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   Vol. 14 No. 14
Friday February 13, 2015

 

Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

   Hard on the heels of a shutdown last weekend comes word from The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) that vessel operations at U.S. west coast ports are once again suffering a total shutdown, which began today and will continue until next Tuesday during the Presidents' Week holiday.
   While the U.S. west coast dock slowdown handcuffs 29 port terminals, leveraging a huge dent into a $2.1 trillion dollar annual throughput (or 12.5 percent of the entire U.S. GDP) it may be the little things that go missing that mean a lot.
   As Lunar New Year begins in China next week, tons of Southern California-grown lettuce, celery, and broccoli—which should have been on its way by mid-January—will not arrive on time to grace the tables of festive families.
   USA Today reports that the produce represents almost a quarter of annual business for some suppliers and growers.
   According to one report, produce is stacking up from Los Angeles all the way up to Seattle as shipping times have tripled.
   For shipments that absolutely must go, there have been some layoff of shipments to air cargo, but that means moving produce at shippers’ costs, thinning or erasing profit margins altogether.
   In terms of the job, the average pay of an ILWU longshoreman that walked off the job last weekend and only came back this past Monday is $142,.000.
   Multiply that number by the 42,000 ILWU workers in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
   But more than 9.2 million U.S. jobs depend on those ports, and as exports go nowhere fast, the fear is unresolved issues causing the slowdown could escalate to a full-blown strike.
The last time that happened was 2012, and it drove President George W. Bush to invoke a back-to-work law.
   Observers, while hoping that a strike is not the case in 2015, say if labor walks, the White House will again step in.
Geoffrey/Flossie

Geoffrey's Water Music
Jayne Morgan With Open Arms Otis Redding Dock Of The Bay

Duggan joins Saudia

     Mike Duggan is the new Director of Charter Sales for Saudia Cargo.
     Mike’s previous postings include top positions at DHL Express, Emirates Southern Air, and most recently HAE Group in Dubai (former Heavyweight Air Express). His prior experience spans a 23-year cargo career that SV can tap to fill its growing fleet of dedicated charter aircraft.

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Will Cargo Embrace Air

     Quote of the week from a trusted forwarder source that asked for anonymity:
     “Well, at least so far, nobody seems to hate it.
     “Hopefully the implementation of all-in rates will expand to other carriers.
     “The glaring differences in fuel surcharges (LH $ 1.05 -- CV $0.65) are not sustainable and may not even be legal.”
     While the air cargo business constantly advertises itself as one of the most innovative industries and the one most prone to change, most of the occurrent change is of a less dramatic nature—unless, of course, we talk about cargo security, which is a horse of a different color.
     But right now a door has opened, and some “All-in-Rates“ devotees are pushing AIR into what they hope could be a step-change for the air cargo business.


A Road Less Travelled


     On February 1, Emirates Airlines (EK) introduced AIR across its routes to and from Europe; the rest of EK’s network will follow on March 1.
     Since EK is, according to the IATA WATS, the number one cargo carrier in FTKs carried, the move has been widely reported and discussion and interest continue.
     Qatar Airways (QR) said that its cargo offering would take a “phased approach from April 1, 2015, onwards,” moving into AIR and abandoning security (MOC) and fuel (MYC) surcharges while keeping others, where applicable.
     Just this week IAG Cargo said in a press release:
     “At the start of the Summer season 2015 we will be removing our fuel surcharge (FSC) and exceptional handling charge (EHC) in favor of a simpler pricing structure based on one freight rate.”
     Forwarders and shippers alike have welcomed the move to AIR.
     Mr. Joost van Doesburg, representing the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) said, “Shippers appreciate is being able to plan ahead and forecast what they are likely to pay for air transport.
     “The all-in system will make that possible,” he added.
     Mr. Doesburg also expressed his expectation that these changes would be largely cost-neutral while disapproving of fuel surcharges maintained in time of sharply reduced fuel costs, and complained that fuel surcharges lack “transparency.”
     That, however, may bespeak Mr. Van Doesburg's lack of understanding about the mechanics at work in the background of the industry.
     The sharp decline in fuel prices in the 2nd half of 2014 was unexpected and unforeseen, so most airlines are locked in fuel hedging contracts that actually work to their disadvantage this time.
     Why AIR, however, should add transparency to a price will probably remain Mr. Van Doesburg’s secret.
     While FIATA welcomed EK and QR’s move to AIR, they also pointed out that “the simplification of rate structures will be of significant benefit to forwarders and shippers alike,” sentiments which were echoed by the British BIFA, the Canadian CIFFA, and the French CLECAT, among others.
     While talk is cheap, appreciation for the move made by EK, QR and now IAG on the side of leading forwarders such as Panalpina, DB Schenker, Yusen, and Dachser may be what really counts in the long run.
     If shippers and forwarders want AIR, there will not only be a shift towards the carriers who offer it, but also an opportunity for these carriers to charge a fixed all-in premium rate, since it makes a lot more sense to factor a reasonable yield into an all-in rate than to cross-subsidize poor yields with surcharges, something the forwarders continuously accused the carriers of practicing.

W C Fields

 

      As Cuthbert J. Twille, W.C. Fields was 'All–In,' playing a card shark in the 1933 film My Little Chickadee.
     Whether air cargo will brand a new 'All-In–Rates initiative in 2015, or—as was the practice before the Iraq War—just go back to calling packaged charges “All Inclusive Rates” is still up in the AIR.

What’s Old Is New

     All-In-Rates used to be the norm, although the words were “all inclusive” until the early 1990s, when the first Iraq War and rising fuel prices prompted airlines to introduce “surcharges.”
     War Risk Surcharges, Security Surcharges, and, most importantly, Fuel Surcharges were introduced and gradually raised to levels that sometimes amounted to more than the actual cargo rate.
     While skyrocketing fuel prices and security costs after 911 left the airlines few alternatives, these measures met reluctance and disapproval on both the forwarder and shipper side of the transportation equation:
     To put it bluntly, shippers felt “surcharges were never really transparent” and seemed to “always move in one direction: upwards.”
     On the forwarder side the beef was always, “the forwarder is responsible for paying the entire airfreight costs to the airline (freight net rates plus surcharges plus taxes) while the forwarder’s commission was restricted to the cargo rate as such and did not include the surcharges.”
     Both forwarders and shippers upped their mistrust when it was revealed that a number of leading carriers had been involved in illegal surcharge fixing.


Reinhard Lankes Who Is All-In?

     In Germany, Director Air Cargo for the German Forwarders’ Union DSLV (Deutscher Speditions – und Logistikverband) Reinhard Lankes was quick to express his hopes that “further airlines will follow these steps to all-in rates.”
     Right now major Asian carriers such as Korean Air (KE), Cathay Pacific (CX), and China Eastern (MU), and majors in Europe decline to comment, but indicate that they ‘closely follow the developments and will continue to meet their customers’ requirements and expectations,’ and there are some others in this air cargo business of ours that have some definite observations looking into AIR.


Bill Boesch

     Bill Boesch, who has been in the in the transportation and logistics industry for 50 years had this to say:
     “When I was at AA, we did research on the passenger side on rates and found out the public viewed airlines lower than used car dealers.
Bill Boesch      “Since then, the airlines have done a lot to help improve this image by on-line rate engines, special ratings, airline travel points on tickets, credit cards, etc., etc.
     “But in the end, the Revenue Management Systems (RMS) still control the situation. Air Cargo Airlines mostly do not have RMS.
     “The traveling public as well as air cargo customers want the lowest possible rate they can get with reliable service and will shop around to find it.
     “If airlines try to signal to other airlines, it is against the law in most countries and Europe and the U.S. has made that very clear.
     “For years all of the airline industry has been trying to find ways to get the shipping and traveling public to look at costs versus reliability and quality.
     “Passenger carriers have done their First Class, Executive Class, Business Class, Platinum Class, Goals Class, Special Legroom, and what have you.
     “Cargo carriers have tried to brings cost, reliability, and quality into focus, but the only real success in this effort was gained by integrators like FedEx, UPS, etc.
     “When I was at Pan Am the travel agents attacked us every time we tried to improve the passenger rates.
     “When we put in automatic ticking machines at the airports the travel agents threatened to embargo us.
     “The airlines stood their ground with the public interface IT solutions and in the end, dealing directly with the public worked and took control back from the travel agents.
     “Travel agents now are niche players and they no longer get the best rates and commission and therefore cannot play the rate game.
     “When I started in the cargo business, Specific Commodity Rates (SCR) were the rates used.
     “The forwarders were the airlines’ agents to help the airlines reduce their costs through consolidations and were given better rates for doing that.
     “Then the forwarders got IATA to approve commissions for consolidations.
     “The forwarders started to control more and more revenue and became the customer. They demanded lower bulk rates, special contract rates, part charter rates, and what have you.
     “The airlines tried to deal directly with the shippers but the forwarders threatened to embargo them, just like the travel agents did years before.
     “But unlike the passenger industry, the cargo side mostly backed down (although there were some exceptions) and the forwarders today still control the majority of the air cargo revenue.
     “Today, like everyone else, the forwarders are hurting, and ‘All-in Rates’ may be the best move the airlines can make to win back control.”


Ray CurtisRay Curtis, Vice President – Global Cargo Sales for Delta Air Lines

     “At the end of the day, what matters is that we are responsive to our customers’ needs and provide them a market competitive structure.
     “We are in a partnership with our customers and it is vital that we offer the products and services they need to support their customers.
     “At Delta, we are fortunate to have an incredible sales team who has excellent relationships with our customers.
     “We talk to our customers every day and listen to their feedback—this is our guiding light to growing our respective businesses.”
Geoffrey Arend



 

Coo Coo Keukenhof
   We’re approaching that time of year when the favorite story is who flew how many flowers for the romance of Valentine’s Day (Saturday, February 14) or upcoming Eastertide on Sunday, April 5, 2015.
   As an avid knitter, there are two things that entice me most: texture and color. I have a habit of appreciating combinations of color and texture that might go unnoticed by non-knitters, and it’s a habit I know I share with my knitting brethren. Piet Mondrian’s famous blocks of color have found their way into a blanket for my father; the crystalline, chameleonic Blue Pond of Hokkaido, Japan, will eventually inspire a neck-hugging cowl in my collection.
   It has long been a dream of mine to visit Keukenhof in the Netherlands. The famous ‘Garden of Europe’ is a fount of inspiration for anyone working with color, texture, and pattern. With over 7 million flower bulbs planted across 79 acres, Keukenhof has hosted over 50 million global visitors since opening. It hosts several garden types, from a classic English landscape garden to a meditative Japanese country garden, and every year it designs seven new inspiration gardens to delight and intrigue new visitors.
   When most people think of flowers and the Netherlands, they think of the iconic image of thickly striped rows of tulips forming a Missoni-like rainbow of color composition. The tulip, more than any other flower, has come to symbolize the Netherlands. And nothing augurs the coming spring more than the tulip. Planted while the world is still cold and dark, tulips are the manifestation of a prayer for warm weather, a supplication to the earth for sunny days. It should come as no surprise, then, that in the tulip’s native Arabic tongue, its name is composed of the same letters that form the word ‘Allah.’
   We talk about perishables in air cargo, referring to food, plants, pharmaceuticals, but laypeople tend to forget that most goods aren’t ubiquitous throughout the world—that certain goods were birthed in places far flung from where they now reside, and tulips are no exception.
   Tulips worked in cargo far, far before anyone reading this. Perhaps not air cargo, but still. Tulip cultivation dates back to 10th century Persia, with extensive cultivation efforts occurring throughout the Ottoman Empire. They originated, however, as a wildflower in Central Asia. While ‘the flower shop of the world’ holds festivals in honor of the tulip, tulips are, in fact, not Dutch at all. The word tulip is loosely translated from the Ottoman Turkish word tülbend to the Persian word delband, which means ‘turban’—an association assumed to be derived by the similarity in shape between the turban and the tulip.
 Keukenhof Holland  Tulips came to the Netherlands by way of the Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius. In 1593, Carolus became the Chair of Botany at the Hortus Botanicus at the University of Leiden. The University gave Carolus a small plot of land (no more than 40 meters squared) behind the Academy in which to grow plants for the purpose of medical students’ studies. It was one of the earliest botanical gardens, and certainly one of the most influential moments in Dutch history. Having obtained tulip bulbs from a friend—Ogier Ghiselain de Busbecq, the ambassador of Constantinople—Carolus cultivated the first Dutch tulips in 1594. The curved, gorgeously seductive flowers soon exploded in popularity—at the time, no other European flower had the same concentration of color or uniqueness of shape. Eventually, Carolus’ entire garden of tulips was raided for the bulbs.
   By the early to mid 1600s, tulips had become so popular that they created the first economic bubble, a period known as “Tulipomania.” Because it takes 7-12 years to cultivate a tulip from seed to bulb, and because certain tulips, having contracted viruses, began to display extraordinarily unique striped patterning, tulips began selling for more than what most skilled laborers earned in a year. They became a commodity and a status symbol and were so popular and inflated in price, for a brief period before the bubble burst, they actually served as currency.
   By the mid 1630s, tulips were a staple export—one of the Netherland’s most precious pieces of cargo. Despite the bubble having burst, the tulip still enjoys this position today.
   As a knitter, one of the supreme joys of making something comes from seeing how the stitches add up, stacking atop one another, to form what was just utterly formless. That a simple piece of string should wind around itself and, in the smallest increments, stitch by stitch, become a portrait of creation in its most basic form. Every year, the Keukenhof performs the same feat with tulips, planting colorfully coordinated bulbs in careful arrangements to form a flower mosaic. Last year, the theme was Holland, tall, thin, multi-windowed buildings squeezed together in a row, flourished by an oversized, overarching tulip. This year, a muddy patch measuring 250 square meters awaits the bloom of spring, when it will bring the great Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh to life in a floral palette that he himself would greatly appreciate.

Flossie Arend

 

A Landmark Series By Richard Malkin

Richar Malkin true Confessions Jan Krems True Confession Oliver Evans True Confession
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Vol 14. No. 11
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