Cargo Chat: Bollore’s Tison on airfreight’s role in aerospace, defense

At this week’s Paris Air Show, logistics service providers and forwarders are showcasing their expertise in supporting the supply chains of the aerospace and defense industries, highlighting where airfreight play s a key role. [caption id="attachment_57136818" align="alignright" width="300"] Jean-Philippe Tison, Bollore Logistics[/caption] On the margins of the event , Air Cargo Next caught up with Jean-Philippe Tison, Bollore Logistics ’ senior vice president of aerospace and defense, to discuss the French company ’s activities and customer offerings. Air Cargo Next: How important is aerospace and defense in Bollore Logistics’ portfolio of verticals? Jean-Philippe Tison : Aerospace/defense is in the top three of the verticals we serve, the others being luxury goods and pharmaceuticals. And we go back a long way. In aerospace, our first AOG [aircraft on ground] shipment was done more than 70 years ago. The first helicopter delivery was more than 30 years ago and the first satellite delivery 20 years ago. So we can say, unequivocally, that aerospace is clearly written in the code of Bollore Logistics’ DNA. Air Cargo Next: What does your customer base look like? JPT : We serve airlines, manufacturers of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, engines and aviation equipment and systems, MRO [maintenance, repair and operations] aftermarket providers, launching-system and spacecraft manufacturers, and the armed forces. Air Cargo Next: What solutions do you offer to these clients? JPT : A full range of upstream and downstream supply chain services, which include time-sensitive, 24/7 AOG operations; the management of spare parts flows, optimizing customer and repair lead times; the management of specific customs systems and regulatory compliance; worldwide spare parts storage; and out-of-gauge shipments, using dedicated charter flights. We are also working on predictive algorithms to help customers make choices before events happen. Just one example: If a customer wants to ship something from Shanghai to Paris on the 19th of November, we can tell them several months out that it is likely to arrive in five days and that, if they require a lead time of, say , three days , they need to make alternative arrangements now. Air Cargo Next: What makes airfreight the most appropriate mode of transport for the aerospace vertical? JPT : Aircraft are heavy assets and, when problems arise, they create the need for the critical management of shipments and, this being the case, airfreight is clearly the most adapted solution. Once an aircraft is down, you must do everything in your power to deliver a spare part as quickly as possible to enable it to fly again. It goes without saying that being able to call upon a global airfreight network is paramount. Air Cargo Next: What does your aerospace and defense business represent in terms of annual turnover, volume and number of shipments? JPT : We don’t communicate on specific numbers in our verticals. What we can say is that today we have more than 1,200 members in the aerospace team. They are located in approximately 100 countries and we have 21 dedicated AOG centers operating 24/7 and 23 logistics control towers — all dedicated to the aerospace/defense industries. Air Cargo Next: How is the vertical performing post-pandemic? JPT : Obviously, the COVID crisis, which began in 2020, was a perfect storm but over the past couple of years and for the aerospace vertical globally, not just for Bollore, growth has become fast-paced again and volumes are now almost back to what they were in 2019. For example, the reintroduction of stored aircraft, which had been sitting in the desert, is driving strong demand for new spare parts. Also, with current order books at both Airbus and Boeing stretching over a 10-year period, this is creating a further urgent need for aircraft parts. In parallel, you have the defense industry, which had slowed down over the past decade, now growing very quickly due to the unfortunate events in Ukraine. Air Cargo Next: What particular challenges does the aerospace and defense vertical pose for an airfreight forwarder? JPT : Apart from the sudden restart in the aerospace industry, the biggest challenge we face currently is decarbonization. The whole aviation industry and its suppliers need to reduce their CO2 emissions and, at Bollore, we are launching an innovative, co-working tool named Beyond Carbon for customer decarbonization . This not only entails SAF [sustainable aviation fuel] but also transport planning and predictive algorithms . It is part of our global program , Powering Sustainable Logistics , which aims , among other aspects , at a 30% reduction by 2030 of our S cope 3 [emissions] .

Cargo Chat: Bollore’s Tison on airfreight’s role in aerospace, defense

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