SCOTLAND\\\


Animals could be magic for Edinburgh airfreight agent


Time was when a regional airport like Edinburgh would have had a cluster of local freight forwarders - but Extrordinair’s Sylvia Fleming reckons that she is the last genuine independent freight agent at the small but neat cargo village. “But as an independent, we’ve


had to specialise to survive. We do a lot of pharmaceutical and similar business and we also export live animals. But we also think there’s a market for an animal reception centre at Edinburgh” - hence the company’s move to slightly larger facilities at the cargo village in anticipation. The company is in the process of building kennels, cat pens and the like. Extrordinair already has the


go-ahead to import pets but is now applying to become a Border Inspection Post, which would also allow it to handle imports of unaccompanied animals. “We would be the first BIP in Scotland able to handle small animals,” Sylvia Fleming explains. There is


one at Prestwick but that is only for horses and cows, so the next nearest option is Manchester or Heathrow. “That’s a long drive for an animal aſter it has arrived on an intercontinental flight, so this would be very good from an animal welfare point of view,” says Sylvia Fleming. The physical facilities should be up and running in early 2012 though the formalities for the BIP will probably take a little longer. Growth in other types of traffic has been at best flat as shippers have been put off by the airlines’ massive fuel surcharges, but there could be a good market for animals, Sylvia Fleming believes. The Japanese are eager buyers of sheepdogs and the Americans of gundogs, both of which are bred in Scotland. Coming in, there are some big dog shows in Scotland, with participants flying from all parts of the world. BIPs also exist for products for food but this would have to be


separate from the animal one. It’s something Extrordinair would consider if the animal facility does well, as there is currently no such facility in Scotland. (BIPs are not needed for exports, so this does not affect the country’s major export trade in fresh fish and meat.) Finding flown capacity can be


a bit of a struggle in Edinburgh, especially in winter. Luſthansa’s 737/A321 passenger


flights are


Extrordinair’s preferred option for long haul cargo via Frankfurt but that goes down to one flight a day when the summer is over. There is also a KLM flight to Schiphol. Continental’s flights to New York Newark (at least daily) look a good option on paper, but the carrier will not accept dangerous goods of the class that Extrordinair regularly flies, even as Limited Quantities, though it is useful for some of the animal shipments. Elsewhere in Scotland.


Emirates flies from Glasgow to Dubai – recently upgraded to


Whisky exports soar


The value of Scotch whisky exports by 23% to almost £3bn in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010, according to figures released by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) in early December. The SWA said that much of the growth had come from breaking down trade barriers, for example with South Korea and that ongoing talks between the EU and India could be the next major breakthrough for the industry. The industry has also invested


heavily to increase its production capacity in the past five years, including opening new distilleries and additional bottling lines along with a new Diageo cooperage, for making casks, which recently opened in Alloa. However, the SWA is concerned plans


that by the Scottish


government to introduce a minimum price for


alcohol at


home could backfire on its whisky exporters. It could set a precedent for other countries to impose their own tariffs and mainly to shield their own drinks industries. SWA chief executive Gavin Hewitt pointed out that a South


Korean MP had recently tabled a bill that could impose a tax on higher strength spirits, which would affect Scotch whisky imports while protecting local rice spirit, which is about half the strength. A similar case involving the Philippines was only recently resolved, in favour of drinks exporters to that country, aſter years of wrangling at the World Trade Organisation. But meanwhile Scotland’s First


Minister Alex Salmond recently celebrated the signing of a plan by China’s Spirit Empire to create the country’s largest Scotch whisky sales network - 300 stores in three years. During his visit to the Xiamen Spirit Empire store on 4 December - accompanied by David Kilshaw of Scotland Food and Drink - the First Minister met Spirit Empire Chairman Ding Wei and Stephen Notman, recently recruited by Spirit Empire as a ‘whisky ambassador’ to work in Scotland representing Chinese sellers. It comes just a year aſter the


Chinese Government announced it was giving new legal protection to Scotch Whisky with Geographical


Indication of Origin (GI) status. Food exports from Scotland


broke the £1 billion mark for the first time ever in 2011, said the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman on a visit to Scottish farmers and fishermen on 12 January. At a meeting with the National


Farmers Union Scotland at Stagehall Farm in Stow in Selkirkshire, she said: “Scotland’s produce is becoming the envy of the world thanks to the hard work of fishermen, farmers and everyone else involved in food and drink production. The success that the industry achieved in 2011 was phenomenal and brought enormous benefits to the economy of not just Scotland but the whole of the UK.” The food and drink industry


north of the border generates nearly £10billion a year but the Government is concerned that the EU Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy are not working. Radical reform is required to ensure that UK producers can continue to be successful in the years ahead.


twice daily - and there is also a seasonal Pakistan International Airways flight. There are also a few transatlantic freighter flights at Prestwick. Other than that, the only option


is to truck to Manchester or Heathrow. On the plus side, space on


the ground is not at a premium at Edinburgh’s cargo terminal, which lies on the other side of the runway to the passenger facilities. (It is in fact next to the former passenger terminal when it was still Turnhouse Airport.) There are in fact some empty plots nearby. But it can be hard find staff able to work in this comparatively remote location, especially if they are youngsters without


driving


licences, says Sylvia Fleming. “It can even be difficult to get a sandwich here.”


Issue 1 2012


33


Scotland plugs into pallets


Scotland has gained a daily palletised freight link to eastern Europe with the launch of DSV Road’s new pallet system, which includes the operator’s depot at Motherwell, near Glasgow, along with the rest of the UK network. Initially, the pallet operation will run to and from Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic, but other destinations will be added in due course, says director for groupage, Denise Clarke. Meanwhile, other destinations can be served on DSV’s conventional trailer groupage services. It is also possible to connect via Austria to other destinations, such as Russia. “We’re trying to break the


mould of twice-weekly groupage services, and we’ve started with the harder areas,” Clarke explains. Western European


countries, where some of the larger pallet network operators have already gained a foothold, will be added later. DSV covers the whole of


Scotland, using subcontractors for the more outlying areas but it has its own fleet of rigid and trailer vehicles based at Motherwell. “You do have to cut your coat according to your cloth in Scotland,” says Clarke. The depot there is fairly


new and offers some storage capacity as well as multiple loading doors


for cross-dock


operation. The company has also taken on three graduate trainees to boost its sales effort, one of who is Scottish-based. Like other operators, DSV


has seen a slight bias in favour of exports out of Scotland, but


it can fill empty space


with domestic UK traffic, adds Denise Clarke.


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