Picture credit: wacomka, Adobe Stock Image
The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has been through tough times with people questioning its relevance but the transformation programme has confirmed that TIACA is relevant to the air cargo industry.
Membership is growing, up 16% in 2022, which Steven Polmans told those who had tuned into the media call that TIACA was really happy about these results. This is two years in a row and only the second year in the last ten years that membership had grown.
Membership consists of a lot of freight forwarders, particularly SMEs, with the majority of members based in Europe and North America. TIACA also has a lot of members in all regions of the world and that is why it is working on regional events.
Sorting out the finances was key during the transformation and TIACA set out the principles of financial prudency, investing for member benefits, ending the boom and bust cycle, giving the Director General budget accountability and making the Treasurer a Board Member.
Polmans said, “We don’t want to be like TIACA was in the past, every two years during the ACF (Air Cargo Forum) then loss-making in a non-ACF year. We want to have a more solid base to build on.”
As Director General, Glyn Hughes has been given the responsibility to run the organisation in the style of a CEO and the Treasurer is no longer an external person. Polmans said the result was positive results in 2022, the first profitable year for a long time.
“For 2023, we foresee reasonable growth, a strong investment in different projects and a surplus. That will be two years in a row but very importantly, it would be the first non-ACF year that is positive. It shows that all the principles that we put forward during the transformation and the ambition of where we want to go as TIACA are being realised. It will result in a more stable, stronger TIACA for the future and that is the aim we had on the agenda,” said Polmans.
More than an event
Traditionally, TIACA held its Executive Summit every year in Miami and the ACF would be held in a different location every two years. Now, TIACA holds the Executive Summit and ACF on alternate years and Board wanted to make sure voices in the regions get heard so regional events have been launched.
The first one was held in Amsterdam last June and the events will be rolled out with two a year to engage with the local community, ensuring that TIACA can understand all of the challenges, opportunities and obstacles the regions are facing so those can be fed into global projects and activities, said Hughes.
Saying there are plenty of events to choose from, Hughes said the Board has challenged TIACA to focus on innovation, to make the events and conferences about thought leadership and not just advertising, to provide networking opportunities, to hold the events in a sustainable manner and to make them welcoming to young people coming into the industry.
On the last point, for every registration that is paid for, people are invited to bring an under-30 for free.
Hughes said, “We would encourage as many organisations to bring as many of their team members as possible with them to the regional events or the Executive Summit to ensure that they can start their network development and we can benefit from those youthful experiences and youthful ideas.”
The Board has also set the challenge of making them global occasions, with many suggesting that TIACA should organise events after the show for team-building or customer appreciation days, perhaps some training or experience days before the event, and Hughes said delegates can look forward to this in future editions of the ACF.
The ACF eclipsed everyone’s expectations, said Hughes, with over 200 exhibitors from across the globe and with the conference programme, he said it felt that it was a good first event to be held in Miami.
Over 3,000 people registered to attend, giving it a daily foot traffic totalling over 6,000 across the three days, though the no-show factor was higher than expected at 30% due to Tropical Storm Nicole putting off visitors from the US Eastern seaboard.
Surveying visitors and exhibitors, the overwhelming majority of them said that it was a good event and attending was beneficial. Among exhibitors, over 70% it was either a great or very great benefit to attend and a similar number rated the show as either very good or excellent. Over 80% of visitors said the show was either very good or excellent and attending was very beneficial.
The Board were very happy with the results so the 2024 ACF will be held in Miami and TIACA is negotiating with the convention centre to secure its preferred slot in November, which Hughes said will be after the US Presidential election.
Speaking about TIACA’s regional events, Hughes said, “Regional involvement has become a fundamental part of the Board’s focus. We have recruited our first regional representative, Eric Hartmann, who is representing us in Latin America, and we will be expanding that throughout the course of the year into other regions to make sure that we are an association for the entire industry, all sectors and all parts of the globe.”
At the time of holding the media call, TIACA was preparing to hold its Indian regional event in Delhi from 27-29 March. From 19-21 June, the African regional event will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, where the numerous challenges facing Africa can be debated. The year’s global event will be the Executive Summit held in Brussels, Belgium from 6-8 November.
Making a difference
TIACA is working with other associations with Hughes highlighting its role with ICAO giving the latter an insight into the world of air cargo. TIACA is being invited to contribute to almost all of ICAO’s working groups and committees, which Hughes said is a sign that they see value in TIACA.
Following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, TIACA was happy to see how the industry has stepped up to help the victims and that the US temporarily suspended sanctions against Syria so shipments could reach those in need.
Unfortunately, some insurance markets, with Hughes singling out those operating through Lloyd’s, are still charging considerable premiums they call war risk premiums on flights going into Syria.
Hughes said, “We have urged and continue to express our requests that if they could temporarily suspend those, it will facilitate more money being spent on aid rather than the agencies having to pay quite considerable premiums instead of redirecting those funds to providing more aid. Unfortunately, this hasn’t demonstrated any movements yet but we will continue to push that point.”
Another issue is freighters being banned from Mexico City’s main airport from July. The new airport is facing the challenges of getting up and running and there are challenges facing the airlines, especially those operating both passenger and freighter services, who will have to decide whether to move all of their activities or split them between two sites. TIACA respects the Mexican government’s decision but points out that 62% of cargo going into the airport is transported on freighters so they need to help airlines.
Hughes said, “Mexico City plays a key role in connecting west coast US and Latin America, particularly with a number of passenger operations and it would be crucial to keep that flow of traffic moving.”
Taxation and regulations are constant issues facing Latin America and Africa, with Hughes calling the taxation on fuel in Latin America horrendous and saying some fees are so high that carriers can no longer operate passenger services, taking away much-needed cargo capacity.
He said, “It is crucial that governments look at the valuable role air cargo and passenger transport can play to help develop and sustainable and developing national economy and then work with the industry to make sure that there are supportive regimes in place.”
This article was published in the April issue of Air Logistics International, click here to read the digital edition and click here to subscribe.