so we have a GSA. Hous- ton is working well so far. We have to monitor it and review it in a few months time. But it’s low risk: there is no cost unless we operate flights there.” In Miami, on the other


hand, LCCA has its own set-up, an indication of the company’s confidence in the South Ameri- can market. Back in Europe, Hunziker


are weak but we still want to extend our sales coverage and using a GSA is a way of doing that. “We always look for alternative sales part-


Hunziker: “our long-term plan is to expand, to test new segments and to enhance our portfolio”


ners,” he went on. “Lufthansa Cargo was, is and will continue to be a big partner, as will Swiss WorldCargo and Brussels Airlines Cargo. How- ever if it’s a question of a special industry or area, where our current partners are not so strong, then we will look for other partners. “For example, Houston is big for oil and gas


into Africa and South America but Lufthansa Cargo does not have a special focus on these


said that Germany’s air freight market did very well during the first six or seven months of this year and that despite a slow- down in August, the country is still “a driver in Europe”. He considered: “We are in


the heart of Europe and we have a lot of indus- try and production here. Production is located all over Germany and is trucked to Frankfurt. There are also road feeder services linking Frankfurt with Austria and northern Italy – so a lot of the cargo that flies from Frankfurt does not originate in the Frankfurt region.” Hunziker feels that while other airports are


growing as industries develop around them, Frankfurt is well set in its “dominant role” as the air cargo gateway to Germany.


Lufthansa Cargo volumes drop back slightly


Lufthansa Cargo carried approximately 149,000 tonnes of freight in August, down by 3.6 percent on the same month of 2010. Traffic as measured in revenue tonne-km fell by 1.9 percent year-on-year to 750 million. However, with air freight


capacity as measured in avail- able tonne-km having also been reduced, by 2.4 percent, the cargo load factor at the German flag-carrier in August actually improved by 0.3 percentage points to 68.6 percent. Over the course of the first eight months of this year, Lufthansa Cargo moved 1.26 million


tonnes, up by 10.2 percent over the same period of 2010. Freight traffic over those eight months as measured in freight tonne-km was up by 10.7 percent year-on-year, but with capacity having risen by 13.9 percent, the cargo load factor fell back by 2 points to an average of 69.6 percent.


Challenges yet to be overcome at Frankfurt, LUG says


“The night flight ban could be a big threat for the whole industry at Frankfurt,” says Patrik Tschirch, manager key account, sales and busi- ness development at LUG aircargo handling. “The airport also has infrastructure issues: for example there is limited truck parking space,


there is no clear plan for traffic management when terminal three is built, the new runway will be very far from the new terminal, and truck turnaround times can be anywhere from two to four hours at each handling agent,” he added.


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3 October 2011


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