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Issue 4 2014 - Freight Business Journal


///MALTA The XPH factor in airfreight A waiting game for White Bros


The Maltese branch of Italian airline general sales agency XPH is going from strength to strength under the guidance of former Air Malta manager of cargo sales, Norman Clews. The agency’s business passed the 1 million kilo-mark some time ago and has increased by 40- 50% in this year alone. XPH’s unique selling point is that it is only a GSA, rather than trying to combine the activity with freight fowarding, making it a true independent, says Clews. From February this year,


XPH Malta has been appointed warehouse agent for Alitalia, an airline for which it already acts as general sales agent (GSA). XPH also represents Turkish Airlines, SN Brussels, Air Baltic, Thomas Cook Airlines and Libyan Airlines on Malta. “Libyan Airlines’ figures


have gone up,” Clews enthuses. “The airline is now operating five days a week with an A320, which makes a big difference compared with the F28 they used before.” Likewise, Turkish Airlines has upgraded to 737 and A319/320s on its five days a week service to Istanbul Ataturk, an airport to which it is now the sole carrier since Air Malta switched to the city’s other hub, Sabiha Gokcen. The summer-only Air Baltic


service to Riga started as a once a week flight last year but is now twice weekly. Another summer operation, the Thomas Cook flight, offers useful wide-body capacity to Manchester on its Tuesday flight from Malta. SN Brussels is starting this


year with a twice-weekly summer A319/320 service to its home hub in Belgium – from where it has very useful


connections to Africa, as well as Washington and New York JFK – and Clews hopes that the carrier can be persuaded to run a year- round service. As well as direct flights,


XPH offers a trucking service to major mainland European freighter hubs such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam. XPH also has a new location


in Malta’s putative cargo village close to the international airport – an area which, sadly, has largely been given over to non-airfreight users, with the exception of DHL Express. “We have


customs facilities here


but what we really would like is direct ramp access,” Clews explains. In fact, Malta has singularly failed to develop its airfreight industry, although he is now more hopeful with the publication of the new Government’s logistics strategy for the island – and Malta Airport’s new director general is very keen on cargo. XPH is installing an X-ray


machine, which will probably make it the first company on Malta to offer such faculties, apart from Air Malta. It’s a big commitment – the second-hand machine alone costs


around


€70-80,000, plus all the costs of training, certification, calibration and ongoing maintenance, but the plan is also to offer a service to third parties. Once scanned, cargo can be loaded onto a sealed truck and taken direct to the air-side, although again direct air access would make matters even simpler, Clews points out. Malta does have the potential


to become an air-sea hub for the Mediterranean, and in particular Libya and North


Africa, he believes. “We are now seeing vastly increased capacity from Libyan Airlines, and we also have options on the freighters operated by DHL to mainland Europe.” Like others in the airfreight


industry, Norman Clews looks forward to the start of Malta’s tuna fishing season - normally in early May – as that means 70 to 80 tonnes of fish to be flown overseas, chiefly to Narita, Japan. But it’s an all too brief few weeks before fishing – which


is closely monitored


by the authorities to preserve stocks – has to stop again. Mediterranean tuna is highly prized by Japanese foodies. At one time, the tuna season justified chartered freighters from Malta to Japan, but the reduced catches, along with the larger belly-holds of modern passenger aircraft, have put paid to that. Norman Clews is always on


the lookout for good carriers to represent, though he isn’t interested in “collecting badges”. One carrier that might have had potential is British Airways, which recently launched services to Malta from Gatwick after an absence from the island of many years. However, the UK carrier is not carrying cargo on its flights, for the moment at least, citing tight turnarounds. “I could give them cargo and mail, and they have a good network,” says Norman Clews, who is trying to change BA’s mind on the issue. He adds that he could also


do more with Thomas Cook if the carrier came to Malta more often and perhaps switched its flight from mid-week to closer to the weekend.


For Marsa-based transport and liſting specialist, White Brothers, life is a bit of a waiting game. The company’s heavy liſting arm is somewhat dependent on major projects, and there aren’t too many of those going on in Malta at the moment, says general manager,


Mario Ciantar. However, “the feel- good factor is here and there are hopes of a new power station project, which would be very good for us.” White Brothers’ cranes are


being kept occupied with smaller jobs at the moment, and there are


also the company’s regular staples of container and trailer transport. Meanwhile, “it’s a matter of being


ready for when the cargo does come. We’re continuing to invest in new trucks and forkliſts, especially with the new Euro emissions limits coming in.”


Freight to the fore at Virtu Ferries


Two things strike you when the stern ramp of Virtu’s high speed ferry, Jean de la Valette is lowered in Valletta harbour - firstly how full the garage deck is, and secondly, that the space is overwhelmingly filled by freight vehicles. Supercube trailers carrying daily supplies for some of the major local supermarkets jostle for position on the unloading ramp with smaller trucks belonging to traders moving goods on their own account, 40-foot trailerloads of building materials and other general cargo, together with fresh meat, fish and fruit or bottled mineral water. To highlight the variety, there are also two highly specialised


artics used to carry racing pigeons from Malta to Bari in mainland Italy where they are released to fly back to their loſts in Malta. The birds are fed and watered automatically throughout the trip and their owners can keep an eye on them through an internet link. These are trailers that necessarily comes back to Malta empty. Deck space management has


become a vital and never ending aspect in the daily operation, intended to fit in just about all trucks on the differently timed voyages, in a way that keeps all parties well served but at the same time creating the necessary spaces for all the bookings. The Jean de La Valette is a €70m investment, so good space management while trying to expand the operation is vital. Active space management in handy on the


also comes


odd occasions when services are disrupted by rare adverse weather conditions. In these cases, the flexibility and the speed of the catamaran and its operation allows Virtu Ferries to


operate extra voyages just before the weather comes in or right aſter, so as to quickly recover and service the traffic on hold. Meanwhile, the appetite on for


Malta Sicilian produced


or sourced goods seems to be ever increasing and vast, says Virtu’s freight manager Alan Cordina. “We do produce a wide variety of manufactured or fresh produce in Malta, but still at the same time, we still import just about everything.” The Maltese consumer is increasingly taking advantage


of pricing


deriving from the overwhelming economies of scale in the vast EU


open common market,


especially so if a Maltese importer or Sicilian exporter can send a truck to Sicily and have it back, loaded, or vice-versa on the same day, thanks to Virtu’s sub two hour crossing time to Pozzallo in southern Sicily. The route is also increasingly


favoured by express (courier) road carriers, who can make Malta from their express carrier’s Rome hub in less than half a day, three times weekly.


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