ACR hopes for end-of-year upturn

Ask Airline Cargo Resources MD Bryn Woolley for a report-back on last year’s performance and there are two conflicting tales to tell. “It was absolutely fantastic until the end of October when it was almost as if someone slammed the door shut,” Woolley told FTW. “ACR celebrates its 15th anniversary in August and for us October was our best month ever, with recordbreaking figures in terms of both revenue and tonnage.” Business stuttered along in November and December and the tornado hit in January, says Woolley, but he’s confident that there are markets out there for the adventurous. “You may have to speculate a bit and you do need to keep a tight hold on the purse strings, but having said that we have recently seen a steady growth in shipments flown. “In the first two months of the year it was a matter of quoting and quoting and seeing very little because a rates war was in full swing. That’s definitely still at play but we are seeing an upswing across the board with all our carriers.” ACR is currently the GSA for Air Austral, Air Madagascar, Air Namibia, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Crystal Cargo and offline for Air Jamaica. While there has been little change in the services provided, Ethiopian Airlines has dropped one of its freighters and is now down to a Sunday operation. “We believe it was a wise move because rates out of Europe are extremely depressed at the moment and everyone is fighting for kilos. “But we hope to see an upturn by the end of the year.” According to Woolley there’s no change in the commodities moving – mining equipment, consumables, auto spares and the like – but volumes are considerably down. “We’ve also been quoting on a number of charters but rand dollar has played a big role – although now we find that easing off so hopefully we’ll see more of the bigger projects coming our way.” ACR opened a Nairobi office this year representing Turkish Airlines. “It’s been a great success and we’re now pushing to get an extra aircraft on the route because we need the capacity. It’s a very small office but the response from the market and other carriers has been phenomenal.” In spite of the economic climate, standing still is never an option. According to Woolley, the company is currently in negotiations with a few carriers while it is also working hard to develop new products with its current GSA base.