Is this the beginning of the end for traditional forwarders and GSAs?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
11M ago
WITH the air cargo industry’s gradual but sluggish take-up of transformative digitalised processes, does that development spell the death knell for the roles of general sales agents and some brokers and traditional freight forwarders? asks Nigel Tomkins. With the menu of digital airfreight options now including real-time electronic bookings, access to comparative dynamic pricing, speed-versus-price value selections, tracking and tracing of shipments, temperature monitoring, error reporting, access to buying history data, faster payments, insurance and simplified claims … much of the work previ ..read more
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Air cargo declarations that leave a bitter taste …
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
THERE can be no greater waste of time than wading through strategically constructed, unwanted shopping lists of brand names and product plugs, writes Nigel Tomkins. Guess what … brands and statistics freaks aside … shameless attempts at brand exposure (now also known as keyword-building as part of search engine optimisation) almost always have the opposite effect and drive intelligent people away. It is a phenomenon that is becoming a regular feature in some air cargo supply-chain businesses. Why is it that they don’t understand its potential reputational damage? From the beginnings of their c ..read more
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Message to air cargo: How NOT to construct a press release
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
In this blog journalist Nigel Tomkins deplores the industry’s dreadful PR and woeful press release creators and publishes a list of offenders HERE is some free advice, some simple indicators on how to identify a bad or toxic air cargo industry press release, writes lifelong journalist Nigel Tomkins. Sadly, there are thousands of badly crafted examples flying around, he reveals. Published at the foot of this message is a list naming some current bad offenders. It is a regretful plight, because the air cargo supply-chain desperately needs fair and reasonable promotion across the entire world. Th ..read more
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Is digitalisation of the air cargo industry working yet? 
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Thelma Etim
1y ago
WHO or what is inhibiting the full digitalisation of the air cargo industry? Thelma Etim asks.  It is almost the end of the first month of 2023 and the air cargo conference merry-go-round is already in full swing – proffering succulent food and bubbly to be quaffed at glamorous venues around the world, whilst deals/agreements and partnerships are finalised in ante rooms and bars.  Yet, how can an industry noted for keeping the world fed, enabling national mass COVID inoculation programmes, whilst also delivering just-in-time automotive parts – be so ponderous at implem ..read more
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Is digitalisation the final death knell for air cargo customer loyalty?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
WHAT has happened to customer loyalty in the air cargo business? asks Nigel Tomkins. Just a few months ago, long-established ‘special agreements’ between customers (forwarders) and airlines seemed to be finely tuned, fixed and irrevocable. As it turned out, they were surprisingly fragile. Many of those agreements were based almost entirely on inter-personal relationships, some forged over many years, and were often the result of either face-to-face discussions or, at least, were based on person-to-person telephone conversations. This was the way problems and deals were fixed in the pre-digital ..read more
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Is air cargo ruled by bald, fat, dull, misogynistic mature white men?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
COULD this be the latest global air cargo pandemic? wonders Nigel Tomkins (ahem) … a hirsute, silver-headed, fit, slimmed-down, interesting wordsmith who humbly identifies as an alpha male. Studying the many images that have been published and broadcast on LinkedIn, the business social media site, covering the well-attended recent London IATA World Cargo Symposium – as well as some of the far fewer attendees of the TIACA forum in Miami – I could not help but crash into the overwhelming elephant lurking in the airfreight room … the prevalence of so many misogynistic, over-sixties, balding, over ..read more
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Will deliverers (like Ocado and air cargo) ever get their logistics right?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
WHAT is it about logistics organisations (such as Ocado) that keep on letting down their customers? asks Nigel Tomkins. Packages delivered to the glaringly wrong addresses, missing items from doorstep shopping services, restaurants and supermarkets running out of staple food products, empty fuel supplies, water shortages, no baby-food, late car-parts … all of these and countless other logistics failures happen somewhere in the world every single day. Very often, customers only learn about these failures when it is too late to source replacements. In the age of sophisticated digital data manipu ..read more
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Does the air transport industry really loathe its customers?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
PERHAPS the biggest problem with running a business is contending with those annoying things called customers, writes Nigel Tomkins. Customers expect a fair deal at the very least – something they value in return for their money – and then they have the temerity to complain when things go wrong. How dare they? Does anyone reading this blog believe that the global air transport industry has actually worked any of this out? Does it understand what is meant by the term ‘customer service’? Here is a disappointing list of reasonable common complaints from unhappy air travellers/airfreight customers ..read more
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Air cargo provides a lesson in enlightened staff motivation
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Thelma Etim
1y ago
THE JUXTAPOSITION of a string of record-breaking second-quarter financial results – reported by some major airlines and large freight forwarders – could not be more ironic than when compared with the current industrial unrest at sea ports and strikes of disgruntled ground staff at airports, and even some pilots, depending on how Lufthansa’s negotiations unfold this week, writes Thelma Etim. The current volatile employment climate, which continues to strangulate the air transport industry, mirrors unrest in other business sectors with many nations now struggling with similar labour shortages, h ..read more
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Where are air cargo’s leaders … and who are they?
Air Cargo Eye Blog
by Nigel Tomkins
1y ago
LEADERSHIP is an aspect of social and business influence that facilitates or inspires the efforts of others to achieve common goals. It is the magic ingredient that usually separates success from failure. Are there any leaders in air cargo out there? asks Nigel Tomkins. If so, can anyone reading this blog please name them. Does the air cargo industry have any genuine, inspirational commanders, other than those self-proclaimed publicists and ‘professional’ committee members we all know about? By definition, leaders don’t pursue admiration and personal recognition. Leaders lead. They shout ..read more
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