ACU AUG-18 3rd DRAFT_08-08-2018
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EXCLUSIVE Q&A<br />
Air cargo industry<br />
at crossroads:<br />
Embrace digitalization or continue<br />
to lag behind<br />
Air c a r g o t r a f fi c i s a n<br />
important global health<br />
economic indicator. But<br />
despite its significance, it's still<br />
struggling to implement, evolve and<br />
embrace the digital age.<br />
There are new players creating a<br />
niche in the ever competitive freight<br />
marketplace. How will they fare? Is the<br />
industry caught up unprepared in the<br />
g r o w i n g d i g i t a l i z a t i o n a n d e -<br />
commerce trends? What is the way<br />
forward?<br />
Air Cargo Update had an exclusive<br />
interview with Ram Menen, the former<br />
stalwart of Emirates SkyCargo widely<br />
credited for the company's ascension<br />
as the top freight carrier in the world.<br />
Read on this expert's valuable insights<br />
on some of the most pressing issues<br />
affecting the industry.<br />
1. How has the air freight<br />
industry transformed over the past<br />
few years?<br />
The evolution of the airfreight<br />
industry has been painfully slow when<br />
compared to what is happening in rest<br />
of the industries in the world. While the<br />
entire world is digitized in many ways,<br />
we can see that the air cargo industry is<br />
struggling to implement e-Freight<br />
fully.<br />
Though, the industry has come a<br />
long way, apart from the larger and<br />
more evolved multi-nationals, the<br />
broker mentality still exists among<br />
forwarders, which is an impediment to<br />
progress. Shipper/ forwarder/ carrier<br />
relationships have not fully evolved to<br />
take advantage of technology.<br />
Having said that, there are new<br />
players like Flexport with their virtual<br />
forwarder concept and Freightos, with<br />
their vision to create a freight market<br />
place. They are creating disruption in<br />
the industry and leading the change.<br />
Freight forwarding is caught between<br />
getting digitized and growth in e-<br />
commerce industry.<br />
Amazon, Alibaba and now Google,<br />
with its investment in JD.com, are all<br />
moving into and will dominate the air<br />
cargo world in the future. They have<br />
also got the integrators, who are more<br />
attuned to the e-commerce business,<br />
in a dilemma with their requirement for<br />
very short and flexi LMD (last mile<br />
delivery) requirement.<br />
This has created a new breed of local<br />
LMD companies who are now in a better<br />
niche to provide services to both, the<br />
integrators and e-commerce business.<br />
This is an opportunity for the freight
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