Emirates’ ‘visionary’ cargo head retires

Emirates SkyCargo’s divisional senior vicepresident, Ram Menen, is handing over the baton in June this year after a working career that has spanned 38 years, 27 with Emirates SkyCargo which has grown from zero to the largest cargo carrier in the world under his watch. “To me life has always been like a relay race with no finish line,” he told FTW in Johannesburg last week. “You make sure that you run your best race, you hand over your baton to the next person, and hope he runs a better race than you do. And the person running the next race depends on how good a race you have run.” Few will dispute that Menen’s race has been worthy of Olympic gold. His career objectives, he told FTW, were two-fold. “First to build a winning airline and I believe I have helped to create a team that is absolutely the best. To see Emirates grow to be the biggest airline in the world is more than anyone can dream of in a lifetime.” And second to help the industry as a whole to evolve. “You have to give more than you take and what you take you have to give back.” Not only was he a founding member of The International Air Cargo Association (Tiaca) but he is well respected for his work in championing industry-wide e-freight – along with a host of initiatives designed to scale up the professionalism of the industry. Reflecting on the past 40 years, he believes globalisation has been the single biggest game-changer. “The effect of time on any product has been far greater in the past 20 years than in the past 60 – and supply chains are increasingly using transportation as part of their inventory management strategy. “There are two factors that can make or break a supply chain – one is logistics and the other is inventory management – and they are key elements where we play a role.” In the future, Menen believes that globalisation of manufacturing is set to change – as countries look for ways to protect job creation. “We’re likely to see products being finished off near the point of consumption – but the fact remains that you still need to be price-competitive and in order to do that you need to produce the majority of goods in a low-cost area. So China and India will continue to get a boost and that in itself will provide more air cargo business.” We can also expect to see China beginning to outsource to Africa, the US and Brazil – a trend that has already become evident over the past two or three years, says Menen. “And it’s all thanks to the advent of information technology.” While there are clearly opportunities for growth, the reality is that the industry is facing a tough future. “One thing we don’t have control of is oil prices, costs of overflying, landing costs and the like, so we need to achieve efficiencies somewhere else – and paper is the single biggest hurdle in cutting costs and creating efficiency. We can almost save 24 hours in that whole chain by eliminating paper – and that 24 hours is money.” Emirates is already e-freight active in 66 countries, but governments are often the biggest obstacles on the e-freight agenda. He’s hoping that the imminent ratification and endorsement of a multilateral agreement at the Doha round of talks later this month will go a long way to addressing this challenge. In his parting note to friends and colleagues on announcing his retirement, he wrote: “As I come of age and still being in good health, I have decided to take early retirement and hang up my hat to spend some quality time with family and friends. “It will be an interesting challenge,” he told FTW. “It puts me back in uncharted territory – and that’s where I am very comfortable.” CAPTION Ram Menen ... globalisation the biggest game-changer.