Pictured: Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association
As forwarders, the sector had to show resilience and creativity during the pandemic, showing that they had not lost their position as the logistical problem solvers.
Brandon Fried said freight volumes have been unsurpassed, with limited capacity causing serious congestion.
The association and its members have a close relationship with airlines; as passenger flights were curtailed during the pandemic and as services out of China remain limited, airline partners were approached about using passenger aircraft just for freight.
Fried said, “While we have this significant congestion at the maritime ports, which resulted in congestion at the airports in the major gateway cities, we saw the onset of flights to the non-traditional airports such as Rockford, Rickenbacker and San Bernardino where we could not only conduct operations but get quick access to the cargo coming off charter flights.”
Staffing is another issue as logistics is not a job that can be done from home as someone needs to lift the boxes. The industry has had to come up with innovations to make sure employees are happy but the job still gets done.
There is increased interest in logistics; a few years ago, Fried was asked to lecture classes at a local university, and there were about 10 students, he did it again recently and there was standing room only. Fried thinks that young potential workers have realised the importance of supply chains.
“I think there’s a fascination and as a result younger people coming into the market are very interested in how goods get to the consumer. They saw that through the shortages from toilet paper to groceries to anything you could name that was in short supply during the pandemic. They saw the value of air cargo and the dynamic nature of our industry; as a result, they’re interested,” commented Fried.
Riding the wave
The industry has to ride the wave of increased interest, and remind people that supply chains are not to be taken for granted, which Fried believes they were in the past.
It is one thing to attract talent but the industry needs to retain them, and if processes are deemed antiquated and analogue, the young generation, for whom the world is digital, will not want to stay.
Demonstrating that the industry is investing in automation is vital; Fried said the investments of the last few years have been unsurpassed, saying that there is no room for paper in the shipping process anymore but there are still requirements for paperwork.
Governments still mandate paperwork, with Fried giving the example a security declaration that has to ride with every shipment in the US, which is required by the TSA.
It has to be a piece of paper, it has not been automated and there is nothing to suggest this will change.
Fried said, “I think that the new generation are expecting us to be using handheld devices and that’s how they see the future, and why not? All the information is right there; as an industry, we need to move that forward, it’s much more efficient.”
It is not just young people who have embraced modern technology, Fried chuckled that in the past, he used to fear losing his wallet, now, he is more scared of losing his phone.
“We have got to continue that and adapt our businesses to the use of handheld devices. It’s a question of investment, there are a lot of offerings out there. I think the big challenge is sifting through them not only to understand each one but to understand the value proposition and where it might fit in the operation,” he said.
Sustainability is another consideration, especially with the new generation, who are not asking but demanding action.
Other stakeholders such as investors and customers also expect action, but Fried admits that the industry is inherently dirty; aircraft burn carbon based fuel and so do trucks, and adoption of more environmentally friendly methods is slow.
“We are working with airlines to promote sustainable aviation fuel initiatives. It’s going to be slow because it is not readily available but we are engaging; some of our members are purchasing SAF along with the airlines and using that as an offset,” Fried said.
More fuel-efficient trucks and electric vehicles are measures on the ground, along with climate and lighting systems.
The Airforwarders Association has an environmental sustainability committee, which is talking to everyone, not just forwarders but airlines, airports and other parties to ask what they are doing, how everyone can learn together and what initiatives they can cooperate on.
He said, “That’s very important because this is not just the mood of the moment, it’s going to continue and there’s a price that we’re going to be paying if we don’t do anything.”
Not only will the price be extra regulations, customers will walk away too. Fried admits that this was not looked at seriously until recently and when he started as Executive Director in 2005, it was not even on the radar screen, in his words.
It comes back to Generation Z, who are demanding change. Fried said, “They are coming in and saying listen, as you transition out of the industry and go into your golden years, you’re leaving a world for us that is pretty dirty.”
We all need to make changes, Fried has an electric car, something he never expected, and electric trucks are becoming available. They are still in the early stages but Fried predicts that they will become a common sight. Whether they are driverless remains to be seen, as regulations are well behind technology, said Fried.
Bullish outlook
The pandemic was incredibly challenging but the forwarding industry got through it. The industry showed that it was resilient, creative and here to stay.
Fried said, “Reports that the forwarding industry is going by the wayside are vastly exaggerated. There will always be a need not only for our creativity but our personal approach to logistics problem solving and customer relationships. We can use automation in our business to our advantage while still maintaining the face-to-face interaction that makes us so important, and we are going to continue to do it.”
This article was published in the December issue of Air Logistics International, click here to read the digital edition and click here to subscribe.