TC’s CEO Ingo Zimmer starts off 2013 with some landscape changing news, catapulting the European firm into a top position among the worldwide leading GSAs.
     “I am very pleased that after many intensive discussions, we have reached an agreement which strengthens both ATC and Platinum Cargo, offering the combined enterprise more promising market perspectives.”
     It may be one of the worst kept “secrets” as negotiations took some time to complete, but that does not diminish the big news as fast-rising ATC Group has acquired Houston-based general sales agent Platinum Air Cargo USA LLC.
     “Over the coming year, Platinum USA will gradually transition its brand and by the end of the year will operate solely under the name of its new parent, ATC,” Ingo said.
     He pointed out that both GSAs will continue to offer their partner airlines tailored global and regional cargo management and sales solutions and also that the acquisition will not result in staff cuts at ATC in Europe, or Platinum in the U.S.

Left to right Timothy Pfeil, Vice President, Sales and Airline Relations and Don Cochran Managing Director of ATC’s new U.S. subsidiary, ATC Aviation USA.

     ATC is quick to point out that the merger between Platinum Air Cargo USA LLC and ATC will not materially affect UK based Platinum Air Cargo Holdings Ltd, which will remain independently owned and operated in the UK and throughout other parts of Europe.
     “The ultimate winner of this merger will be our airline clients,” notes Platinum’s U.S. founder and President Don Cochran.
     “They will greatly benefit from the uniform, integrated global network that our merger with ATC brings, as well as our intended IT harmonization with ATC’s global integrated IT platform.”
Ingo Zimmer is ready for the next big step:
     “Over the past ten years, Platinum has established itself as the premier GSA in the U.S,. and this team is extremely well positioned for future growth opportunities in the Americas.
     “The synergies gained from the combination of Platinum USA with the ATC Group means that Platinum USA is taking the next big leap in becoming a truly global actor.”
Geoffrey/Flossie

nata Divisional Senior Vice President Jean Pierre (JD) De Pauw takes a long look at the energetic cargo center at Dubai International Airport from inside his operations headquarters, and says that he is as busy now than at any other time during his long and quite illustrious career.
     JD was part of the creation of the greatest air cargo ground handler in the Middle East, and although we hear occasional overtures of a world beyond Dnata for JD, he continues to sit atop a booming Dubai air cargo enterprise.
     Along the way, Dnata has spread its wings into handling and other business elsewhere in the world, but at its core rests this totally innovative and original executive, who is known simply as “JD” to legions of colleagues, friends, and customers in every corner of air cargo transportation.
     “Right now we are working at completing some 16 expansion projects by end of May 2013.
     “Currently our biggest challenge is readying/expanding FreightGates 3-4-5 (DXB – DAFZ) and FreightGate 8 (DWC – Dubai Logistics City) to accommodate the volumes from FreightGates 1 and 2 (DXB – Dubai Cargo Village), which we will close by mid next year to make room for Emirates SkyCargo expansion in ‘Dubai Cargo Village.’
     “The latter will then become more like an exclusive ‘Emirates SkyCargo Village,’ since all other airlines will be handled through the enhanced dnata FreightGate 3-4-5 facilities in DAFZ.
     “FreightGate 2, our unique express handling facility will be rebuilt to be bigger and better, able to accommodate up to 30 express operators. Its belt system will be equipped with 5 state-of-the-art, inline x-ray and trace detection equipment, with scanning, weighing, and volumetric weight measuring components, allowing all possible import/export and transit scenarios to be handled in the most efficient manner. The inline system will directly link to authorities and dnata computers as well as to Calogi, the e-commerce portal.
      “FreightGate 1 (up our oldest facility) volumes will be accommodated as part of FreightGate 3, where a new ASRS bin storage system will be built. We will also expand the capacity of both ASRS and PCHS at FreightGate 5.
     “FreightGate 8 will become a semi-automated facility with the addition of a proper ETV system, while plans are being developed for a FreightGate 9 on the adjacent plot of land.
     “On the local cargo front (we are airport ground handlers and cargo terminal operators, after all), the various changes outlined here will require both dnata, the 140+ OALs, for which we service the cargo product, the vast agent community, and the inter airport Road Feeder service providers to seriously rethink how we interact together.
     “e-commerce (and with it e-freight) will become more important for all of us in Dubai.
     “Some products we had developed in past years and which have had limited uptake so far will all but become mandatory to ensure we can squeeze as much productivity as possible out of the available capacity at DXB.
     “I am talking about freight booking (which will drive delivery planning for acceptance process at the FreightGates), DtD (door-terminal-door) service to plan timed interactions with the FreightGates, and Dock slot booking, all aimed at ensuring swift processing at the FreightGates.
     “In essence, there will be a need to co-operate more closely than ever before and we think we have the services and the tools to make it happen.
     “This is the moment where we will see the full benefits of the major investments dnata made in system solutions offered via the e-commerce portal Calogi.
     JD is from Belgium, a small village called Machelen, adjacent to Brussels Airport in the Flemish part of the province of Brabant. “My first airline was Pan Am. They wrote the book on air cargo inventing or perfecting just about everything about this business that we consider basic today. Like so many of us in those days, I began on the ramp and worked my way up from there.
     “It’s worth mentioning that later on in life I joined FedEx and was lucky enough to receive an education all over again in a then new (integrators/express) industry that rewrote the principles of air cargo all over again.      In many ways Pan Am Clipper Cargo and Fed Ex were quite similar, especially in their professionalism.
     “Both companies knew their job and went out and did it better than anyone else. Also in my experience, both were edge companies, ahead or at the very least, the standard of everybody else that they competed with.
     “I’ve tried to bring some sense of a life time in air cargo to this assignment.

     As to the condition of the air cargo business, JD notes:
     “Overall volumes (OAL only, not speaking for EK) were up in 2012 substantially compared to 2011, so all in all, we could say we are very pleased with how 2012 progressed.
     “Though on closer examination, we have to recognize that pure freighters are down at DXB, a result of, on the one hand, a combination of weak markets and high fuel prices, with airlines reducing their freighter activity and shifting as much as they can to belly cargo on their passenger fleets, and on the other hand, the rapidly increasing scarcity of freighter landing slots during peak period at DXB, and finally the overall continued weak international markets.
     “As a consequence, volumes handled, especially exports, at DXB are still showing a downward trend with Sea-Air still a trickle of what it used to be.
     “On the bright side, Dubal World Central is rapidly profiling itself as the place to be for freighter operators, scheduled and charter/project, and the growth we have witnessed there defies all logic with 19,057 tons handled in July 2012, a massive 95 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago.
     “Looking ahead, I must admit that my crystal ball has not been very good to me.
     “We are, like the rest of the world, very much dependent on how the world economies (and especially Europe/Asia) are doing, and from what I read in the press from the experts, they don’t seem to be too optimistic, so I bet on more of the same.
     “One thing is for certain: everybody in transportation will handle the ups and downs of the transportation business by simply embracing change—change for the better, that is… use the weak market to get leaner, meaner, and more innovative so when the volumes return, together we will be better prepared to take advantage of a growing market.
     “For example, we actually just finished what I call ‘the acid test’—our annual customer survey—and had one of the highest participation numbers ever with very pleasing results, so we must be doing something right.
     “As other years, we encourage and welcome the feedback, positive or negative, and take appropriate action where possible, which we share with our customers in our quest to continue improving.”
     But having delivered over twenty years to Dnata, we wonder what is next in terms of priority for JD.
     “My family, and life after dnata…being about two years away and how to best prepare for starting that new career that will keep my mind busy…(that’s another story).
     “I was blessed; there are not that many companies and bosses that will give you the freedom of action that I enjoyed.
     “When I celebrated my 20 years at the helm of dnata Cargo in 2011, I wrote a paper that I shared with my management team. It explains the highlights of how I have ‘kept busy and motivated’ all these years.
     “The idea is: why keep something that has worked so well a secret?
     “If I can help others to understand what it takes to not only last at this occupation but also to enjoy the ride, then that is the best legacy to my years here.
     “No doubt, I will miss all the excitement when my time comes to start afresh in a new venture with my family.”
Geoffrey/Flossie

s one organization reports on the psychological impact of piracy on seafarers, the threat from Somali pirates is set to resume as the high winds and unpredictable seas of the monsoon season give way to better weather conditions.
     The focus of pirate attacks in August and September of last year shifted to South East Asia, as counter piracy efforts and poor weather saw an unprecedented decline in attacks by Somali pirates operating around the Horn of Africa and in the Indian Ocean.

     Pirates attacked five ships at anchorage at a range of Indonesian ports in the last two months, while another incident in neighboring Malaysia was also linked to Indonesian pirates who were suspected of boarding a tanker from a speedboat off Tanjung Piai. Twelve crew members were found tied up and robbed when the Coast Guard rescued them in mid-September, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy center.
     However, the most serious risk to shipping and the seafarers that man its vessels is still to be found in the waters reached by mother vessels operating out of Somalia, whose pirates have shown a willingness to use violence and attack large commercial vessels on the open seas, and whose actions go unmatched by pirates elsewhere in the world.
     Yet despite a downturn in attacks in recent months, shipping risk agency Dryad Maritime warned that Somali pirates were not out of business, with the high profits from hijackings and kidnappings providing a ready incentive for the seamen and overlords of virtually lawless and destitute Somalia to take to the seas.
     “The threat remains a very real one; the capability is intact and the motivation of those engaged is unlikely to have been diminished to the point of defeat,” said Ian Millen, Dryad Maritime Director of Intelligence.
     Dryad said that as wind and sea conditions for skiff attacks improved, merchant vessels would need to be more vigilant. “Somali pirates are nothing if not persistent and we have seen some indications of their continued attempts to keep their business alive,” said Millen.
     “We could be forgiven for thinking that it is ‘game over’ for Somali pirates, beaten into submission by coalition maritime forces and frustrated by the layered defense of predictive intelligence, armed guards, and effective physical protection.
     “To do so, however, would be a big mistake because so little has changed when viewed through the eyes of the maritime criminals in question. Piracy is a very lucrative business and a very attractive line of work for young Somali men who have few other prospects.
     “Those that organize and bankroll the activity are also unlikely to shut up shop and invest their ill-gotten gains into property or the travel industry, and will be looking forward to and hoping for better times ahead.”
     The warning that greater vigilance will be required from seafarers came as the Seamen’s Church Institute, in collaboration with New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, released a report on the psychological impact of captivity by pirates.

     Based on 154 seafarer interviews, The Psychological Impact of Piracy on Seafarers found that most seafarers did not think their job was unduly stressful under normal conditions, but starting in 2009 concerns over piracy, including anticipatory stress about transiting piracy zones, has been increasing.
     The SCI found that the frequency with which seafarers appealed for armed guards on board ships for protection increased during the study that covered 2009-2011. Of those seafarers held captive or attacked by pirates, most experienced clinically significant symptoms afterwards and less than a third of these seafarers felt that they had received adequate follow-up care.
     Seafarers also cited concerns about disclosing private medical records and being blacklisted as barriers to receiving medical care.
     “During encounters with pirates, seafarers experience traumatic events that may lead to clinically significant emotional consequences,” said Dr. Michael S. Garfinkle, SCI’s Clinical Researcher.
     “However, no attempts to describe the emotional circumstances of seafarers currently exist to help in assessing and treating them.”
     SCI said it would work with ship owners to persuade them to introduce human resources protocols that provide better post-trauma care.
SkyKing

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