With all eyes looking at this year’s Air Cargo Forum in Miami Nov 11th - 14th hosted by TIACA, this is the Association’s presentation of the ACF:
     “In 2024, we would like to enhance the ACF even more! Aligned with our key event principles as a membership-focused organization we feel that it is vital that the ACF remains a world-class global event, that brings the entire air cargo community together and aims to add value to the industry at large. We’re looking forward to offering guests the complete package; exhibition, sponsorship, advertising, networking opportunities, and plenty of fun! We are excited to deliver another successful ACF that encompasses TIACA’s event principles whilst offering more opportunities for attendees to network, such as a golf tournament, receptions, exciting pre/post event excursions, and well-planned after parties. It’s vital and necessary that attendees enjoy themselves in one of the world’s top tourist destinations. The ACF is much more than an event . . . it’s an experience.”
     Of course the who’s who of Air Cargo will be there and one could just wish to have 200 hands to shake them all and 400 hearts to beat at the same rhythm and 1,000 souls to feel and enjoy the atmosphere.
      But there is one person in particular named Bill Boesch, whose involvement with TIACA spans the entire duration of the Association from the very beginning. Here as TIACA readies its Miami opus November 12, Blll who will not attend the event, shares memories of the time when TIACA was formed and also takes measure of the air cargo industry today and tomorrow.
     With over 50 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industries, Bill Boesch is an unparalleled subject matter expert on the intersection of logistics operations, commercial aviation and United States Defense policy. Mr. Boesch founded and continues to lead the Council for Logistics Research, Inc. as CEO and Chairman and has served as a high-level executive in many stages of the logistics industry. Mergers and acquisitions, integration, logistics management, supply chain logistics, mail, airline management, freight forwarding, ground transportation, IT development and systems, government affairs, global trade alliances, and union negotiations and contracting, security and defense it is all there in one single brain!
     With this kind of quality and gravitas one could expect no surprise from his spoken words in public.
     In November 2024 Bill Boesch has the experience and knowledge of a couple of generations and yet his words are as sharp as the scalpel when it comes to analyzing the issues of the sector.

     For those who might not know Bill Boesch personally I need to give some details of this extraordinary career. Beginning in 1965 as a graduate student working for Seaboard World Airlines, a pioneering cargo carrier serving the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Asia, which was a major transporter of troops and material to Southeast Asia, Mr. Boesch held various positions before becoming Vice President and Director of Worldwide Sales in 1978. These responsibilities continued into Flying Tiger Airlines after the merger with Seaboard in 1980. In 1982 Emery Worldwide, a major airfreight forwarder, aircraft operator, and logistics provider saw Mr. Boesch climb to Senior Vice President and General Manager of Emery in 1985 and then Executive Vice President and General Manager in 1987. Time to go back to the airlines: Pan American World Airways’ Senior Vice President of Cargo was the new role, then Senior Vice President for Passenger Marketing and Cargo Operations in 1988, and another leap forward to join American Airlines as Vice-President of Cargo, President and CEO of the Cargo Division in 1991 and Chairman of the Cargo Division in 1996 before retiring from the post in 1998. In 2004, Bill was asked to reorganize the U.S. operation as CEO of DHL Global Mail.
     Mr. Boesch has served in different industry associations with corporate responsibilities: Chair of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Cargo Executive Subcommittee, Vice Chairman of IATA’s Cargo Committee, in the Board of Directors of Air Cargo Incorporated, Air Cargo International, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), Envirotainer, Deutsche Post Global Mail, Smart-mail, DHL Global Mail, and Al Seqir/Falcon.
     Bill Boesch is presently providing senior level advice and analysis to (Joint Chiefs Logistics (JSJ4) on all aspects of the commercial air transportation industry and logistics and continues to participate in other various U.S. Government projects to secure and update essential logistics systems and improve the global security environment, for many years’ involvement in military and defense operation of the U.S. Government in various areas of the world.
     Mr. Boesch was awarded the Heroes Medal from the government of Afghanistan for his leadership on the project and his assistance to the country and its people. He has the honor of holding numerous industry awards including the Lifetime Air Cargo Achievement Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, induction into the TIACA Hall of Fame, and numerous Department of Defense (DoD) distinctions.
     FlyingTypers managed to extract some ideas from this exceptional and tireless aviation hero just days ahead of the big shebang in Miami.
     This is what Bill told us regarding the evergreen subject of forwarders/airlines interaction:
     “Back in the 70s and early 80s the airlines started to have an adversarial view of the forwarders feeling that they were controlling the customers, demanding lower rates, canceling bookings at the last minute when they found an airline that would give them a low spot rate and making much of the profit, while the airlines had the major costs. As a result airlines decided to compete with the forwarders and go directly to the commercial customers. I always thought this was a mistake because the forwarders served a vital role in reducing airline costs by assembling all of the cargo, palletizing it, putting it under one airway bill and the airlines avoided managing hundreds of trucks dropping off small shipments, palletizing the shipments, loading them into containers, and having multiple billings . . . this would require a substantial increase in organized labor, which is a major cost to the airlines. On the other side the forwarders felt that they were playing a vital role and had limited interaction with the airlines who were talking to each other in IATA, as in those days the airlines had antitrust immunity in IATA meetings at two specific locations.”

Bill leveraged what he learned, in air cargo and growing up on the streets of New York City, in Iraq and Afghanistan, often times risking his life out in the countryside negotiating with Sheikhs and others to build better supply routes. The result kept U.S. soldiers safe while building local employment. For his efforts Bill received numerous Department of Defense (DoD) distinctions.

      We remember when KLM started this game in Italy and declared, “unlike passengers, cargo has no legs.”
     In a way this is not so far from what Bill Boesch correctly describes in his statements. It was quite clear to me even in those days that only the interaction of freight forwarders and airlines could fly cargo in the air. Indeed, it is quite clear to any forwarder that no shipper would be willing to make the investments and undergo the procedures. Maybe this concept was less apparent to airlines then. A lot of time could have been saved if the two parties learnt how to speak to each other, and, if I may say so, listened to each other much more that they did. In the area of reciprocal understanding Bill Boesch’s contribution was and still is crucial.
     “In order to start a dialogue between the forwarders and the airlines in a healthy environment, a few of us in the airline cargo business and at some large forwarders felt that having an organization where we could meet in a productive environment and discuss matters would be beneficial. I was running AmericanAirlines Cargo at the time and hosted a meeting in the AmericanAirlines conference room in Dallas, Texas, where a few airlines and forwarders got together and decided to have an organization with forwarders and airlines.
     “We then had to decide what to call the organization and had a few good names, but finally settled for The International Air Cargo Association or TIACA at the meeting. The rest is history.
     “I personally was very honored to host this meeting and pull the forwarders and the airlines together, so that we both understood each other’s problems and started to work together in a partnership approach to work out the areas troubling each of us.”
     So that was then and we have actually seen some ups and downs in the last couple of decades. I am not so sure that the progress made was firmly maintained all through time. Suffice to say, as example, that FIATA and IATA still have not managed to achieve their “modernization” agreement.
     The landscape changed in the meantime and an almost entirely different arena developed containing older and newer actors participating in the same play.
     Bill takes a bold view on this:
     “Unfortunately,today is an entirely different marketplace in which you have the integrators, Amazon and major forwarders entering into long-term ACMI leases to move the freight. But this also had a positive effect on some of the all-cargo airlines, creating guaranteed business for the use of one or more of their aircraft.
     “The big question is that the market is changing again with the majority going to the integrators and the Amazon type businesses, which in fact deal directly with the commercial customers that in the past dealt with the airfreight forwarders.
     “We all have to adapt to the changing air cargo market, which is basically now based on e-commerce and the integrators.
     “You saw how well Amazon, FedEx and UPS did in their quarterly reporting and their stock price . . . A good question is what is the effect of this market change going to do to the traditional freighter market and the forwarders. How are they adapting to this?
     “As you know, I have always said the Air Cargo market is a market that is not yet fully matured.
     “When I was young many years ago, I used to look at the Cargo reports and saw that the major amount of business was shipments under 50 pounds: at first they were controlled by the forwarders and then it went to the integrators and now the integrators have a challenge with the e-commerce companies that have sophisticated computer systems.
     “I know every night sitting in bed I go to the Amazon site and usually buy something: you don’t do this with FedEx or UPS as you need to go to the direct sellers site and buy something and most people will not buy it if they have to pay for the shipping so the integrators had to lower their prices to these customers and get more efficient you can see this at both FedEx and UPS . . . ”
     Bill Boesch left it at that with us.
     It is not surprising, considering we are looking at a rapidly changing picture.      Having some experience in the freight and logistics industry of my own, I can safely say that the picture airlines and forwarders contemplate today is perhaps even more complex and subject to even greater number of variables than we used to consider in the beginning of the forwarder/airline relationship debate. From some points of view, the forwarder/airline debate could even be considered out of date, if you take Bill Boesch’s words literally.
     I think I did use this expression already in the past, but it seems to be fitting this time: maybe this is just another case of history repeating . . .
     In the ‘add some music to your day’ genre as TIACA ACF 2024 Miami starts, in 1997 the Propellerheads offered a new version of the old classic with the same refrain, but Shirley Bassey was still the queen of the scene.
     Listening to this music wonder whether Ms. Bassey has ever had a freight forwarders’ background?
     Thanks Bill, until next time . . .
GDA/Marco Sorgetti