Air Cargo Americas
Shines In Drab Venue

Miami Exclusive—Air Cargo Americas met last week in Miami for the tenth time and brought with the show many of the usual suspects in what has become in USA an every other year late autumn event.
     By any measure this is a great show with lots of color and enough characters of the air cargo art to boot—amidst plenty of deal-making action.
     Air Cargo Americas has an informal feel about it like you are visiting someone’s house.
     But ACA is held in a place, that to put it mildly, is kind of a dump.
     Somewhere along the line the point got lost that this trade show needs to provide a venue as good as it exhibitors.
     ACA venue called Miami Mart is connected to a Doubletree Hotel that is a multi story complex that seems to be a hotel called by another name every time the event is held.
     Last time we were here the place was called Radisson, if memory serves.
     But the Miami Mart as a trade show venue is just plain worn out with old used up spotted chairs and torn rugs punctuated by old-fashioned metal pipe fabricated booths.
     At first blush, the layout of ACA looks like a flea market.

Lufthansa Cargo Charter's Braden Brush, Chris Buscemi and Volker Dunkake.		Laparkan Airways network air cargo manager John Green and Emirates SkyCargo's Ed Chism.
Joe Smith & Worldwide Flight Services' John Gemmell.		AeroStrata's Dirk Steiger and Ana Gerber.

     At second glance, the glitz and glamour of fabled company names in air cargo like DHL with buckets of fresh flowers about their stand, and others with high tech displays and techno gee-whiz video and graphics set against the backdrop of a really old convention hall was a bit surreal—like putting whitewalls on a garbage truck.
     One great leveling feature to all of this are corks popping from bottles of truly great Chilean and other Latin American wines early in the morning so that Europeans already in early afternoon got an early start on attitude adjustment and come to think of it so did almost everyone else as well.
     ACA booths were laden with finger foods and plenty to drink from the get-go so a feeling of genteel civility settles over the place and you know ACA is a great place to hang out all day.
     By 1100 hours over in the TAM Brazil booth came the national drink, the Caipirinha early enough each morn that one satisfied customer commented that the drink and not the cereal (Wheaties) “is the real breakfast of champions.”
     “ACA is talking about a new venue for the next show,” we heard.
     Might not be a bad idea for that to happen, we thought.
     Everybody loves this show for its lively spirit and Latin style.
     Air Cargo Americas is a beautiful thing but more than a few of the attendees choose to stay elsewhere, even far off downtown in Miami and Miami Beach.
     Maybe if the venue was better, more people would be encouraged to stay close by and the show might go deeper into the evening when Latin Americans, we are told, really get down to business.
     So here are some video comments from Day One of ACA 2009.
     Worth mentioning is that Sea Cargo Americas was also part of the mix but that addition seemed last minute with hand lettered signs directing conferees to events.
     Also observed that ACA remained au courant with a venturesome mix of security companies and scanning outfits and even a couple of “green” operators, including one guy selling oil filters for forklifts that promise to help save the planet.
     Too bad that every USA flag airline except American Cargo were no-shows in the booth line up at Air Cargo Americas, although there was a sizeable contingent from Continental, including Lisa Schoppa in the Animal Transport Booth and CO Cargo Chief Jim McKeon about the place.
     Also good to see former CO Cargo boss, the retired Jack Boisen in a cameo appearance having come down from his mountain in Oregon for the show and to confirm his continued interest in air cargo.
     That can only help.
     We noted a rather large showing from Lufthansa Charter including Braden Brush, Volker Dunkake and Chris Buscemi.
     We are told that there were also lots of drop-ins from the aforementioned U.S. flags although we did not see them.
     The fact that nearly everyone shows up at ACA and the show is really good for networking and business does beg the question why wouldn’t there be more booths?
     Maybe it’s the economy or the venue, we suppose.
     Certainly as things change down the line in two years, participation and support all around should improve.
     Air Cargo Americas continues because it does business, the action is great and the people are special, any way you look at it.
     Next ACA is now two years away but our videos will continue here for the next couple of issues.
     Meantime we are hopeful that in the interim, either someone spruces up this joint or a new showplace is uncovered.
     Air Cargo Americas is truly arresting.
Geoffrey

Air Cargo Americas
On Video

Cool Chain Association
Looking For Members

     The Cool Chain Association (CCA) is scouring the world looking for members.
     Chairman of the group the great Robert Arendal, who, while serving at Cargolux, brought TIACA into the modern world notes:
     “No doubt tough times are upon us all but integrity of the cool chain for all sorts of perishables has never been more vital so we are reaching out to industry stakeholders and shippers as well for participation—more than ever— for the benefit of everyone.
     “The economic crisis affects us all— some more than others.
     As a non-profit organization, the CCA is on the one side more protected from the storm due to the lack of economic business. On the other side, it is experiencing severe changes due to the shift of focus from members and the industry.
“For the moment, what counts for the companies is to survive and to get out of the rough weather with the fewest injuries possible. That is of course of highest importance.
     “At the same time, it means that less attention, money and energy is available for goals, which lie in a more distant future, as for example the goal of harmonizing the cool chain.
     “The CCA is well aware of the priorities everyone has to make and tries to keep the processes going in the meantime.
     “We tried new ways of proceeding and put more emphasis on simple ways of communication, like CCA’s quarterly newsletter Cool Times available for easy download online from our website.
     “The focus of topics has shifted and we are encouraging institutions and universities, our members, to contribute articles in order to make the Cool Times a platform for sharing the latest news as well as developments in the industry.”
     But membership and certification in CCA is the ultimate goal.
     Here are some reasons CCA is an association with a vital core value that just makes good basic business practice sense to everyone in the art of cargo transportation, according to Christian Helms, CCA secretary general:
     “Cool Chain Quality Indicators (CCQI) is the high value tool that both baselines top quality in the handling of perishables but also benchmarks CCA members’ offerings who are certified under CCQI to become approved supply chain providers for air, sea or road cargo to users looking for the most highly qualified providers.
     “Certification gives the certified company a better position in comparison with the competitor who is not certified.
     “A core principle of the CCA is to promote CCQI through communications with the industry, based on conferences, seminars and publications,” he said.
     “Unfortunately, CCA is a non-profit organization dependent on its membership for funding, and while the world ‘is listening a lot better,’ the current economy is making it more difficult for CCA members to devote time and resources.
     “As we don’t have deep resources, but depend on members activities, our ability to move faster is greatly reduced,” Helms said.
     “Establishing the standards of the CCQI ultimately benefits everyone through more efficient and less wasteful movement and handling procedures.
     “But we understand full well that implementing the best in practice standards of the CCA certainly also costs money,” Helms said.
     “The Cool Chain Quality Indicator is an industry standard, which combines the know-how and insights of logistics companies with the certification expertise of operating classification societies.
     “CCQI is an open and auditable industry standard that employs a benchmarking system to establish transparent and comparable quality measures.
     “It offers guidance and support to continually improve and assess the logistics chain for perishables and temperature-sensitive products.
     “Assessment involves a conformity check that includes “best practices” and a measuring procedure that quantifies process proficiency using a risk-based approach.
     “Each part of the cool supply chain offers guidelines to make sure that the perishables and temperature sensitive product will be delivered fresh and at the right temperature from field to the fork of the consumer.”
     “The Cool Chain Association is dedicated to advancing our best practices discipline despite tough times because all of us believe that right now is when the global shipping industry from Pharma to flowers needs an informed, educated and trusted cool chain.”
Contact: http://www.coolchain.org/
Geoffrey

Airbus Tianjin Team Up
Further our exclusive last week out of China as European aircraft manufacturer and Tianjin Free Trade Zone signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for establishing a logistics center to optimize the supply chain management for all Airbus' industrial
cooperation projects in China,
Air Cargo News FlyingTypers further learned that the project has been divided into three phases.
In the initial stage, both parties will jointly establish the logistics and customs processes as well as any other action necessary to launch the project. As early as January 2010, the logistics center will start operations in a temporary location in Tianjin’s Comprehensive Bonded Area.
This first step enables basic logistics processes and operations for the Tianjin-based A320 assembly plant that Airbus has built.

O’Hare & Abu Dhabi Accord
Chicago O’Hare airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport have inked a memorandum of understanding to become 'sister airports' and share commercial, technical, and environmental best practices.
According to the pact, both airports will set up joint working groups to evaluate ways in which they can work together on a wide range of areas, with a focus on a personnel exchange program to provide training and skills development opportunities for Abu Dhabi Airport employees.

Sudan Airport Abuilding
Construction work at Khartoum’s newly planned international airport will commence in April 2010. This has been announced by official sources. The estimated USD$1.8 billion costly facility will be built in three phases, with the first stage costing about 900 million. The three phases of the project are expected to be completed by mid 2013.

Contact! Talk To Geoffrey

RE:  Last Flight Of Amelia Earhart

Dear Geoffrey,

     You quite accurate damning review of the Earhart film was on the money. Your column generated some thoughts re the famous flier.
     Amelia Earhart would be right at home in 2009. She was a product of hype, publicity and promotion far more than any accomplishments in aviation. Most pilots at the time who knew her considered Earhart a very mediocre pilot. But she, and particularly her husband who guided her career, knew that publicity and self promotion was far more important than any actual accomplishments.
     They preyed on the feelings of an American population weighed down by the Great Depression, in a need for heroes and this case, heroines.
     Take the famous round the world flight in which she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, tragically lost their lives.
     There was absolutely no reason for this flight except for Earhart to garner publicity and greater money making ability.
     Round the world flights had been made before in far more primitive aircraft and in far more dangerous circumstances.
     If truth be told, the flight was not particularly dangerous.
     Earhart flew only during the day, resting in comfortable hotels at night.
     She was not flying a primitive, single engined aircraft like Lindbergh, alone on the plane and with no navigational equipment except a compass.
     She flew in a (for those times) modern, tough, reliable Lockheed twin engined Electra with the latest for the 30s in navigational and radio equipment and an experienced navigator at her side.
     The flight, to put it bluntly, was a stunt.
     It ended tragically, of course.
     If truth be told, the flight never should have taken place

Regards.
Shura

Editor's note:  Shura Barry in 2009 is the dean of all U.S. air cargo public relations council serving clients from his base in California.