Download - Export & Freight

in conversation withwas an opportune momentto launch the direct service.Emirates, of course, has beenin the Irish cargo market formany years, covering boththe north and south of theisland, being served as an ‘offline’ destination, with truckingconnections from all of theairports into the UK and Ireland,so we had an existing consumerbase on which to build on.Although we are based inDublin, we offer an all-Irelandservice. We have regular roadfeeder services, for example,from Shannon and Cork, whilecargo out of Belfast is currentlyrouted through Manchester.What makes you differentfrom the competition?Have you been winningover customers from otherplayers in the market?First of all, as a multiple awardwinning airline, we can serveover 120 destinations worldwide,connecting Ireland to all of them.Secondly, and significantly, wehave uniformed wide-bodiedcapacity across the business,enabling us to take freight directlyout of Dublin to anywhere inour global network, and that isquite unique, as other airlineshave only limited wide-bodiedfacilities on specific routes, withnarrow-bodied capacity on others.As to growing our customerbase; of course, existing clientshave been supporting us downthrough the years as an off-linecarrier and they have obviouslytransferred across to our directservice. There is a strong focuson exports from the island, andwe are generating additionalbusiness by working with freightforwarders, shippers and otherson new opportunities, particularlyin the Far East, with seafoods andother perishables going into Chinaand to the Middle East in general.There are many entrepreneurialpeople in Ireland who are workinghard to develop their businessesand are willing to invest notjust their money but their owntime, and we are delighted towork with them to open up newmarkets as they grow and expand.What carrying capacity doyou have? I understandyou are about to increasetonnage capability?Currently, we have capacity outof and in to Dublin of 15 tonnesof cargo on our Airbus 330, butfrom July, due to the success ofthe route, both from a passengerand cargo perspective, we willbe replacing that with a Boeing777, increasing capacity to over25 tonnes on a daily basis.How many destinations canyou connect Ireland with?As I mentioned, with a one hop toDubai, we can connect customersto over 120 destinations aroundthe globe in a safe, secureand hassle free manner. Ourdestinations include over 70countries in Europe, NorthAmerica, South America, theMiddle East, Africa, the Indiansubcontinent and Asia-PacificWhat types of productare you carrying intoand out of Dublin?Apart from all the standard typeof products, they include freshfoods and other perishable goodssuch as seafood and time andtemperature sensitive productsfrom the pharmaceutical industry.The market for the export of foodand perishables is supported byCool Chain, which is EmiratesSkyCargo’s temperature-controlledcontainer solution, allowing forthe carriage of commoditiesat a constant temperature,and boosting the lifespan oftemperature-sensitive products.As you know, up until a few yearsago, the electronics industry inIreland was a major exporter, nowovertaken by pharmaceuticals, butit remains an important part ofour business; in addition, we arealso bringing in component forthe industry from China. Otherlines include clothing from India.An important part of our business,too, is the transportation oflive animals for which wehave specialised facilities.Looking to the future, haveyou identified any particulargrowth areas that youmay concentrate on?We are looking at furtherexpansion of the pharmaceuticalbusiness, providing more capacityto destinations that clients require.As you know, Ireland is one ofthe top exporters in the world ofpharmaceutical products, withmany of the leading companiesin the sector based on the island,so we will continue to work withthem to make the distributionof their product to the globalmarket as efficient as possible,including to Australia which is oneof the important marketplaces;we have 10 operations a day intoAustralia from our Dubai hub.We also see further potentialin the seafood sector, providinga tailor made service to meettheir requirements. There are,for example, clients in the westand northwest of Ireland whoharvest their fish at night time,delivering it into us for transfer toDubai which takes less than threehours, arriving in Hong Kong orBeijing the following afternoon.We also see opportunities withinthe fresh food area and the dairyindustry where customers areseeking out new markets not justin Europe, Asia and the MiddleEast, but in other countries likeAfrica; Emirates, through itsDubai hub, can provide exactlythe rapid and efficient type ofservice these products demand.STOPPRESSEmirates has justintroduced a larger aircrafton its Dublin route twomonths early becauseof surging demand.A 360-seat Boeing 777-300ER hasbeen deployed to Dublin, whichhas become one of the airline’smost successful new services.Just three weeks after the9th January launch of flights,Emirates announced a largeraircraft would be fast-trackedfrom 1st July this year.However, after a further reviewand aircraft availability, itwas decided that the AirbusA330-200 needed to beupgraded even sooner.43Face to Face-Michael Meagher-Emirates Spread.indd 43 09/05/2012 12:15