CargoHandlingSnapShot CAS sees ‘tough’ first half


Mike Duffy, CEO at handler CAS USA, describes the company’s performance this year as “so far, so good”. He is expecting to see the volume of cargo processed by CAS USA increase by about 10 percent on last year. Active at 12 airports, the company handles 72 airlines,


recently winning contracts with Dubai-based Emirates Airline at Dallas and Seattle. Last year, CAS USA was acquired by private investment firm


ICV Partners. Duffy observed: “ICV are still learning the busi- ness with us. They have the capital and resources to help us grow, for example they helped us buy the new equipment we needed to handle SkyTeam.” Phil Jensen, director of sales and marketing at CAS USA,


believes that ICV’s support ad investment are helping in the creation of CAS USA’s Epic cargo management system. He noted: “Airlines and shippers want more innovation, but


they don’t want to pay for it, so we’re investing in this project ... and we’re currently phasing it in at three of our New York facilities.” Jensen hopes that in the future, shippers and forwarders


could pick their airline based on the quality of the ground handler involved, and Epic is part of this vision. Looking ahead, Duffy remarked: “I think we’ll all have a


tough first quarter and second quarter, although IATA says the second part of the year will pick up. Our diverse portfolio, with carriers from the Middle East, Asia, South America and Europe, gives us a healthy mix.”


Swissport gets active at Kansai


Although Zurich-headquar- tered aviation services provider and cargo handler Swissport has been offering passenger ground handling and ramp handling services at Japan’s Osaka-Kansai International airport for many years, it recently began handling cargo for the first time at the gateway. It has been appointed by


Finnair to handle its freight at Kansai, the Helsinki-based car- rier taking advantage of the Swissport facility there that is able to handle not only general freight but also bonded cargo, valuables, temperature-sensitive and dangerous goods. The terminal became fully operational on 1 March this year. Rudolf Steiner, senior vice president Middle East and Asia at


Steiner: “fits perfectly with our expansion plans for Japan”


Swissport Internatinal, comments: “Swissport began handling cargo services at Narita late last year, and the partnership with Finnair has enabled us to extend our services at Kansai to include cargo handling there, which fits perfectly with our expansion plans for Japan.” Finnair Cargo’s director quality and security, Jussi Mattila,


added: “We are continuously looking for innovative solutions with our handlers, and we are convinced that we have made a good decision in appointing Swissport.”


Celebi goes for Mumbai


Turkey-headquartered cargo handler Celebi Holdings has an aggressive plan to expand its coverage within India, says Ramesh Hamidala, chief operating officer of Celebi India. Having built and successfully operated a 70,000m2


cargo


terminal at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, the company is currently in the final stages of competing in a ten- der to run a major cargo terminal concession at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International gateway. In terms of expansion: “We want to start road feeder ser-


vices into Delhi, which will most likely take off in the next six months. We are also looking at setting up a consolidation sta- tion outside Delhi so that we can then bring unitised cargo from surrounding areas into Delhi by road. Consolidation is a new idea in India,” Hamidala outlined. Celebi is keen to invest in cool chain facilities capable of


handling the growing pharmaceutical market in India and it is bringing in automated cargo processing to help matters along. “It has been challenging and we are investing globally in the Hermes Cargo Management System,” he said.


26 March 2012 Page 9 WFS on the up in UK and Ireland market


Pat Roberts, vice president UK and Ireland for global handler WFS (Worldwide Flight Ser- vices), is pleased with the progress that it has made in recent times. While there were mixed fortunes last year for


WFS, there were certainly some big contract wins that have positioned it very well for the rest of this year. On the downside, the economic and industry downturn of 2011 certainly impacted traffic at WFS, especially as its biggest carrier customers in the UK and Ireland market are US airlines, and transatlantic volumes struggled last year. But on the upside, recent months have seen


WFS gain Vietnam Airlines out of Gatwick air- port in southern England, US Airways (which flies out of Ireland, northern England, Gatwick and Heathrow) in a contract inked in Decem- ber, and Etihad, which became the latest customer of the WFS operation at Heathrow earlier this month (March). Roberts attributes the success in attracting these airlines to


Roberts –price-competitiveness is “a given” factor


three main factors. First, at a time when passenger and cargo carriers are ever-increasingly price-con- scious, price competitiveness at WFS is “a given” factor, he says. Second, the scale of the WFS network. Because


it is a global handler, it can – and does – handle airlines all over the world. For example, it was already handling US Airways right across Europe, only missing the airline’s custom in the UK. Roberts believes that this allows WFS and the


airline to develop a genuine partnership – “a rela- tionship that’s good for both parties”. Third, “We’ve had excellent staff relationships,”


he added. Through the hard times of 2009, for example, management and staff suffered together and for all aspects of the company, it is apparent that “where we are trying to get to is good for all of us,” Roberts explained.


Thus, after going through an awful 2009, a splendid


2010 and a mixed 2011: “We look to the rest of 2012 with optimism,” he concluded.


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