Mixed fortunes in freight


Some members of the French air freight community are seeing a continued decline in their business as the economic climate remains tough, especially in Europe, leading to soft air cargo demand. But there are two sides to every story, and certain parts of the supply chain are holding up well


A


spokesman for joint carrier Air France-KLM Cargo & Martinair Cargo says: “With service quality being among our top priorities, we carried out a customer survey and are


using the results to implement the necessary actions for improving our service in line with our customers’ expectations and requirements.” AF-KL Cargo also uses the Cargo 2000 qual-


Paris Charles de Gaulle on all e-enabled Transport Association (IATA) to measure its performance. “Our efforts to improve our ser- vice concern the entire logistics chain, both at operational and at commercial service level,” the spokesman observed.


“As part of this we are fostering the use of


e-freight, which is gradually becoming ‘the paperless way to go’ worldwide. We have been among the first ones to offer it out of Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle on all e-enabled lanes and we aim to extend it as much as possi- ble and as quickly as technically possible.” The spokesman went on: “In 2011, the


French market showed no significant growth except during the first three months. One can consider in this sense it was very much like the rest of the international situation. “We can, however, be optimistic given our


summer 2012 schedule, which will feature the reintroduction of more main-deck capacities


towards the USA – with the full-freighter service we shall reinstate from Paris to Atlanta and New York – thus enabling us to grasp larger varieties of freights to and from the North American continent.” AF-KL Cargo is also adding


B777-200ER services to Lusaka and Wuhan and enhancing its service to Malabo and N’Dja- mena with palletised holds. In addition, the spokesman


noted the launch of B747- 400BCF flights between China and Africa, in partnership with Kenya Airways (ACW, 27 February, p1). While traffic continues to suffer due to the


economic climate, the main markets to and from France remain Asia and North America. Activity Paris Charles de Gaulle on all e-enabled and South Ameria, while Africa also remains a strong asset for the carrier, the spokesman said. “Recent figures clearly show that the France


market business is increasingly concentrating on Paris CDG – our G1XL hub – and airports in provincial cities remain stable in their develop- ment,” revealed AF-KL Cargo director France market, Béatrice Delpuech. “Another noticeable aspect concerning the evolution of our cargo environment is that it is


“Châteauroux airport finished 2011 with a growth of 7 per- cent of its general cargo activities, compared to 2010,” says Martin Fraisignes, gener- al manager sales and marketing at the gateway. “The major part of our traffic is done through charter activi- ties, mainly destined for Middle Eastern and African countries. These flights are organised by the five major European brokers,” he explained. Fraissignes feels that the air transport indus- try increasingly appreciates secondary airports


becoming increasingly highly professional, with freight agents more and more proceeding via a wide variety of global bids and tenders, to which we naturally answer,” she explained. Delpuech continued: “The profession


indulges more and more now in the use of state- of-the art technological methods, in new tools and equipment, in modern processes; and to respond to our customers’ expectations AF-KL Cargo & Martinair Cargo continues to invest in


world-class sales teams and tools.” n AF-KL cargo traffic fell by 5.1 percent year- on-year in February. With capacity having risen slightly by 0.8 percent, the load factor declined by 4 percentage points to 63.7 percent.


Châteauroux foresees ‘brilliant future’


such as Châteauroux, which have “a brilliant future” as they can offer 24/7 operations, low costs, no congestion and direct road links. He believes that Château-


roux is well positioned to cope with the currnt trend for many airlines to operate flexibly and competitively. The airport has no plans to


expand its cargo capacity. However, Fraissignes revealed that this year, new hangar facil- ities and a control tower will be


built to support activities such as aircraft stor- age, maintenance and painting.


France-headquartered logistics services provider Geodis has signed long-term leases totalling more than one million square feet (approxi- mately 94,300m2


) with industrial real estate


operator and developer Prologis. The company is renewing 749,000ft2 ) at two buildings at Prologis Park


(69,600m2


Geodis signs up for more space in greater Paris region ), expected to be delivered in 2013.


Evry south of Paris, while also taking a new lease for an expansion of 266,000ft2 (24,700m2


Geodis managing director Jean-Louis


Demeulenaere said Prologis Park Evry “is des- tined to become a strategic hub within the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France”.


Page 10


26 March 2012


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