The freighter plane may become a thing of the past if airlines failed to
devise strategies to make their cargo operations more efficient, an
aviation industry specialist has warned.
The industry needs a structural redesign, said Glyn Hughes, director of cargo industry management at International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Air cargo volumes have remained flat since 2010, he said during IATA’s annual general meeting.
IATA predicts cargo volumes will total about 52 million tons this year, effectively unchanged since 2010.
The $6.8 trillion worth of goods transported by air cargo every year represents 35 percent of international trade by value but only 0.5 percent of total volumes, Hughes pointed out.
He called for more drastic changes to shorten transport times and regain ground lost to the shipping industry.
Some carriers have already reduced the number of freighter planes they operate, he said.
Air freight built a reputation for getting bulky, expensive goods from A to B as quickly as possible. But as paperwork has increased, the average time it takes to shift a product from the manufacturer to the final importer stands at 6.5 days, compared with Lufthansa Cargo’s boast in the 1960s that the process took only three days.
High value goods such as electronics have also become smaller, meaning they take up less space and do not need dedicated freighters for transportation.
These trends are pushing companies such as AstraZeneca, Ericsson and Sony to transport more of their pharmaceuticals and electronics via sea at lower cost. In addition, growing demand for plane travel means more and more freight is being transported in the holds, or bellies, of passenger planes.
Airlines have so far reacted to the tough cargo market by cutting capacity and taking freighters out of service.
To remain competitive in the long term, airlines need to cut shipping times and position themselves as premium operators specializing in high value or perishable goods, such as flowers, or bulky over-sized goods, delegates said.
To boost competitiveness and revitalize trade growth, the industry is working toward a goal of reducing shipping times by 48 hours before 2020.
Of the 6.5 days on average it takes to get air freight from door to door, only a few hours are actually spent in the air, according to IATA.
It is therefore encouraging airlines to simplify procedures with freight forwarders and ground handlers, and to cut down the amount of paperwork it creates by moving to digital documents.
The association said that just 14.3 percent of contracts, known as airway bills, were in electronic form in 2013, short of its target of 22 percent for 2014.
The industry needs a structural redesign, said Glyn Hughes, director of cargo industry management at International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Air cargo volumes have remained flat since 2010, he said during IATA’s annual general meeting.
IATA predicts cargo volumes will total about 52 million tons this year, effectively unchanged since 2010.
The $6.8 trillion worth of goods transported by air cargo every year represents 35 percent of international trade by value but only 0.5 percent of total volumes, Hughes pointed out.
He called for more drastic changes to shorten transport times and regain ground lost to the shipping industry.
Some carriers have already reduced the number of freighter planes they operate, he said.
Air freight built a reputation for getting bulky, expensive goods from A to B as quickly as possible. But as paperwork has increased, the average time it takes to shift a product from the manufacturer to the final importer stands at 6.5 days, compared with Lufthansa Cargo’s boast in the 1960s that the process took only three days.
High value goods such as electronics have also become smaller, meaning they take up less space and do not need dedicated freighters for transportation.
These trends are pushing companies such as AstraZeneca, Ericsson and Sony to transport more of their pharmaceuticals and electronics via sea at lower cost. In addition, growing demand for plane travel means more and more freight is being transported in the holds, or bellies, of passenger planes.
Airlines have so far reacted to the tough cargo market by cutting capacity and taking freighters out of service.
To remain competitive in the long term, airlines need to cut shipping times and position themselves as premium operators specializing in high value or perishable goods, such as flowers, or bulky over-sized goods, delegates said.
To boost competitiveness and revitalize trade growth, the industry is working toward a goal of reducing shipping times by 48 hours before 2020.
Of the 6.5 days on average it takes to get air freight from door to door, only a few hours are actually spent in the air, according to IATA.
It is therefore encouraging airlines to simplify procedures with freight forwarders and ground handlers, and to cut down the amount of paperwork it creates by moving to digital documents.
The association said that just 14.3 percent of contracts, known as airway bills, were in electronic form in 2013, short of its target of 22 percent for 2014.
.jpg)
