Signs of stability in airfreight market

Independent consolidator CFR Freight has seen unprecedented growth in its airfreight division, with a nice mix of import and export business, says airfreight director Dave Graham. “Our traditional import named-day services out of the US, Germany, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and India have shown dramatic growth – and we’re expecting more of the same from our recently launched named-day export services to Europe and the US,” Graham told FTW. “The emphasis going forward will be particularly on Germany and the USA where we believe we have a differentiated product,” he added. “It’s predominantly imports but we believe our recently launched export product will complement that with a two-way stream of traffic between Europe and the US and South Africa.” While the airfreight market generally has taken huge strain over the past year, Graham believes there are signs of stability. ‘At the moment there are several lanes where the fuel surcharge is higher than the freight rate.’ “Hopefully the decrease in the fuel price will translate into reduced fuel surcharges because at the moment there are several lanes where the fuel surcharge is higher than the freight rate.” Despite the tough market conditions, CFR has successfully countered the volatility, says Graham. “We keep close to our clients and are never more than a phone call away – and that applies to everyone from the controller through to top management. “The service levels, the neutrality and the products we have in place have been the secret to our success over the past year.” For the remainder of the financial year, the company will concentrate on developing the products it has already launched – although South America is on the radar for the future. In support of the growth, CFR has increased its sales and servicing team and brought in a new Johannesburg branch manager, Stephen Bishop, following the appointment of Graham as airfreight director. “His mandate is very simple – grow the business and maintain the service levels.” IT development continues to be a work in progress, with the proactive track and trace facility – introduced some time ago – feeding information to clients on every shipment. “We’ve also recently revamped our online export tariff engine, giving clients every viable carrier option into any destination. One of our major projects for this year will be to replicate this upgrade on our import tariff engine.” As with any global operator, international networks play a major role. “Our Air Cargo Group partners provide us with a very stable international network – and over the past year or two CFR has become a major player in the group, taking a leading role in terms of product and systems development.” Caption: Dave Graham … ‘South America on the radar for the future.’