Flyingtypers Cargo Talks!

After many long years of start and stop between the giant association of the airlines IATA and the 100 plus year old international association of freight forwarders FIATA, it looks like that deal we announced and delivered a key-note speech for in Dublin a few years back (2016) is toast. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

My colleague and very best friend Joachim "Jo" Frigger Chairman of EMO Trans died on Monday April 19. Here is the press release from EMO Trans. Later, after the shock of this sudden and great loss for people all over the world has passed our time of mourning, we will share with you our story of a decades-long friendship and alliance with this truly remarkable air freight forwarding pioneer. Jo Frigger Inspired Freight Forwarding Speaking of forwarders . . . Spend a few minutes with FIATA’s Director General Stephane Graber. Stephane delivers the entire package of what’s up and ongoing at FIATA in 2021. Included will be some words describing FIATA's new global agreement with PayCargo. The settle-up will never be the same is our take. Today it's FIATA Up To The Minute Finally hang onto your hats as we wonder if the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) will accept the decision that went in IATAs direction after a nine-year old battle that had been going on at the Competition Commission of India (CCI)?

As Women's Month Marched along and the world celebrated International Women’s Day March 8, Jennifer Frigger Latham, Vice President, Sales & Marketing at EMO Trans based in Long Island, New York was hard at work away from the spotlight from home with her husband Paul and the couple’s two small children creating a counterpoint as the faces of love in the world of air and ocean shipping. What Jenni experienced up close and personal makes for an interesting study of discovery and appreciation of life in the new world that is emerging post pandemic. How she manages to raise two small children whilst carrying forward her duties at EMO Trans and also giving back, whilst thinking big thoughts serving as an active member of the Airforwarders Association Board is another story altogether. Slew of latest numbers underscores slow return to normal, continuing to challenge industry otherwise, opening back up. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

This episode of FlyingTalkers is about performance and hope. We have been aware of the stellar performance of Brandon Fried, President of the U.S-based Airforwarders Association for some time now. Here we try and make the case why this man and his hardworking association deserve your support. Lost & Found Speaking from our recent experience when we finally came around to thinking about life after the two shot vaccination was drilled into our arms, we found ourselves at Max a German restaurant in Astoria, an old neighborhood which is now a very hip area filled with young people under 40 in Queens near LaGuardia Airport. Talk about the rebirth of simple pleasures. There we were sitting at an outside cafe table with Lulu under the bench, with her water served before our drinks by a waiter that gets it right away about dogs. Speaking of drinks, as other tables were being served those big quart sized glasses of Koelsch the outstanding draft beer from Cologne, the sun moving across the sky reflected through the

Francesco Parisi's view on the strategic potential of the port of Trieste cannot be clearer: he sees the Adriatic like an enormous navigable canal to the heart of Europe, cutting transit times to the east by almost a week. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

Here we share stories about some interesting new leadership in air cargo that has emerged during the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that our conversations were conducted with women, we suppose, fits nicely into the ongoing International Women's Month celebrations. But we have been sharing these stories since we began publishing in 1975. The fact that the story can now involve many more women in positions of power than when we began is testimony to the expansive thinking going on right now in air cargo. From Europe we share some thoughts from Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, who as it turns out leads the powerful and important German air cargo resource as the first woman in the top cargo position since Lufthansa carried its first package aloft in 1926. Later a few words with the  ‘Helicopter Lady’ Chaitaly Mehta, Director, EKF Global Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Next we share some thoughts with Jessica Tyler. Doubt that you have missed that she was named President of American Ai

Will Live Meetings & Trade Shows Come Back? The quick answer is, of course they will. Right now while you hear this story, COVID-19 vaccines continue to arrive in doses by the millions almost everywhere on earth. At the same time eager cargo events are reaching out entreating us to join a webinar or attend a trade show convention or a regional meeting. The voices, like crickets in summer, will only continue to rise and fall on the wind with greater urgency as populations reach herd immunity, and life thankfully drifts back to normal. Anette Palm, a Director at Worldwide Convention Specialists (WCS) based in Krichenbach, Germany to the rescue. No Silence For Bad Behavior So you are a woman today in a professional business situation, or out for a walk and an aggressive unwanted someone decides to hit on you. What will you do? Say hello to Priyanka Ann Saini. “Yes, there have been overtures that have not been appreciated and initially, I did not know how to deal with them as we are taught not to make a big d

Indication that the COVID-19 pandemic has heated up the investment community for air cargo and especially folks deep dish into digitalization is acknowledged as M33 Growth, a Boston-based venture capital firm showed up at SmartKargo with a suitcase full of investment money. Globalization In Real Decline? As long as there is cheap labor and low environmental requirements overseas, don’t expect offshoring of supplies to stop anytime soon. An India Air Handling the vaccines is Cargo Service Center’s (CSC). Along with Mumbai, CSC operates cargo terminals at Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kannur.  Tushar Jani, Group Chairman pointed out that “as far as CSC and Mumbai airport are concerned, we are already the biggest vaccine temperature-controlled air cargo handler in India. “Our infrastructure was ready and with enhanced capacity and use of new technology for CSC and Mumbai airport, it was a smooth process to accept this challenge." --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

One From The Heart “We benefit from her self-awareness, empathy and social skills that helps to navigate complex situations. “She is the heart of our company,” Ingo Zimmer, CEO ATC Aviation Services says of Dagmar Hanau. Why Guillaume Halleux Guillaume Halleux Chief Cargo Officer at Qatar Airways is a Frenchman, who decades prior began his air cargo career from a split hangar in London that Air France operated with half full of Concorde parts and the other half full of air cargo. Guillaume, who has since served as an expatriate air cargo builder in several posts around the world, began his climb working nuts and bolts inventory for the Concorde SST section of that hangar in London, where eventually he became fascinated with air cargo. Greatest Commercial Aviation Historian REG Davies, who served as a historian at Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. longer than anybody else, died a decade ago on July 30, 2011 in Shaftsbury, England. He remains today the greatest and most

“People have space in their ultimate sanctuary, their homes, allotted for living. “To make the transition from the office easier and more familiar we handed over office equipment, including ATC laptops and personal computers and also even office furniture for use at home," said Ingo Zimmer, CEO of ATC, the world's leading GSSA. Too Cool At a time in life when everything is changing, the McCools, both father Sean and son Ian have collectively been a constant of the Irish air cargo scene for more than 70 years. Today their company established by Sean in 1989, International Airlines Marketing Ltd. (IAM) is Ireland’s largest Air Cargo General Sales and Service Agent (GSSA), responsible for over 20 percent of all airfreight traffic from Ireland. Women's Day Just in time for International Women’s Day March 8, Dorothea von Boxberg , Chairperson of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Cargo is also the happy face amongst us reporting 2020 delivered the best results in history for air cargo ai

In aviation the letters spoken as a word reporting flying conditions is WOXOF. "Weather: Overcast, Ceiling Obscured, Visibility Zero in Fog." Pronounced like it looks: "WOXOF”  when spoken most often gets the same response from everyone, especially pilots: “You're not getting me up in that.” Here in COVID-19 2021 as the year progresses and Spring begins, through the fog, there are some questions with everyone working at maximum overdrive, whilst delivering life-saving vaccines worldwide.  WOXOF-“Where Are We Now?” Lord Love A Nurse Karin Krestan stepped  down February 17 taking early retirement as Head of the Lufthansa Cargo Cool Center in Frankfurt. The lady pioneer of critical air cargo handling, who once served as a nurse’s aide at a hospital in nearby Darmstadt, Germany, joins an unusually large number of transportation professionals that seem to be taking early retirement everywhere across our industry just as demand for top line professionals increases. Voyage of Discovery From the mailb

Basil Pietersen Brings The Rainbow To FIATA As COVID-19 has severely limited public events for the past fourteen months , you may have missed that late in 2019  at it's World Congress in Cape Town FIATA elected  Basil L.S. Pietersen, the former Chair and longtime director of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders to serve a two-year term as President of the global organization.As we celebrate Black History Month here in America and elsewhere around the world, it’s important to share that Mr. Pietersen at FIATA in 2021 is one of the very few African born top executives to serve at any global transportation association in the world. Where The Nights Are Brighter Than Day Why are we so interested in Qatar? Well, it’s the airways, dear… The airways are the carriers of innovation and prosperity for the world, what else? Qatar Airways has been turning the moon to gold for the “Night Animal”, as the air cargo industry has been referred to in some quarters for the past 80 plus years. So t

Last week Turkish Cargo Talks a three- hour webinar went out worldwide. We watched it. Here is our take. The event opened with about five minutes from host Smilin’ Sam Chui. Chui is a reality star who flies around and eats dinner in first class on everybody’s airline and shares the experience with his large global audience living vicariously every mile aloft. We Remember Boubby Once upon a time in Amsterdam KLM Cargo was operated by a team of people the stars fell on. This group went out and changed air cargo all over the world and their impact endures yet today at KLM and elsewhere. There was Jacques Ancher, the top cargo executive blazing new trails, and there was Boubby Grin a marketing and strategy guru, the likes of which our industry had never before encountered, and may never see again. Jacques is OK, safe at home in Netherlands as you read this. Boubby Grin died of cancer in Leiden at age 74 on January 28, 2021. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

Having launched FlyingTalkers, a weekly podcast every Monday for air cargo 18 months ago, I guess we could only expect that it would just be a matter of time until someone  came along and branded Cargo Talks. Turkish Airlines Cargo is putting up Cargo Talks, a first-time webinar that takes place beginning at 11:30 GMT Tuesday February 10. Rates Clobber India Flower Exports The flower farms at Bengaluru, Pune and a few other places are alive with color but this has not brought smiles to the growers and exporters. Reason: Covid-19 and its aftermath. Let’s separate the signal from the noise. Praveen Sharma, President, Indian Society of Floriculture Professionals (IFSP) was blunt when he told FlyingTalkers: “2020 was the toughest year in the recent past for Indian flower growers for two reasons: the Covid-19 lockdown and the Nisarg Cyclone.” Kung Hei Fat Choi It is Lunar New Year: 2021 is the Year of the Ox. The new moon on February 11 heralds a new year that begins on Feb. 12, according to the lunar calenda

For a while most people in air cargo transportation knew Lionel Van der Walt from the time he served as President of Cargo Network Services (CNS). All of that has changed because for some time now Lionel has served as CEO of fast-rising PayCargo. The thing about Lionel is that he is a genuine good guy. He listens well, is not fearful of tough decisions and standing up for what is right. Most endearing, to us at least, is that he is somebody always willing to lend a helping hand. A money guy with heart, what a concept! Lionel van der Walt has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein. COVID Will Shut Down 2021 Meetings OK we get it that you are desperate to get out to a meeting. But hear this  . . . it is February, a grim first anniversary of the world in the grip of COVID-19, and the pandemic is still raging everywhere. So do the math, and have a reality check: Truth be told, there is about an ice-cube’s chance in hell that any air cargo trade shows or live gatherings make much sense rig

Last year in early March as the COVID-19 began raging and we were all locked down wondering what would happen next, the tulip beds springing back to life around our home sent their quiet message of life and renewal and beauty. In uncertain times being able to slow down a bit and contemplate the flowers works. Undoubtedly if you work in the flower business whether growing or selling or shipping you have felt that a special affection endures. We spoke to Joost Bongaerts the owner and President of California based Florabundance.  Spend a few minutes with this gentleman and you will know what we mean. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

In the U.S. on Monday January 18, our nation celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther KIng. MLK Monday comes along just as the nation is about to welcome a new President after many months of political acrimony and unrest, and with COVID-19 still the continued threat to lives everywhere. With a tip of our hat to Rev. King always, we continue FlyingTalkers groundbreaking series covering the courageous women of air cargo and aviation with a look back at pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman. Next month America celebrates Black History Month, and March is Women’s History Month; It feels right today to celebrate  the life of a  beautiful human who is also as historically significant as Bessie Coleman. To paraphrase musicologist Edward A. Ellington: "If it feels good, it is good," said the Duke. Our Martin Changed Air Cargo If you want to learn about August Martin, the great air cargo pilot who flew for Seaboard World Airlines during the 1950’s, and was also the first black man to captain a U.S. flag

When Jan Krems began his tenure four years ago as top cargo executive at United Airlines Worldwide Cargo as President we wrote: “Winston Churchill said of Franklin Roosevelt that 'meeting him was like uncorking your first bottle of champagne,' which is exactly what best describes talking to Jan Krems, President of United Airlines Cargo." Face-to-face or on Zoom, take your pick, Jan comes across as a very broad thinker and a brilliant air cargo mind. But he also seems a very approachable guy who knows how to both motivate people and thought and have some fun as well. United Cargo business is on fire all over the world setting new records, having moved somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 cargo only flights. Right Now Krems and his team have UA Cargo out front and pulling away from every other U.S. flag combination carrier in the air cargo business. A LaGuardia Love Affair Hard to believe that I have been having this affair in public for the past 43 years. She is  beautiful, one of a kind. And still tod

There is a celebration this week in New York City. The nearly three quarters of a million people that are mostly commuters going to and from work in New York & New Jersey have been forced to travel pre-pandemic through Pennsylvania (Penn) Station in Manhattan, a daily subterranean dismal railroad encounter since the misdirected destruction in 1963 of the monumental Beaux Arts 1910 version of Penn Station. These commuters will get some relief beginning later this week when a new passenger experience begins on January 1st. Happy New Year 2021! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

A moving holiday essay from a loving daughter decorates and drives our holiday spirit this muted Christmas 2020 during COVID-19. Here is how Christmas ought to be, ,once was , and pray will be again, when the Pandemic of 2020 finally moves into the rear view mirror. Florence Arend(we call her Flossie, takes off the gloves and paints a powerful word picture of her Christmas. "Every year around this time, I struggle to find new words to offer to our loyal FlyingTypers’ readers. I am not immune to the warm responses inspired by our annual Christmas story, and I would be posturing if I said it doesn’t feel good to know it is so well received. However, the pressure mounts to say something new; to not rehash the things you already know; to provide some meaningful insight into our holiday gathering.     You know we are a family business in an age when most companies yearn to proclaim that simply for the feel-good cachet it affords them. People love a good legacy story. We just celebrated our 45th