6


Issue 1 2013


///AIRFREIGHT Emirates’ world is a land of wide-open spaces


There used to be a saying popular around the management schools in the mid to late 1980s, about the time Emirates was created: “Think global, act global.” Certainly, it’s advice that the Middle East carrier has taken on board. The beauty of the Emirates network is that, not only does it reach all corners of the globe via its Dubai hub, but it also flies from six points in the UK – plus Dublin in Ireland – effectively plugging exporters in those regions into the worldwide trading community. UK cargo manager Phil Rawlings,


like much of the Emirates SkyCargo team, has been with the company since the early days and can recall the the carrier’s progression. Emirates SkyCargo people tend to be a special breed. Like their boss, Ram Menen (who has just announced his


retirement aſter


27 years), they tend to stay in the freight business, rather than use it as a stepping-stone to the allegedly more glamorous passenger part of the airline. “We tend to breed our own,” as Rawlings puts it. “I’m very proud of what we have built and our staff have grown with us. We’ve built the airline to the point where it is the third-largest mover of UK- origin cargo (aſter BA and Virgin) and I feel we could challenge for second place.” Emirates started in the UK


with London Gatwick in the 1980s,


then came London


Heathrow and Manchester and flights were subsequently added to Birmingham, Glasgow and Newcastle – plus Dublin. Moreover,


all those airports


are now served by either A380 or 777 wide-body capacity. The five days a week Heathrow service is in fact now an all-A380 operation, not unalloyed good news for SkyCargo, as the giant of the skies has a relatively limited four-pallet position cargo space, and one of


the thrice-daily Manchester


service is also a 380. Otherwise, all UK flights are operated by Emirates’ cargo-friendly 777 fleet. In fact, says Rawlings, a feature of Emirates, and one that makes it such a cargo-friendly airline, is that the whole fleet is wide-body (including the A330 the other staple aircraſt found elsewhere on its worldwide network) meaning that any piece of freight accepted anywhere on its network can fly to any other point. At the moment, Rawlings


says that he is not aware of any firm plans to add to the UK route network, “but it wouldn’t surprise me if we did, as regional expansion


Phil Rawlings: Emirates cargo people are a special breed


or for big events like motor races. Having two airports in Dubai


has always been part of our modus operandi.” Though cargo accounts for a heſty 20% of Emirates’ revenue – probably more than any similar carrier in the world – ultimately the decision to add new routes is one for the passenger people. Though with an average of 2½ new wide- body aircraſt joining the Emirates fleet every month, there clearly is the scope to add new routes and services at short notice. Newcastle, the latest addition


to the UK schedule, is a prime example of what could be termed ‘the Emirates effect’. Within weeks of the service’s introduction, the plane used was upgraded from an A330 to a 777, doubling cargo capacity from four to eight pallet positions. “The North-east has been very


welcoming to us,” explains Phil Rawlings. “All the trade bodies like the chambers of commerce have been very good, letting us access


the airwaybill, though as a major logistics and trading hub, much of what gets exported eventually ends up somewhere else entirely. It is also something of a regional manufacturing hub, although the amounts aren’t huge. However, it is as a global transhipment hub that the airport really comes into its own. The smooth functioning of


Emirates’ hub in Dubai is central to the airline’s cargo service. Cargo chief Ram Menen’s diktat is that Emirates should always offer as a good a service as any carrier offering a direct routing. Dubai airport’s growth has matched the headlong expansion of the city


will mean a bonded trucking operation will be set up to link the two parts of the Emirates operation – until such time as the passenger flights move to DWC too – but Ram Menen says that shippers will see no difference in transhipment times; as much bonded trucking capacity will be laid on as is necessary. Sometimes cargo from


Newcastle ends up in quite surprising places via Dubai – by design, not accident, we hasten to add. Newcastle to South America isn’t a geographically logical routing, but with this region traditionally poorly served from the UK, it can be the quickest, though not the cheapest option for a Newcastle shipper, Rawlings points out. It’s been a similar story in


Glasgow, of Emirates SkyCargo effectively creating its own market. The introduction of a second evening service departing at 21.30 can get fresh fish caught in the seas and lochs of Scotland that same


a day by 777s and once by an A380 - is one of Emirates’ longest- standing markets and in some ways is a more traditional one with a wide range of exports and imports. But it has been quite a tough time for the Emirates team there, because Manchester used to be the main export point for Ireland traffic, most of which now goes on the new direct flights from Dublin. The local sales force has had to work hard to replace that volume. Nevertheless, says Rawlings, Emirates is still the biggest exporting airline out of Manchester. In fact, there is still a little excess traffic from Dublin going via there. Rawlings describes Dublin as “a


bit of an enigma”, while pointing out that his team is no longer responsible for sales as Emirates has put dedicated staff on the ground there. “It was a market that was used to exporting through the UK and we ourselves had good business. Cargo-wise, we always felt it would work, and since the service started, it has proved the point.” The Dublin flights could


local airports.” They also have the advantage that, should there be any issues with customs, the forwarder can quickly resolve them rather than having to deal with them – probably through a third party – hundreds of miles down the M1. Until recently, there were some


issues with lack of scanning facilities for denser cargo at the regional


hubs – particularly


Newcastle - but these have been resolved thanks to the deployment of some clever new technology as of September, Rawlings says. The regional airports – Gatwick


and Birmingham in particular - also act as a “safety valve” for London-origin traffic when capacity out of Heathrow comes under pressure at busy times. “Provided the right procedures are followed, most forwarders aren’t fussed which airport their cargo flies from,” says Rawlings. London Gatwick, which has


their members.” Local


firms have found that a direct link to Dubai gives them a 12- 24-hour advantage compared with trucking to the south. This may not sound much, but for many products like temperature- sensitive pharmaceuticals or high- end electronics, it can make all the difference in opening up export markets. Forwarders too,


“like to see a


familiar tail-fin at their local airport and they do like to deal with local staff. Our policy is always to put our own, local staff, into our regions.” The Emirates flight plugs the


North-East of England into not just Dubai, but the whole of the carrier’s network; if fact, most of that region’s cargo goes to the far East and Australasia. “Geographically, Dubai is at the crossroads of the world; billions of the world population are within eight hours’ flying time.” A place that started out as little more than a technical stop on long-haul routes between Europe and the Far East has blossomed into one of the world’s leading cargo and passenger hubs. Dubai is in fact the UK’s biggest


destination for airfreight exports, at least in terms of what is written on


three 777 flights a day, is part London, part regional airport. These days, there are few forwarders based there – most London area traffic tends to be handled by forwarders’ offices at Heathrow. As such, it is very much an overflow airport for Heathrow, although Emirates has offered advantageous rates to encourage around 7-8 clients to deliver direct to Gatwick. There has in fact lately been a revival in business now that Heathrow has become an all-A380 airport for Emirates. The A380, Rawlings says, is a


itself and the original gateway is beginning to be hemmed in by urban development. No matter, Dubai’s rulers promptly set about building a new more spacious airport, Dubai World Central (DWC), which is now being phased into operation. Some all-cargo carriers have already moved into DWC and Emirates will move its own freighters there sometime in 2013, although the complete phase-in of the new airport and phase-out of the old one will be a long process. Emirates freighters are used


on key routes from Dubai to Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Frankfurt to supplement the bellyhold capacity. There are no regular routes to the UK at the moment, though they do visit on occasion to shiſt exceptional loads


morning onto dinner tables in Hong Kong the following evening. Scottish exports have been in long- term structural decline, “but we have found time and time again that we have generated business at regional airports like Glasgow simply because we’re there,” Rawlings explains. “Sometimes people are nervous about exporting and there are shippers who have never dreamed of doing so until we have come along.” Emirates has invested heavily


in its cold chain including Envirotainer


controlled-


temperature containers and thermal blankets and this undoubtedly help


has in developing been a exports


in many sectors, including pharmaceuticals. Manchester – served twice


well be candidates for an upgrade soon.


Birmingham is a slightly more


difficult market for cargo, Rawlings continues. There is a good ethnic passenger business – which is what attracted Emirates in – but for cargo it is a slightly strange one. It falls between two stools – it is Britain’s second city but it is close to Heathrow and Manchester and cargo has traditionally been routed that way, so we faced difficulty in convincing people. The existing forwarding ‘infrastructure’ was to ship to Heathrow for consolidation, so why would agents change their behaviour? But we’ve whittled away and aſter 11 years there is a good mix of agents who support us.”


Compared with busy Heathrow, “there is a lovely atmosphere in the


great aircraſt from a passenger point of view. A self-confessed plane anorak himself – and with a huge case full of models in his office to prove it – the passenger appeal of the A380 is phenomenal. The airline world hasn’t seen anything like it since the introduction of the first jumbo jets back in the late 1960s. However, the new plane’s


limited cargo space does make his day job more difficult. “From a cargo point of view, I would have to be less gushing. We can get four pallets on it, but that compares to eight on the 777.” In fact, the 380’s freight space might have been even more limited, had the SkyCargo team not got involved with its design at an early stage. However, the growth of 777


capacity out of the other UK airports in the Emirates means that, overall, it should not be short of options, even if it does mean trucking cargo a little more than in the past. Emirates will keep its commitments to its customers, Rawlings insists.


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