Ireland needs to get airport act together, says study 32 study has


A new report has called for better airport facilities in Ireland and a new pre-clearance scheme to speed up pharmaceutical and life- science exports to the US. The All- Island Airfreight Study, published in December last year, said that action was needed to halt a decline in the Irish airfreight sector. With the removal of almost all freighter capacity, other than that operated by the integrators, space out of Eire and Northern Ireland had collapsed from over 207,000 tonnes in 2007 to just 105,000 tonnes in 2011, the report states. The


commissioned by the


been Irish


Exporters Association (IEA), airports authority DAA, the Mid- West Regional Authority, Shannon Development and Bombardier IEA


and was written by Tom Martin and Associates, independent airfreight consultant Peter Canning and Professor Aisling Reynolds-Feighan of University College Dublin. It painted a gloomy picture of cold


chain facilities in Ireland – vital for the all-important life sciences export industry and warned that if they were not upgraded to international standards soon, it could lead to significant losses of business in future. Ireland’s ancient cargo facilities


– some of them over 50 years old – were not only unsuitable, but expensive. Ireland also uses an outmoded per-kilo charging system whereas most continental and US hubs operate on a per-consignment basis. Requirements for biopharma


logistics are becoming much more demanding, with increased pressure from the EU Health and Consumer directorates which are currently revising their Good Distribution Practice guidelines. The report urged Dublin and


Shannon airports to find funding sources to develop state-of-the-art cargo terminal facilities and a cold chain facility, such as that already suggested under Shannon Airport’s currently stalled LYNXS Cargo Port project. The


study also suggested


procedural improvements to make Ireland a more attractive place for pharma and medical exporters and help it develop as a transshipment hub for the sector. Possible measures include pre-clearance facilities for the US Food and Drugs


Turkey gets into the Irish top 20


Istanbul is a top-20 destination for Irish air freight, with almost 46,000kg of flown tonnage in January according to CASS statistics - 34% higher than in January 2012. The value increase was greater still, up 81% on the previous year at $65,000. This improvement


looks set


to continue through the year, as Turkish Airlines will increase its Dublin-Istanbul services from seven to 10 flights per week in April and will switch from B737s to A320s and A321s for peak season. While these aircraſt offer limited cargo upliſt, THY supplements this with a daily trucking service to


London, explains manager Adnan Cetinkaya. cargo


Administration (FDA). This, it says, could be a “game changer” and called on the Irish government to make an immediate start on negotiations with the US authorities. As well as eliminating delays and improving communications with


the FDA, it could be a catalyst in turning Shannon into a gateway for the pharma sector, serving not only Ireland itself but the rest of Europe. There are now very few all-cargo


operators in Ireland. other than the integrators, some of whom


do however sell their space on to the airfreight industry. Cargolux and Singapore Airline have both withdrawn their all-cargo planes, with the sole survivor being a weekly Air France flight from Chicago to Paris via Dublin.


Shock shortage as air capacity tightens


The Irish air freight industry had a problem in January that it has experienced all too rarely over recent years. With many carriers on the North Atlantic either suspending routes for the winter season or using smaller aircraſt, capacity was scarce, claims International Airline Marketing, GSA for American Airlines. “Capacity gets decimated


from November and it has been difficult to get space at a time when American, BA and Virgin are all down,” says Ian McCool, MD of IAM. GSAs suffer during downturns


in the market because base rates on which they earn commission are eroded, with surcharges making up most of the cost on more competitive routes. Premium products thus become more important.


“Temperature-controlled and


express products are flying out of Ireland at the moment and with this better mix of cargo, the whole picture changes,” McCool says. Both American Airline and Air Canada, which IAM also represents, have been “stuck with ageing fleets while competitors were reducing their costs,” he comments. “But AA has launched Heathrow-Dallas Fort Worth and Heathrow-JFK services using its new B777-300ER aircraſt, which offer 40% extra cargo capacity. Air Canada is also leasing in extra 777s and is waiting for the B787.” Irish pharmaceutical shippers


are meanwhile benefiting from an enhanced service to Japan following All Nippon Airways’ introduction of a temperature- controlled product in February. Flown air freight volumes out


of Ireland were more than 3,200 tonnes in January according to IATA figures, up 10.7% on a year earlier. Despite this positive trend, however, McCool feels there is “no great optimism” about Irish economic growth more generally. “The export and domestic markets are two different worlds,” he says. One bright spot is Intel’s


continuing expansion of semiconductor manufacturing. It is gearing up to produce next- generation chips in a reported $4 billion investment at its existing facility in Leixlip. Four global forwarders have picked up contracts relating to the three-year fit-out of the plant, and McCool also expects large movements


in the reverse


direction as old plant is shipped out.


Direct services help air freight take off


Worldwide Flight Services is set to open a new cargo handling facility at Dublin Airport on 8 April, following earlier investment at its other Irish locations. A refurbished former DHL site at Cork reopened in January 2012 and Shannon has also been upgraded. “We’re still off- airport here in Dublin but needed an


an-airport presence,” says


managing director Gerry Jackson. WFS has overseen major


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consolidation in air freight handling in seven short years at Dublin. The company took over the Menzies operation in 2008, absorbed Dunwoody’s business in 2009, and was sub-contracted by Swissport as its Irish cargo handler in 2010. “Six sheds in Dublin has become three, just Aer Lingus, Servisair and us,” Jackson says. He senses an upturn in the


industry’s fortunes in Ireland. Some garment shippers are shiſting back from ocean to air


as the differential between the two modes reduces, and there is greatly increased direct liſt out of Dublin following the entry of carriers such as Emirates and Etihad, reducing the country’s dependence on trucking. The Gathering, a government-


backed, year-long festival designed to encourage descendants of Irish emigrants to rediscover their roots, aims to attract an additional 325,000 visitors and is partially responsible for a major increase in transatlantic capacity this year, with American Airlines, US Airways and Delta all launching new services, increasing frequencies and putting on larger aircraſt. Meanwhile WFS is broadening logistical support, especially


its


as regards the cool chain. It has no cold store but is promoting the conditioning, collection, delivery and monitoring of client airlines’


Envirotainers. WFS was also the launch


customer for Aegis Plus, a security compliance and document management system developed locally by Air Cargo Systems. Drivers delivering cargo to the facility now carry a card which, when swiped at the front desk, opens up their photo to confirm their ID, verifies regulated agent status, shows their history and automatically


fills fields with


information that WFS previously had to enter manually. “We adopted a modular


approach to suit different jurisdictions,” says Fintan Roche, chief operations officer at Air Cargo Systems. “This year, we have introduced a new version that identifies embargoed destinations or cargoes at the point of capture, so there’s less responsibility on the handler further through the process.”


Issue 2 2013


///IRELAND


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