Alternative Air Cargo Gateways
By SwizStick • Apr 14th, 2008 • Category: Air Cargo, AirlinesHarder to develop than you think. Michael Webber in this month’s Air Cargo World cites the many reasons why it’s difficult for airports to market and develop themselves as “alternative gateways” for the air cargo industry:
In spite of congestion, as well as frequently higher airport costs and land rents, traditional gateways triumph. Connectivity - sheer volume and diversity of frequencies, destinations and carriers - is key to garnering consolidations that also attract competition in allied services, such as ground-handlers and trucking. Non-American air cargo carriers don’t have comparable U.S. domestic networks so they interline with U.S. carriers and rely on allied service providers - extensively trucking - for interior transport. Therefore, the flow of international carriers from one hub to another is unsurprising. Both cause and effect, this service superiority attracts shippers and forwarders whose demand then supports even more service.
Here’s more:
Forwarders rely on a mix of belly and freighter capacity. Consolidations gravitate to gateways where air options are greatest. Network offices merely feed those consolidations, mostly with trucks. Simply having a variety of forwarders in an area doesn’t guarantee alternative gateways the critical mass required to support international operations. Local forwarder station managers have little autonomy in routings, when the company must satisfy volume-dependent block-space guarantees at major gateways.
It’s an interesting, well thought out article on the difficulties of finding an alternate gateway, read the whole thing.
Stumble it!
Related Posts:
SwizStick is
Email this author | All posts by SwizStick
