FT020722

#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE

Vol. 21 No. 7	Monday February 7, 2022

     Fast rising Coral Gables, Florida-based PayCargo adding business at an incredible clip is also growing almost like a force of nature into the top way to pay and get paid instantly across the entire logistics platform worldwide.
     Recently much beloved transportation executive Lionel van der Walt, the PayCargo CEO and dynamo for the past three and a half years stepped down from his key post to prepare and care for his daughter during specialized surgery and recovery.
     Thanking Lionel for his contribution and wishing the Van der Walt family well, Eduardo Del Riego, PayCargo Chief Executive Officer said, “all of us at PayCargo pray for Imma’s complete recovery.”
     Todd Pigeon has been named as PayCargo Vice President – Sales for the North American East Coast Region, Del Riego said.
     “We have experienced incredible growth as our users continue to share in our vision for a more efficient and streamlined supply chain.
     “In order to sustain this level of growth and continue our best-in-class service to our clients, it is imperative that we have the right talent in place to help us achieve our ambitious objectives.
     “Todd is a strategic appointment that will certainly help us to get this done.”
     Todd, based at PayCargo’s global headquarters in Coral Gables, Florida, now leads a team focused on both payer and vendor business development in the North American East Coast Region and also PayCargo’s Miami-based Inside Sales.
     What makes Todd Pigeon run?
     Pigeon brings global experience within the AP Moller Maersk Group, spanning commercial leadership roles throughout Latin America, China, Europe, and, most recently, the United States, including the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Sealand , a Maersk Company.
     “PayCargo is an exciting, fast-scaling, multi-modal ecosystem where any business from across the logistics industry can pay all of their providers instantly, and at no cost receive payments through one platform,” said Pigeon.
     “With the PayCargo system, customers do not have to worry about costly outdated payment processes such as requesting and tracking bank check deliveries, managing cash, and time-consuming credit application, which can also be costly.”
     PayCargo’s vision to transform the logistics industry payments landscape, is leading the way to facilitate a modern, cost-effective, and sustainable future for industry stakeholders across the value chain.
     Talk about life in the fast track, PayCargo said that it processed more than USD$10 billion of freight-related payments in 2021, a 250% increase from 2020.

FlyingTalkers

Can Glyn Hughes Save TIACA?
Remembering The Owl At JFK Cargo

     We spent more than two years sans handshaking, wondering what trade show future could be and where all that energy had gone.
     But then we caught up with Glyn Hughes in New Orleans: that’s him seated second from left, awaiting his turn to speak. I’m thinking it’s nice to have him back where he belongs. But then I realize we are damn lucky he never went away.
     There he was in living color, right there, up on the platform, alongside, part of and leading the way as organized air cargo went live once again in New Orleans at Air Cargo 2022 a couple of weeks ago. It was as though a malicious spell had been broken.
     From the look on his face, Glyn, who retired from an illustrious career as Head of IATA Cargo and then stayed inactive for about as long as it took him to repack his suitcase, was very glad to be back.
     I have tried to calculate how many trade show panels this man sat on or organized and led. The words “grains of sands on every beach” come to mind, adding that number up you get dizzy. Memories started flowing, as if I were the Ulysses of air cargo.
     I recall attending the very first meeting of TIACA in London, at the fabled “In & Out Club”, where we did it up royal near Queen’s Park and the room locks worked on skeleton keys. Dick Jackson lived in the room next to mine and every night we sat up and drank brown whiskey and read copies of old issues of Vanity Fair from the library. Maybe it was Brown Wilder and Dick Jackson and me watching the roast lamb roll by on a cart, after the Queen’s Guard dropped by the Courtyard at the behest of Chris Foyle and played the Beat Retreat and we all felt pretty special when that happened.

     And it poured down rain, as a little mouse ran through the proper ladies’ sitting room just off the ‘men’s only” bar called Geoffrey’s, as TIACA was picked off the ash heap of a now uninterested Automotive Engineers’ Group by people named Foyle and Arendal and Spohrer and Wilder and Nijankin, Whalen and a dozen more.
     The essence of TIACA has always been the excellence of its personalities, and we knew them all.
     We were the first paid up media members. Several decades ago, when Bob Arendal got Cargolux to sponsor the first ACF in Luxembourg we quickly decided to best serve you, the reader, by becoming a non-member disinterested observer, and keeping all our options open by holding our cards close, telling it like it is. That’s the other story: why we are here.
     The preliminary here is, because we believe that, like no other time since TIACA was brought back 30 years ago, right now something must be done to get this TIACA of 2022 off the critical list created by COVID and back on its feet. TIACA is in the best possible hands right now: if anybody can save it, that is Glyn Hughes.      Glyn knows more about organized air cargo than anybody we can think of.
     That he was sitting in Switzerland with a golden parachute gazing at the Jungfrau minus a care in the world, able to do just about what he pleased and, now has taken on a herculean effort here to save TIACA kicks this guy up several notches on the all-time list of great people of air cargo ever. We sure hope he makes it.
     In 2022 the world has changed as everything that communicates is hand-held. Also self-serving seems to rule as never before.
     What a generation ago was tough business, but for sure felt much more idealistic, at least in these quarters. But if seasoned and thoroughly professional Glyn Hughes can get it across to the great unwashed that the strength of TIACA is in its diversity, he will have saved the last great hope for organized air cargo. Everything depends on Glyn.
     For the first time since Daniel Fernandez (right) picked up the baton from the first TIACA DG, the late Garth Davies, TIACA has a running chance, as the world emerges from the depths of lockdown and uncertainty, to what could be a new deal as an organization. To win the gamble everybody has got to be in it.
     We are in for some exciting times ahead. Good luck Glyn in 2022!

FT:   Your takeaway from the recent sustainability panel at AirCargo 2022.
GH:   It was a pleasure to join such an illustrious panel so expertly moderated by Jenni Frigger. There were many aspects of sustainability covered, from environmental responsibility to social implications, people considerations and the need for the industry to remain prosperous as investment is a critical aspect of the sustainability journey for any organization. We also explored the complexity of the issue and the need for action now. Small things add up and build momentum for greater change. We need to play our collective part in reducing waste and CO2 emissions whilst continuing to support global society as we seek to create equal opportunities for all and to facilitate enhanced global economic prosperity by providing efficient and effective global network connectivity.

FT:   Moving ahead, emotional decisions in business versus Process Mining, or is there room for both and if so in what measure?
GH:   A great question as this goes to the heart of what we all must do in both our private and business lives. It’s not about shaming others, but rather what each of us can do. Business efficiency is likely to support improved environmental impacts, but often requires time and investment to achieve. One thing which we can all agree on is that the time to act is now and with an increasing number of shippers starting to include sustainability questions in tender documents, business success requires alignment of emotional and business decisions. It’s also becoming increasingly important for the next generation workforce, who are more drawn to organizations which place sustainability high on their agenda.

FT:   What do you want to improve in 2022 at TIACA?
GH:   The TIACA board has endorsed a number of great new programs, planned for 2022, which will result in us being able to provide more support to the global air cargo industry in achieving its sustainability goals. We shall soon be publishing the results of our second Sustainability Survey and we hope to enhance the Sustainability Roadmap document we published late last year, which highlighted a number of actions the industry can take in eight key areas of activity. We also hope to enhance our member and industry outreach, ensuring that the high profile role played by air cargo these past several years continues to be high on the agenda of those who can influence future investment as well as those who set industry regulations. We will also look to enhance our relationships with key partners as collaboration is the key to success. The louder the voice the more it’s heard.

FT:   What if you kept things the same and didn’t do anything?
GH:   Then we should have just switched off the lights and gone home. Standing still is actually moving backwards. The world is changing and the industry needs to reflect the world it serves and associations need to reflect the evolving needs of their members and their customers. I am very pleased to say that the TIACA board recognizes this and has a clear vision for how we can continue to evolve and progress forward.

FT:   What did you want air cargo, airlines, forwarders, other cargo resources and even truckers to know about TIACA today?
GH:   A great question. Basically I would say that in this world of complex supply chains, ever increasing challenges and obstacles we need to unite to address the needs of today and plan for those of tomorrow. Collaboration is key across all industry sectors and this is the unique aspect that TIACA offers. Our membership is comprised of each stakeholder group involved in the air cargo industry, each with different issues and opportunities but all sharing a common objective to create a safe, secure, efficient and effective industry which provides high quality solutions and supports the global business community and society. We would encourage all stakeholders to have a look at TIACA today, we want to hear from you all and add your voice to our programs.

     Once upon a time, before it became some kind of chic to dine al-fresco from a food truck, long the norm in cargo areas btw, people who worked in high profile passenger terminals could only look down their collective noses at the dining selections offered to people in cargo.
     For years food has been served up with varying degrees of success in the airport cargo area.
     Food trucks park near cargo hangars, or you can call for carry away pick up, and of course the growing trend especially during and post COVID has extended into occasional inventive fancy deliveries.
     One restaurant near JFK International Airport on Woodhaven Bouvelard named London Lennie's, will deliver you a dozen shucked (Blue Point) Oysters with condiments and those small oyster crackers arranged on a bed of seaweed and crushed ice. Come to think of it, better get a couple dozen and some of their incredible chowder and homemade coleslaw.
     Get some Gavel Kolsch from Cologne too, if it's sold nearby and you’re off the clock.
     Which brings me to the most notorious, but also the best Italian sandwich in the history of JFK Cargo.
     The place was called The Owl, and it was located just outside the airport on the corner of Farmers & Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, and what fun it was.
     The Owl, a local air cargo haunt operated by Joe “Owl” Mancusi was reportedly an occasional gathering point for the gang that planned and later held up Lufthansa Cargo and were immortalized in a book and the movie, “Goodfellas”.
     But for the straight working stiffs, the wise guys and the day time cuisine crowd, the veal parmigiana hero sandwich served at The Owl was absolutely out of this world.
     Make no mistake, at times the price of admission was you had to zone out the “Bada-Bing,” tough guy-topless joint reality that The Owl was in the cold light of day.
     But somehow the place did clean up the entertainment for the lunchtime crowd that drifted in and out from all those mixed-use, off airport residence and cargo office operations both on airport and off the field that brought the crowds to The Owl and the popular Hans Deli across the street for years.
     Highpoint for The Owl was 1987 when a scene from the movie Wall Street was shot there.
     Now The Owl is long gone.
     Somebody said that they saw Joe The Owl down in Florida but that was five years ago.
     But great joints like supple stories don’t die, they just fade away.

Who Loved The Owl

    Dolores Hofman, now retired from a lifetime of service to aviation as Program Manager Queens Air Services Development Office in New York is also a real lady pioneer in air cargo like no other.
     Dolores shunned an office job and asserted herself to work at Pan Am Clipper Cargo at JFK on the warehouse floor operating a forklift truck in the late 1960s, when the only other women on that level of the air cargo building were staring down half dressed or not dressed at all from calendars on the walls of break rooms and the loading docks.
     Dolores recalled:
     “Ahhhh, yes, “The Owl,” one of the few places that this ex-Cargo Service Agent (when I drove that forklift, unloaded those trucks & worked shifts) could go for a nice lunch break . . . OMG what stories to tell!”
     The former KLM Cargo JFK Operations Guru Barry Medwed, today a top air cargo consultant, “Call Barry”, pictured here (right) with Mattijs ten Brink (left) who lead KLM Cargo, dunked into The Owl:
     “I remember the first time I went to the The Owl in 1979.
     “Co-workers took me for lunch.
     “When working the midnight shift, we knew The Owl would be open for 3am lunch,” Barry recalled.

Home of The $5 Meeting

     “I joined The New York Air Cargo Sales Club in 1966 as a rookie cargo sales rep with Braniff,” Eldon Brown said.
     “The NYACSC President was Bob Havenstein of National Airlines Cargo.
     “Our monthly meetings were held at the Playboy Club on E. 59th Street. The meetings tariff was $10.
     “We had a private meeting room and two bunnies were assigned to our meeting.
What did the $10 buy?
     “Two drinks, a steak dinner, coffee and desert, plus Playboy usually threw in a door prize or two.
     “Of course, back then you could get two drinks and a steak at The Owl for under $5, but the waitresses didn't wear bunny tails . . .”
     Eldon had a great air cargo career serving in JAL Cargo top USA management for 15 years. After that Eldon outdid himself with more than a quarter of a century at Northwest Cargo.
     Today Eldon is alive and well, and writing books.
     “The Owl, it was an experience!”
     “Everybody went there for lunch on the Midnight Shift,” writes Henry Lumm.
     Alan Wood recalls:
     “i worked at Circle Airfreight, for years cashed many of my paychecks at the bar, to many good times.
     “Had a fight with Jimmy Breslin there . . . all good . . .
     “The Owl was also known as “The Supper Market”.
     “Hans Deli was across the street, and one of my worst business decisions was, when Hans offered me a deal on his deli and I said no.
     “How dumb!”
     Alan is the only former habituae of “The Owl” we know of, who operates a nifty oasis where you can get a drink, something to eat, see a live theater show nearby and maybe even carry this story further.
     Located in downtown Titusville, Florida, “OhVino” is where Alan Wood and partner James hold court in their small restaurant with soft lighting and peaceful soothing ambience near The Titusville Playhouse there.
     Huge wine selection and small snack plates, hamburgers. Great pizza with a delicious crispy crust and plenty of topping. Regular wine tastings.
     Theater is in 57th season, currently mounting a stage presentation of “Kinky Boots”.
     Wonderful.

And Today . . .

     Today the lunch bunch has departed The Owl for the last time and the X-rated TV screens have bumped and ground their way to black.
     But down is not out.
     In the same building that housed The Owl appeared fairy tale pictures, pink balloons and boxes of chalk and crayons.
     Today, the space that greeted a brilliant cast of characters who were creating the air cargo industry has become The Academy of Little Leaders" a gentle sanctuary for the laughter of little children starting life in a fantasy pre-school day care center.
     The wise old Owl giving up some tricks.
     “And just like that, my lunch today just seems unbearably boring,” smiled Mike Webber.
Geoffrey

Letter From Hong Kong

Good morning and Kung Hei Fat Choi Geoffrey,

     Yes indeed, we are now firmly in the year of the Tiger ( a water Tiger so we are told) and hold high expectations for the coming months.
     As is the usual case these days in our hyper connected world Chinese New Year in Hong Kong is a continual stream of Memes through WhatsApp and WeChat, almost endless and all competing to be the best, personally I think this one gets the gold medal:
     Meanwhile my personal year of the Ox did not end so well as about three weeks ago I managed to break a bone in my foot, never felt it happening as I suffer from neuropathy in my feet anyway and only noticed some fairly extensive swelling a few days later which after a week had not gone down so I decided to go to my doctor who called for an x-ray and the rest is history the bone is not only broken but displaced so requires surgery and a plate to put it all back together, fortunately all dealt with very efficiently in Hong Kong as usual so I did not have to wait at all and now I am halfway through a no weight-bearing living on crutches 14 days!
     One of the outcomes of this is that ULD Care have decided to postpone the planned virtual conference for a few weeks, as I simply lost too much time dealing with my foot issues, we will have a new date set up very shortly and I absolutely will be getting back to everyone.
     Meanwhile, Omicron has finally caught up with Hong Kong, so we are in for a few interesting weeks I think. We have to a certain extent lived in an unsustainable bubble for many months now which is finally being popped and it will be interesting to see how things work out, on the other hand everything I read indicates that there is no sign of any real improvements in the congestion in Maritime shipping and I think it seems highly likely that any cargo volumes and rates are going to be effective life for many months to come, along with the associated pressure on ULD
     And I am still working on a couple of major initiatives for ULD CARE but we will be going public with in the not too distant future.
     Overall remain excited and animated moving ahead in 2022!

Bob Rogers
VP & Treasurer
ULD CARE
Hong Kong SAR

RE: MSC ITA LH Acronyms With Meaning

Hi Geoffrey,

     Just reading about the interest of MSC in ITA brings to mind the recent news of the other shipping giant Maersk buying the German Airfreight Forwarder Senator (privately owned by founder Mr. Kirschbaum) for a sizeable sum - close to US$ 500 Million.
     Quite a bit of change for a mid-size freight forwarding company which was just started in the mid 1980s but has become very successful with main client BMW, and running regular charter services out of Frankfurt Hahn with four leased 747 cargo jets a few times a week into the U.S. as well as Far East and South Africa.
     For Maersk that money is only petty cash, but obviously they think the time is right to add air cargo capabilities to their line of business - which sounds very truly right given the bottlenecks in ocean freight services impacted since COVID.
     So getting into airfreight & charter services looks like a good idea for them, and perhaps likewise the move from MSC.
     Keep up the good work!

Hardy
Hardy Zantke

If You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers Access complete issue by clicking on issue icon or Access specific articles by clicking on article title
Vol. 21 No. 4 Sustainability Costwise & Otherwise Chuckles for January 20, 2022 Good Numbers for AirCargo 2022 Women's Networking Event Webber's NOLA Musical Interlude	Vol. 21 No. 5 Lady Liberty She Ain't China Economic & Political Outlook Chuckles for January 25, 2022 A Slap With A Velvet Glove Rolling Back The Curtain Mission Is Zero Emission	Vol. 21 No. 6 MSC ITA LH Acronyms Chuckles for February 1, 2022 Will Tata Watch Air India Time? Sometimes Smelling The Flowers The Kelly Act Beth Was Confection Goodness Knows

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