AIR CARGO CONFERENCE - ORLANDO - REVIEW F


AIR CARG O WEEK


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Gold shared a story that got knowing nods: a small business shifted pro-


duction from China to Cambodia to dodge tariffs. Cambodia got hit with a 49% rate, higher than China. “They paid an additional US$50,000 in duties. They don’t have that kind of cash on hand.” The punchline? “Most companies are eating it right now, but we’re get- ting to a point where they’re not going to eat it much longer.”


The customs nightmare Customs attorney Jay Acayan laid out what tariff chaos actually looks like operationally. “Prior to 2025, a regular customs entry for a single item was one line. Now you’re dealing with nine, possibly nine different lines for a single item. Customs brokers are constantly trying to play catch up.” He warned forwarders who’ve recently added customs brokerage in-


house: “It might have seemed like a no-brainer, easy way to make more money. But now you went from a one-line deal to a 10-line deal” with mas- sive compliance risk. Then there’s the DDP nightmare. When tariffs spike 100% mid-shipment,


sellers balk, importers refuse to pay, and cargo sits in storage racking up fees. Acayan cited a New Orleans probate case from the 1800s that took 50


years to resolve. The heiress died four years before it closed. “I’m not say- ing storage disputes will last 50 years, but you may not get to resolution for a year.”


Female leadership in focus The conference opened with Kendra Tanner delivering Monday’s keynote, a fitting choice for an industry watching its leadership evolve. Tanner, pres- ident and chief executive of Allstates WorldCargo, recently received the 2025 Women in Supply Chain Award after 33 years in the industry. Tanner also serves on the Air Forwarders Association board.


www.aircargoweek.com 02 MARCH 2026 ACW


Monday evening’s women’s networking event reinforced the theme,


bringing together female leaders from across airlines, airports, freight for- warders and technology providers. The shift is no longer aspirational, it’s visible, it’s palpable. Women continue to make their presence felt in senior roles throughout the airfreight ecosystem, reshaping how the industry ap- proaches leadership, mentorship and succession planning.


“Customs


brokers are constantly


trying to play catch-up.”


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