CEO Jens Tubbesing of the New York-based general sales agency urged elements of the industry to borrow a leaf'from its early years, a time when an increasingly powerful campaign'directed at the entire spectrum of domestic and international shippers sought to bring across the true message of air cargo economics.
Noting that the serious plunge of the world economy has produced increasing evidence of a shift of air freight traffic to surface transport, Tubbesing added that the number of such cases, while still relatively small at this point, is reportedly growing. Much of the motivation is spurred by a desire for lower transportation rates.
"It is a mistake for our industry to allow this situation to continue unattended," ANS' top officer stated. "An immediate corrective should be applied.' It seems to me that by various means air transportation's cargo service suppliers, especially the airline and air freight forwarding sectors, are well equipped to reintroduce essential facts to the
vast shipper community. Call it a refresher, in effect a wake-up call--a factual reminder that professional physical distribution and traffic'executives are guided by the bottom line for a total movement instead of by a lower transportation rate.
He observed that in'the air cargo industry's first quarter-century since'its dawning 65 years ago, it mounted an unyielding "educational" campaign.' It taught earthbound shippers that the visibility of a low price is misleading, and instead counseled examination of offsetting cost factors that'make airlift preferable from the standpoints of total price, customer service and competitive potency.
Tubbesing, who has extensive executive air cargo experience and previously served as president of Cargo Network Services, said that he regarded much of the transfer of airlift to surface movement as "knee-jerk decisions" to keep costs down. Restoration of air'cargo's early education effort, even for a brief though concentrated period,
should bring satisfactory results, he said.
The management of ANS applauded Washington's decision to seek more trade agreements, work toward opening markets, and create a vehicle for export promotion. Tubbesing saw the new initiative as an urgently needed move to sharpen America's competitiveness in foreign markets.
ANS' head'expressly declared the importance of increasing exports to Eastern markets, especially to China which enjoys robust economic health. Germany surpassed the US in 2003 as the world's leading exporter, but in 2009 China gained the lead.
