FlyingTypers sat down with Volker Zintel, project manager for air transport and security for the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM). Mr. Zintel has a wealth of experience and is well connected; he served as executive VP for FRAPORT in charge of security, was the erstwhile police chief at the airport during the 1981-1984 Startbahn West (takeoff runway) construction years, which were plagued by violent demonstrations by its opponents, and was interwoven with politics as Mayor of Hochheim, an idyllic town known for its wines that lies 20 minutes southwest of Frankfurt.
      HOLM is a fully financed initiative of the Hessian state and the Frankfurt city government with the objective of bringing together an effective network of science, politics, and the economy to systematically further develop the logistics of the region. It also aims to project concentric circles to attract global expertise and develop a new approach to the socio-economic challenges affecting the sustainability of Germany as a logistics powerhouse. It’s not something one gets done in an afternoon, but rather a long-term vision borne from the recognition that the key players—airlines, airports, and air traffic control—have not succeeded, individually or collectively, in communicating with the public effectively, and that endangers the long-term viability of Europe’s third largest passenger and number one cargo airport. And it’s not just the airport per se, but the economic engine that has brought a level of prosperity that many have long taken for granted.
Frankfurt airport is intermodal when it comes to passengers – the vast underground train station handles anything from regional to metro area traffic with great efficiency. As urban trends go, families with small children are attracted to the greener suburbs and smaller towns only to discover that commuting to a workplace in the city becomes quite a chore. The convenient public transportation network doesn’t extend beyond the city limits, so eventually, the families return. Current studies have established that another 10 percent growth in metro public transportation demand would collapse the entire system, bringing it to its knees. Adding tracks and railcars has limits.
      Then there is the paradox of the well-heeled Burger flying off to Phuket or the Maldives for some sun and relaxation, and once back home sits down comfortably to e-mail complaints about airport noise, without seemingly connecting the dots. It is also a sign of the times—the conundrum of the quality of life of an individual versus the benefit to society as a whole.
      A few generations ago there were demonstrations against the Vietnam War, then against nuclear power plants and the storage of spent fuel rods, which mobilized activism. Environmental movements of all sorts have since sprouted up and are now seeing another incarnation in protests against the airport, and special focus on the new northwest runway, opened last October, and the noise resulting from new flight approach patterns. Given the flight frequencies, at certain times of the day apparently the noise is nearly constant, affecting a whole new group of citizens whose lives have been disrupted. From day one of opening the new runway, landing traffic has been divided 50-50 between the old and the new runway, so that the impact was massive and immediate. Forethought by all concerned could have come up with a better solution to gradually shift the flights in 10 percent increments at a time.
      The backlash has taken politicians completely by surprise, according to Herr Zintel, and the authorities as a whole have been ill prepared to address it—resulting in a communications disaster. The facts, if that mattered, are that compared to 1980 and 1990, the overall airport noise level is unchanged; the former US Airbase and the lumbering C-5, C-17, and C-130 are gone. Modern aircraft have a significantly smaller noise footprint, yet the overall number of flights has grown.
      And it’s not just Frankfurt that received the entire media blitz—a recent referendum in Munich decided against building a much-needed third runway by 54 to 46, initiated by the Green party. And the citizenry of Munich is virtually unaffected by airport noise because of its location 25 miles northeast of the city, while the communes nearby had no vote, yet are next door. And again, the politicians were embarrassed because right, left, and center lobbied for building the 3rd runway. Societal changes have generated a citizenry ready to defend its lifestyle and any real or perceived infringement on it triggers an outcry. Under these circumstances, it becomes very difficult to sustain, plan, and further develop modern transportation hubs, which, when measured, are actually bursting at the seams.
      HOLM aims to tackle this thorny and complex phenomenon by bringing together an aviation management cluster comprised of multidisciplinary experts. Twelve universities, faculties and institutes in the state of Hesse (Hessen) are involved to varying degrees—economists, social scientists, and an advisory board including businesses such as Bombardier, Deutsche Post DHL, Proctor & Gamble, and FRAPORT. Contacts to the Freie Universität Berlin are ongoing, all in a concerted effort to promote openness and transparency and address global challenges.
      On the cargo side, FRAPORT works with HOLM on a joint taskforce to study the chronic Cargo City congestion problems. With up to 1,200 trucks a day during peak time but only 600 parking spots, it has become an unmanageable situation. There are many warehouses to handle cargo, but Cargo City was built without a rigorous study of the needs. It turns out even recently there has been insufficient data available regarding the breakdown of truck movements, directional information, or how many drops each makes. There was the anecdotal case of a truck that made 17 drops. Contrary to other major cargo projects, such as the port of Hamburg, which was well planned and designed, at Cargo City this is being done after the fact.
      There is much to do and only a much more collaborative approach and openness to new concepts and ideas can succeed. It’s a recurring theme—airlines, handling companies, and airports all need to turn a profit, and clearly each has divergent objectives, but it cannot be at each other’s expense.

Ted Braun

Rakesh Mohan addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry Regional Council Meeting in Chennai in 2011.

     The last few days have been a tumultuous time for the India economy, but for air cargo stakeholders, it has been a blessing in disguise. First came the warning from Standard & Poor that the country could lose its investment grade status, and then the double whammy with ratings agency Fitch downgrading its outlook for the Indian economy from stable to negative. Fitch also said that the country’s growth potential "will gradually deteriorate if further structural reforms are not hastened."
     The silver lining—if one may refer to it as that—was the fact that these warnings have prompted the powers-that-be to sit up and act. In fact, even before the warnings came, the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led government had decided to concentrate its energies on building up infrastructure. Enhancement of infrastructural facilities and the creation of new ones have always been on the government’s list of priorities: everyone in the corridors of power agrees to that. However, whether and when it is translated into action remains a moot question. It would not be out of place to point out that the government’s desire to improve the present infrastructural facilities has seen the creation of working groups and committees to look into various facets of infrastructure growth.
     We reported in these pages about the report submitted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Working Group on Air Cargo Logistics in India. On its heels comes another report—the National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC), better known as the Rakesh Mohan Committee—that has spelt out definitive guidelines for the development of transport infrastructure that will ensure connectivity for air cargo using airports within the country.
     Set up in February 2010, the committee, headed by Rakesh Mohan—former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI is the country's central banking institution that controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee and plays an important part in the development strategy of the Indian government), Professor in the Practice of International Economics and Finance in the Yale School of Management, and Senior Fellow in the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University—has been looking at the flow of funds, both foreign and domestic, in the projects of 10 key infrastructure segments that include electricity, roads, bridges, airports, etc. and has also discussed the hurdles in funding these sectors during the Twelfth Five Year Plan period (2012-17).
     Focusing on infrastructure development, the committee has pointed out that the federal and state governments should focus on road development and ensure better connectivity to airports. The report states: “Appropriate access through road connectivity is an essential part of airport infrastructure. Total investment of Rs 3,77,275 crore ($66,900) has been estimated for airport infrastructure development work by 2031-32.”
     Keeping in mind the recent problems of connectivity to the airport faced by the cargo community at Mumbai and even at Delhi, the report mentioned that there was an urgent need to establish off-airport cargo processing facilities like Container Freight Stations. The report states, “The advent of inter-modalism has also brought to the fore the necessity of developing air cargo complexes or air cargo villages to cater to the growth in air freight traffic. These air cargo villages would entail establishing an integrated cargo infrastructure comprising airline terminals, forwarders bonded terminals, and specialty centers for special cargo (such as perishables, valuable cargo, pharmaceuticals, restricted articles, etc.), along with rationalized, streamlined, and simplified procedures, documentation, and charges.”
Tirthankar Ghosh

     Issa Baluch may know as much about logistics as anybody you ever met.
     At least he has had the chops and knowhow gained over a career that spans 37 plus years to gather some of his thoughts and put them down in black in white for the rest of us to study and ponder.
     The Baluch book “Transport Logistics - Past, Present and Predictions,“(available on Amazon for $65.US (http://www.amazon.com/Transport-Logistics-Past-Present-Predictions/dp/9948031393) is a 300 plus page barn burner that Prof. Issa created in 2005 and it still fascinates.
     I mean, who else sets the table for modern logistics study with detailed examples of historical projects that demanded careful transport logistics management like what it took to build the Great Pyramid in Egypt or transport logistics practiced in the Berlin Airlift, or at the Battle of Stalingrad?
     A second volume “The Wheels of Commerce," created last October (with Charles Edwards) follows the thread making the case in another 340 pages, available on Amazon for $36.50 (http://www.amazon.com/Transport-Logistics-Baluch-Charles-Edwards/dp/157197508X) .
     Best known as the founder of Dubai based Swift Freight, a medium-sized multi-national that he eventually sold to Barloworld, among Issa’s lasting contributions is that this is the guy that launched sea-air in Dubai.
     These days in some kind of “retirement”(as if he ever could), Issa is also now at Harvard in USA where he is undoubtedly continuing to think big thoughts about logistics.
     Here with Harvard in the rear view mirror for a few months as August begins, Issa shares come ideas with us.

      “Continue plotting ways to survive.... is top priority as August 2012 begins, as “downward spiral in volumes + yields continues.
      “There is just no relief in sight.
      “This will be a long road to recovery.
      “This summer continues to be dull.
      “No market stands out.
      “Possible bright spot are a few festivities coming up in the Muslim world, coupled with Christmas + New Year.
      “It is possible we will see some uptake in the fourth quarter.
      “There is a tendency in the air cargo performance that 4Q would carry more demands than the other periods of the year.
      “I am sure that will be welcomed.”
      So in all this challenge we wonder if the good professor can describe a standout invidual?
      “Sammy Leseita, a (Kenyan) Masai student who is studying agronomy at MIT.
      “His background reveals a lot.
      “The Masai in general live on very little. Sammy's views got my attention.
      “His perceptions are that it is time we lived on little which is more in his views.
      Does this ring a bell?
      “The second person - Steve Jackson - an attorney has impressed me a great deal, Almost all his predictions have been accurate and I am thrilled to debate with him about the economy.
      “His views are simple..........the first sight of recovery will be felt by those who have been hit the most and have cruised through it all.
      “In terms of transportation during Summer 2012, hold onto a tight belt.
      “There is very little oxygen but plenty of want.
      “Be hopeful for better days.
      “And that may be beyond 2013.
      “This year, if nothing else, points to everyone discovering that the air cargo industry is indeed quite fragile.
      “In 2012 we are amazed to see what used to go by air now travels by sea like automobile spares and some of the IT accessories.
      “The surprise is that hardship is so real.
      “I often wonder if there is "special sauce" that could help recovery.
      “Are there policies and regulation that will spring/accomodate growth and infrastructure?
      “Why do we in the industry not talk enough about what it is to uncover whatever is the "special sauce"?
Geoffrey

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     OK—so now you’re on vacation. But with the ubiquitous access to the Internet, you are probably scanning the news in FlyingTypers right now from your beach bag.
     Maybe the time off has left you a bit depleted, and that is surprising, because you thought getting away from it all would shake things (including attitude) up a bit.
     In reality, brooding on vacation is very much like not feeling so good about things wherever you are, and that includes work.
     We have all heard the phrase “pace yourself.”
     But how about the betterment advice that says:
     “Get in touch with your feelings?”
     Well, guess what?
     Very soon there could be a pocket robot with an App for that!
     A new smart phone being developed at Northwestern University intuits when you’re depressed and will nudge you to call or go out with friends, reports Marla Paul, a health sciences reporter at NWU.
     “It’s the future of therapy at the new Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine center, where scientists are inventing web-based, mobile and virtual technologies to treat depression and other mood disorders.
     “The phone and similar projects bypass traditional weekly therapy sessions for novel approaches that provide immediate support and access to a much larger population.
     “The way the phone works is it spots symptoms of depression by harnessing all the sensor data within the phone to interpret a person's location, activity level (via an accelerometer), social context, and mood.
     “Are you making phone calls and getting e-mails, or are you home alone ruminating for hours?
     “If the phone—which learns your usual patterns—senses you are isolated, it will send you a suggestion to call or see friends.
     “The technology, which still is being tweaked, is called Mobilyze! and has been tested in a small pilot study.
     “It helped reduce symptoms of depression.
     “The new phone offers a powerful new level of support for people who have depression and intervenes to help them change their behavior in real time.”
     “By prompting people to increase behaviors that are pleasurable or rewarding, we believe that Mobilyze! will improve mood,” said psychologist David Mohr, director of the new Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies and a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School.
     “It creates a positive feedback loop. Someone is encouraged to see friends, then enjoys himself and wants to do it again. Ruminating alone at home has the opposite effect and causes a downward spiral.”
     Anything to stem the downward spiral whilst heading upward, we say!
Geoffrey

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