READY FOR E-COMMERCE?


Conference left somewhat disappointed. They had hoped for a clear signal of change or a new sense of invigoration, but an attitude of ‘doing business as usual’ prevailed. Which, of course, begs the question: who waits for what and why?


It seems that the industry has issues with itself. This must have started early on, when, with nothing to go by of its own, the traditional demarcation from sea shipping was transposed upon air transport: airlines do the flying part, forwarders do the market-side. However, in view of investments, a balance needs to be maintained or otherwise the system may crumble and service levels deteriorate. It is a sign of this arrangement blurring that some airlines do seek market niches and larger forwarders have started to acquire hardware.


‘If the demarcation across the airline-forwarder system fades, closing the loop is a logical next step from the perspective of end user services. That’s the way the integrators went and with rapid success.’


out in initiating collaborative solutions. Steven Li at the Hong Kong conference added: “Sellers and buyers need quick response times, flexible services, and complete visibility from pick-up to delivery. Airfreight companies need to integrate more with other logistics companies, market places and transactions. IT capabilities will be very important in the future. The way it is going, cargo is growing, but is just not going to stay with the scheduled airlines or forwarders.”


E-Retailers channel large concentrations of individual packages towards the logistics industry as their business is order consolidation. But their IT-prowess and financial resources would allow them to extend their controls from beginning to end. Now that doubts are creeping in about 3rd party logistics, the Amazons, Alibabas, etc. may at some point decide they need to develop their own systems. While all of this reflects specifically on the challenges of E-Retailers, a broader issue may be if, at heart, this is more to do about the transparency and integrity of the traditional air cargo industry. After all, most carriers have bundles of point- to-point capacity available. It is the most expensive component in the chain and also happens to be the fastest service around!


8


But, still, airlines themselves don’t seem able to embrace the possibilities that an alliance, or even dialogue with ground handling and IT service providers could bring.


TIACA organises conferences as platforms for just such deliberations. But every one of the more than 3,000 participants and 200 exhibitors at the 2016 TIACA Paris


Amidst worries in general about the status of the air cargo industry, it was announced 747-8 freighter output will be increased, thanks to UPS’ business expansion. Mixed signals? Not really. If the demarcation across the airline-forwarder system fades, closing the loop is a logical next step from the perspective of end user services. That’s the way the integrators went and with rapid success. Now ‘closed’ implies boundary conditions, and that is a thing to watch. The “closed loop” has them on the outside: the system is a whole and arranges itself for where and how it meets the market. The “open loop” has them on the inside: the system is ‘flexible’ in where and how it meets the market. It must be that the ‘quick buck’ is too hard to resist. Frankly, in perpetuating processes basically stuck in the 1960’s, airlines do little to address this.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24