CFR determined to drive airfreight growth, despite low demand

Growing its airfreight solutions is a top priority for the CFR Freight team, who remain optimistic about the industry, despite the current subdued outlook. Speaking to FTW, CFR Freight’s airfreight director, Stephen Bishop, said that from being in constant consultation with both the local industry and international carriers, it appeared that the immediate

outlook for the industry was pessimistic. “We have excess capacity at the moment and the demand is not as we anticipated,” said Bishop. “However, we remain positive. There is still yearon-year growth, but it is with a slower-than-expected first quarter.” Bishop, who recently attended the AirCargoGroup network conference in Atlanta in the United States, said despite this outlook, there were clearly opportunities to 

grow existing solutions. “Our main trade lanes are very mature, and we are already committing to larger consolidation agreements with more aggressive pricing to drive growth on our most important lanes.” According to Bishop, much effort has gone into improving offerings on the US, UK and Germany import lanes, with increased block space agreement (BSA) allocations drawing a lot of interest. “With excess demand and

reduced supply, there is the chance that rates can become dynamic, with carriers all vying to lure business across,” he said. “Staying on top of this will be crucial going forward and also challenging, but we believe that with our dedicated airfreight pricing team and world-class system, it can be done.”