WCS: Education and collaboration essential in airfreight

Education and collaboration were touted as essential to the airfreight industry’s long-term success during the International Air Transport Association (IATA) World Cargo Symposium (WCS), held last week in London. The event drew a record 1,365 participants from 73 countries. Key stakeholders discussed the rising tide of digitalization, the importance of sustainability for the long-term survival of the airfreight industry and e-commerce as a driving force for increasing volumes at the event. A focus on digitalization As stakeholders increasingly embrace digital processes — from booking platforms like cargo.one and WebCargo by Freightos to technology like e-air waybills — digitalization was a key focus at WCS. In addition, IATA highlighted three other priorities: Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050; Attracting new talent to the industry; and Finding safe solutions for the shipment of lithium batteries and other dangerous goods. The industry has not yet gone fully digital due to stakeholder mindset, Moritz Claussen, cargo.one founder and co-chief executive, told Air Cargo World . “The products are useful, and they’re easy to use, but really to roll it out across the board and actually get it adopted by everyone, you need to educate people, you need to help them get there,” Claussen said. Other stakeholders offered more critical opinions, insisting the pace of digital adoption is not fast enough. [caption id="attachment_57132410" align="alignright" width="374"] Atlas Air Chief Commercial Officer Michael Steen during WCS 2022. Photo/IATA[/caption] “So far, I’ve spent 25-plus years in this industry, and we're still dealing with some things that we talked about 25 years ago,” Atlas Air Chief Commercial Officer Michael Steen said during the conference’s closing remarks. “That is not a good testament to the pace of change in our industry.” “The critical thing there is to go back and really drive that change,” he added, alluding to both digitalization and sustainability efforts. Sustainability education In addition to the shift to digitalization, stakeholders discussed long-term sustainability efforts , stressing the importance of immediate actions like educating customers. In fact, customers and investors are major proponents of green initiatives, but many still need guidance on how to enact change, Magali Beauregard, chief commercial officer at software company CargoAi , said during a panel discussion. “Unless [sustainability] is really addressed, we're going to continue to see a lot of initiatives driven by top forwarders, top airlines, that the rest of the market, that long tail — or even the medium-sized market — is going to be left behind because they just don't really get a sense for what is happening,” Beauregard said. Customers in some regions have more trouble understanding sustainability efforts than others, Beauregard added, noting that those in the Asia-Pacific region are on the other side of a “huge divide.” And the proliferation of emissions standards can also be confusing for stakeholders, she said. The e-commerce ‘monster’ Since the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has become one of the fastest-growing types of cargo , and growth is projected to remain exponential globally, according to Tobias Wolfel, an expert on travel, transport and logistics for McKinsey. “You can imagine the size of the monster,” Wolfel said. “That is for every region; it keeps on growing.” As demand for e-commerce grows, so does its dependence on airfreight, said Andres Majeres, head of e-commerce and cargo operations for IATA. The key to maintaining cross-border e-commerce growth is for stakeholders throughout supply chain to standardize services and improve data visibility, he added. Join Air Cargo World for our next webinar, “Dangerous goods in focus: Shoring up air cargo logistics,” on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. ET. Click here for more information and to register.

WCS: Education and collaboration essential in airfreight

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