Communication an important part of the mix

A CUSTOMER educated about airlines’ escalating fuel surcharges is a customer who understands higher airfreight costs. Complaints give way to understanding. This has been the experience of Cargocare in Germiston, which targets customer education with newsletters. “In five years the freight rate has not really gone up much . It’s fuel surcharges that have gone up dramatically. They now account for up to 50% of customers’ airfreight costs,” said managing director Roland Raath. With an airfreight rate of US $2.33, fuel surcharges can be as much as US $1.05. For customers who receive a single airfreight shipping quote, the tendency is to blame the carrier or agent, who is accused of excessive profits. “We itemise our quotes so customers know exactly what the fuel surcharge is and what is the freight charge. We know they are being squeezed by shipping costs, and we communicate that we are not benefiting from it,” Raath said.