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Issue 4 2019 - Freight Business Journal


two-tonne or 9cu m increase in payload over


the A319s that will ultimately be replaced. The rising number of flights in the programme including increased frequencies to strong cargo destinations such as Paris, Hamburg, London Heathrow, Kiev and Munich will also serve to raise capacity, Vella points out. Cargo at Air Malta has in fact


been growing at 6%, just about the strongest of any major EU carrier, Vella continues, “which is quite remarkable considering that we are a non-ULD airline with only loose-loaded capacity, and operating in a local market that is quite saturated”. The airfreight market out of Malta these days largely consists of electronics, automotive components and a certain amount of fresh fish and pharmaceuticals, although the latter tends to either fly on wide body aircraſt or even go by road and sea. Quite apart from all the other air carriers that compete with Air Malta, the trailer operators are also keen competitors, even for small 2-3


pallet loads. However, none of this stopped


Air Malta from moving a total of 4m kilos in and out of the island in 2018. Part of its secret is its range of interline agreements that allow it to move traffic via strategic hubs such as London or Frankfurt way beyond where its planes actually fly to, in North America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Looking ahead, IATA is


expecting growth in global airfreight to slacken from 4.9% to 4.4% in the first quarter of this year, dampened by, for example, the ongoing US/China trade dispute or the UK’s expected exit from the EU. There is no reason not to expect Air Malta’s own traffic to reflect this trend, say Vella and Camilleri, with Brexit in particular having a key role in Air Malta’s fortunes; the UK is still a major exporter to the island. “A lot of companies are waiting


to see what will happen,” Vella confirms. “The UK is still one our biggest markets, although Malta Customs say they are well prepared and indeed that they aim to be the most ‘Brexit-


friendly’ country in the EU aſter the UK leaves.” Airfreight imports into Malta


from third countries have meanwhile been boosted by the carrier’s ACC3 security certification in Kiev, Tunis and, most recently, St Petersburg which will greatly speed up movements from these airports. The plan is also to get similar certification for the new Cairo route when that starts. Air Malta is also extending


transhipment business over its own home hub. Vella points out that the


new Cairo flight will be an overnight one into Malta and that connecting flights from there to Europe will arrive just as some of the major European airports night bans are coming to an end. The government also still has


plans to develop a new airfreight terminal, an idea that has been talked about for many years but is still a live issue, he believes. The airport itself, with its two


runways and ability to handle some of the largest aircraſt flying, has enough capacity to handle all foreseeable future needs.


No end in sight to islanders’ love affair with imports


Business is good, says Franco


Azzopardi, chief executive officer at Express Group, Malta’s largest trailer and logistics company, but it is a largely one-way affair. The island is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, so it sucks in huge volumes of imports but produces relatively little that can be exported, other than financial services or soſtware, neither of which fill trailers returning to mainland Europe. A rising population means


increasing imports, which in turn aggravates the imbalance of inbound over outbound trailer traffic. This is the reason why Express Trailers last year acquired a Genova-based forwarder which it has been integrating into its operation over the past 12 months. At the same time, its 6,000sq m, four-door quayside depot has been redeveloped into a cross- dock facility and a management team put in place. The new facility will reload


trailers coming back from Malta with traffic from both Italy itself and imports from North Africa to mainland Europe transported into Genova port, and so help fill some of the empty capacity. Another strand of Express


Trailers’ strategy is to develop its Shiplowcost internet delivery service – which hitherto has concentrated on imports into Malta – into an export operation too.


Azzopardi explains: “Retailers


in Malta, as everywhere else, were finding that they were having to compete with online traders. However, they could get into online trading themselves.” That means investing in


websites and e-shops, processing and stock control systems and, of course, logistics. It also means stocking suitable packaging for despatch. Express Trailers Shiplowcost can help with


shipping, of course, with the retailer either bringing the packed goods to its depot for despatch, but Express can also carry out the picking, packing and delivery function itself. It can also take the headache of stocking packaging in sufficient sizes and quantities away from the retailer. Shiplowcost has enabled


Maltese retailers and producers of fashion, craſts wine and other goods get into online selling, which again helps fill some of the empty trailer spaces out of Malta, Azzopardi explains. The new Genova warehouse


could add a further strand to this activity – retailers can hold stocks there, rather than in Malta, so increasing the speed with which they can fulfil orders. Express Group has found of


further ways boosting its


business, however. Its holding company has partnered with a soſtware solutions company and the Gartner consultancy to develop a warehouse management system (WMS) which is in the final phases of testing and will probably be released in the first half of 2020, says Azzopardi. It will be able to track goods


all the way through the logistics process


from receipt into the


warehouse, give full visibility to the customer on where it is being stored through to delivery to the


their warehousing to Express as a shared user operator and to pay only for what they use, when they use it, rather than seek their own warehousing site. The target market will be small to medium- sized firms, many of whom find it difficult to obtain warehousing in the tight Maltese property market. Express Trailers has also been


turning its attention to its own internal IT needs and is completing the arduous task of replacing its legacy logistics system with a new, customised off-the-shelf solution. As well as the new soſtware, it also means training staff and getting them used to new concepts, but the reward for all this work will be the elimination of paper from a large part of the company’s operations, Azzopardi believes. Complete elimination of


paper will depend on wider developments, notably the creation of an electronic CMR note, but getting rid of paper in the company’s internal processes will be a big step forward. Future versions of the system


could incorporate more artificial intelligence and machine learning that will help planners manage pick-ups and deliveries even more effectively. “This is major surgery for us,


it’s a big challenge,” Azzopardi declares. “We will need to retrain people, and although


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customer, along with a complete customised billing process. It will in particular facilitate companies who prefer to hand


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