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lyingTypers recently caught up with Bill Wascher, CEO of SEKO Logistics, who said the U.S.-based logistics player is now expanding its air cargo reach far beyond its U.S. origins.
Ever since the current management team purchased SEKO from USF Freightways in 2002, one of the prime strategic aims has been to diversify the company away from its U.S. roots.
     Although Chicago remains SEKO’s head office, London and Hong Kong now house major regional headquarters and overseas operations, and the company is also expanding its forwarding footprint outside Europe and Asia into the Middle East, Central America, and Africa. More than half of the $500 million in annual global revenues now come from international freight forwarding, with slightly less than half the total generated by airfreight operations.
     “Our largest airfreight trade lanes include China, Hong Kong, USA, United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, and Taiwan,” said Wascher. “China is hugely important for us, as we have recently made increased investments this year in staffing up both our Shanghai and Hong Kong locations. China is increasingly becoming more and more a destination for cargo as well.”
     Tonnage turnover at the company’s airfreight gateways has now reached a level where SEKO can compete on price and service with its largest competitors. “This is both a result of changing service levels by clients, and increased investments in the gateway strategies,” said Wascher. “For the first time in 2012 we are engaging with the airlines on a truly global basis with regards to procurement. We are beginning to leverage our global tonnage to the point that airlines are taking notice.”
     U.S. destined freight is consolidated at SEKO hubs in Hong Kong and Shanghai for shipment into its main U.S. hubs in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.

     Although there has been a discernible shift from airfreight to sea-air and ocean freight this year, Seko’s fashion, government, and technology clients still rely on regular air freight shipments, said Wascher.
     “Especially for high tech manufacturers and fashion brands, cash to cash cycles are hugely important,” he added. “At SEKO, we have seen more of a service level shift, not a modal shift. For example, in the United States airfreight has shifted from express service to consolidation via our five gateways, so shippers still demand airfreight nonetheless.”
     Air cargo growth next year will be led by China, which is currently building 52 international-standard airports, he said.
     “For us, we see China as a really bright spot; it is increasingly becoming a destination for high-value goods,” he said. “With over 1,000 airplanes on order between the different airlines, both international and domestic airfreight demand will continue to grow.”
     However, European import demand has been adversely affected by the recession, he said. “It should be noted, however, that while growth in Europe is sluggish or even at zero or slightly decreasing, things are not all bad,” he added. “Companies with products in high demand continue to prosper, for example; high-end consumer goods and the latest electronic gadgetry, such as tablets, smart phones, and also fashion apparel.”
     SEKO has managed the changing demands of its clients by investing millions of dollars in supply chain technology and online tools, which Wascher claims have given the company a solid foundation from which to provide custom-built and scalable IT solutions.
     “Shippers are demanding more and more smarter solutions, and technology is about making business faster and easier,” he said. “Our TMS and Supplier Management systems can be customized to a client’s supply chain, and that takes out processing cost and improves productivity by showing customers a range of ways they can improve their cargo flows and vendor performance.”
     This year SEKO was one of the first logistics providers to go live with the U.S. Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) pilot initiative, and Wascher believes full engagement is the most productive way of dealing with new regulations.
     “Many forwarders will participate, but we were one of the first to go live,” he said. “Not only do we take cargo security seriously, but we also feel it is critical for the private sector to be involved with the regulatory process.
     “The more companies like SEKO participate in the implementation of new regulations, and governmental agencies are willing to accept feedback, the more sustainable and successful any new regulation will be.”
Sky King

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