No Christmas air cargo rush expected by Consolidators

LA-BASED Consolidators International Inc (CII) is not expecting a pre-Christmas air cargo "rush" this year, according to CEO Julian Keeling.

"With US unemployment hovering around the 10 per cent mark, housing sharply lower, an anaemic stock market and manufacturers just marking time, air cargo will show little growth for the remainder of the year.

"Retailers are taking their cue from shoppers' reluctance to open their pocketbooks and have become very miserly in continuing to build up inventory. The supply chain seems to have snapped at the retailer's warehouse," he told Georgia-based AirCargo World.

But Mr Keeling said that with the practice of slow steaming expected to be continued by ocean carriers, there will be some last minute ordering that is likely to benefit air freight.

"There now are only seven independent, multi-national forwarders of any significance: DHL, Schenker, Panalpina, Kuehne + Nagel, Expeditors, UTI and Ceva," he said.

"The integrators, particularly FedEx and UPS, have built up their infrastructures in Asia at enormous cost, but this seems to be paying off. They are providing excellent service and shippers seem to be willing to pay their higher rates in return for this service."

He pointed out that FedEx and UPS continue to reduce the amount of capacity they offer the market. "Twenty years ago FedEx sold US$700 million worth of space to independent forwarders. Today, that figure has shrunk to $50 million."

Mr Keeling added that CII's volume has risen by 40 per cent this year. "We are sticking to our knitting as we have for the past 16 years, concentrating on the South Pacific, particularly Australia and New Zealand, which are strong markets for both air and ocean trade."
(Source:www.schednet.com)