May 17, 2024 What's News The text write and uses here if the customer wants to know minute estimate. We answer soon we confirm.   title : Air Cargo's Most Influential Leaders     Air Cargo's Most Influential Leaders In a business as actively and aggressively entrepreneurial as air cargo, coming up with a list of industry leaders is problematic - in every corner of the globe every day, countless people make rapid adjustments and decisions that demonstrate leadership. Even looking at the top industry executives whose leadership is felt far beyond their own businesses offers no real solution. We received many recommendations for names to be included in our list this year of "Air Cargo's Most Influential Leaders" and there were none, in fact, that didn't make complete sense. Our list here of 15 of those leaders must be incomplete - time and space have their limits. What we have tried to do here is take each person and consider foremost the reach they have in the broader industry outside their own companies or groups. And we have sought to consider each person as representing various aspects of the industry and the influences their businesses may have. We prefer to think of them as representing what is most admirable in the businesses they are in rather than representing simply themselves or their companies. People and issues are left out. How can there be such a list without Peter Rose of Expeditors International? A recommendation came in late for the deeply intelligent Jean Godart, chairman of GF-X and the former head of air freight at Kuehne & Nagle. Technology? We are still waiting for recommendations on technology. But the biggest missing category is shippers. Clearly, our readers were looking inward at the participants in the air cargo industry and not its audience. That is a category we hope to tackle next year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick W. Smith Chairman, President, CEO FedEx ew people can be said to have created a multi-billion dollar industry, but Fred Smith not only was instrumental in forging today's air express business but continues to have a profound impact on the world of transport and logistics by pushing FedEx to the forefront of business trends well beyond the cargo industry. Smith founded the company in 1971 in Memphis, Tenn., and slowly built the company up in the 1970s even as many dismissed the idea that businesses would pay a premium for overnight delivery of documents and parcels. FedEx is now a $25 billion international corporate power. Just as important as its growth, however, is that FedEx has shifted gears over the years, often responding to changes in patterns in trade and economic activity and even remaking some of those patterns in the way it moves into new markets. Moreover, FedEx has pushed the boundaries of public policy to reshape transport services. Today, Smith is pushing for aviation deregulation on the international front as FedEx, along with many others, expand to meet the demands of global trade by pressing for "open skies" agreements for cargo and to include cargo transport in larger World Trade Organization treaties. He calls his aircraft the "clipper ships" of today, carrying trade and prosperity around the globe as did the ocean vessels of earlier ages. "I think it's up to each of us to stretch beyond the limits of our company, our culture and our own minds to promote a globalized economy," he said recently. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Eskew Chairman and CEO UPS ike Eskew assumed the role of UPS' chairman and chief executive officer in January 2002, and has focused on making the world's largest package delivery company into a logistics power. In doing that, Eskew is extending an effort that began in the 1980s when the United Parcel Service that was the dominant ground delivery brand in the United States began reinventing itself as first an air express delivery business and later a far-flung transport specialist focused on integrating itself into global commerce. That has meant expansion into new lines of business aimed at complementing UPS's core transport operations and looking at the role of the transport provider in a new way. These expanded capabilities include multi-modal transportation services, technology solutions, international trade management, supply chain consulting and financial services. Eskew says he wants UPS to "synchronize" the movement of goods, information and funds. "At its core, synchronized commerce is about getting the right goods, to the right place, at the right time and in the right physical and financial condition," he says. "It's not just a process. It's an emerging industry space - a $3 trillion worldwide market." Eskew began his UPS career in 1972 as an industrial engineering manager in Indiana. He later worked at UPS Airlines before joining the board of directors in 1998. He took the company's lead executive position on Jan. 1, 2002. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Klaus Zumwinkel Chairman and CEO Deutsche Post World Net here may be no single figure who has had a greater impact on transport and logistics in the last decade than Klaus Zumwinkel. The Wharton Business School-trained, onetime McKinsey consultant took the reins of a faltering and German postal authority in the 1990s and transformed Deutsche Post - now Deutsche Post World Net - into a logistics giant and the largest single cargo transport operation in the world. That the measure includes postal traffic is the source of heated controversy around the world, drawing wide debate on the role of postal authorities in logistics services that compete with private carriers. Zumwinkle has taken on that debate head-on and says bluntly now what he first said in the 1990s - that his goal is that DPWN will become the top logistics company in the world. The transformation has been partly accomplished through an acquisition strategy more aggressive than anything the cargo business has ever seen. Starting with some smaller European businesses, DPWN took in Swiss forwarding giant Danzas in the late 1990s and then acquired the largest U.S.-based forwarder, AEI, in 1998, to form the largest forwarding-logistics business in the world. It bought express giant DHL in 1999 and the once-foundering postal entty is now a multinational company boasts annual sales of $46 billion. Zumwinkel began his career in 1974 as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, became a senior partner in the company in 1984 and was chairman of the Quelle Group executive board and from1989 to 1995 served as chief executive officer of Deutsche Bundespost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean-Peter Jansen Chairman, Executive Board Lufthansa Cargo s the chief of Lufthansa Cargo, Jean-Peter Jansen controls more international industrial freight than any other airline executive in the world. But Jansen has far more influence than the capacity he has at hand or the pallets Lufthansa pulls into position on its freighter fleet. From their post in Frankurt, Jansen and like-minded deputies such as sales and marketing chief Andreas Ottto have pushed an effort to raise the level of air cargo service and press the airline role as a critical piece of the industrial logistical chain. That effort has included special, branded service s aimed at particular segments of the shipper field and a push toward time-definite delivery service, an attempt to raise expectations by turning around the standard for cargo transport toward final delivery rather than what some see as the commodity mentality of merely getting goods on a specific flight. "We believe these premium services are growing faster than the rest of the market," Jansen says. Jansen sees the freighter business developing separately from passenger airline belly business and is aligning Lufthansa's model to fit what he sees as the future of cargo. "More and more you will see cargo separated from passengers into independent businesses," he says. "As that happens, you will see those who are really deeply involved in cargo trying to form bigger units." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mick Fountain Chief Executive, Global Freight Management Exel ne of the world's largest forwarding and logistics companies, United Kingdom-based Exel has an impressive pool of executive talent. The company recently lured Patrick Moebel away from Schenker to run the North American operations and C.K. Lee, who oversees the burgeoning Asia-Pacific, is one of the industry's leading spokesmen for the critical role logistics plays in trade and the larger strategic and tactical concerns of business. The common denominator is a focus on high-end logistics in concert with freight forwarding that is orchestrated by Chairman John Allan and played out in the air freight arena under the direction of Mick Fountain. Fountain, 49, started at Lep Air Services in 1969 and worked at Jardine Air Cargo and MSAS, where he was chief executive officer of the Americas, where he oversaw the integration of the company's purchase of U.S. specialized operator Exel Logistics. Fountain presses his vision on an industry-wide basis as chairman of Cargo 2000, the IATA interest group aimed at setting standards for air cargo handling and transport. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dora Kay President, The International Air Cargo Association s the head of international marketing at the Hong Kong International Airport, Dora Kay sits at the vortex of the air freight industry's most vibrant and growing region. The airport is, after all, the world's busiest international air cargo center and for many a critical gateway to China. Since replacing the aging Kai Tak airport in 1997, HKIA has gone beyond its predecessor's role as a kind of air freight capacity bazaar for Asian transit business and is now a major hub for operators both in freight and express as well as a burgeoning logistics business. Bu the diminutive, soft-spoken Kay has a larger role herself as a spokesperson for the air cargo industry as president of The International Air Cargo Association. As the first airport representative to hold that position, she has become an important figure linking different segments of the air shipping chain and has been active in seeking to break down regulatory restrictions that often define air cargo operations. In an industry where carriers sometimes argue that many airports don't understand cargo operations, Kay has taken an expansive view of the cargo industry. She spoke recently about the "structural influences … which have made the movement of goods by air the logistical backbone of the new economy." "The air cargo industry is still relatively young and has been developed in many instances by mavericks and independent entrepreneur. It is the culture of our industry to try at all times to be efficient, customer-oriented, innovative, competitive and value-adding. The innovators in our industry bring out the best for their customers. You will find that air cargo companies continue to raise service standards and introduce new products which, in turn, result in improved bottom lines for their customers," she said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guenter Rohrmann Chief Operating Officer, Global Customer Solutions DHL uenter Rohrmann has spent 45 years in the air freight business building up the companies he works for and many of the more recent years trying to build up the larger industry at the same time. That he has worked for the same company for almost all of those 45 years is a rarity; that the company has changed ownership and has taken on three different names in the last five years has put him at the forefront of the tumultuous change air cargo businesses are seeing. Now the chairman of Cargo Network Services in the United States, Rohrmann has been one of the air freight industry's most active spokesmen for the past two decades, arguing forcefully for higher standards and global cooperation to serve shippers. He sounded more statesmanlike than ever at last month's CNS meeting, feeding more rumors that he is eyeing retirement this year. He introduced the event by laying out his "frustrations" with an industry both vibrant and reluctant to change. "The air cargo industry has no speaker, no authority, no single association that can face up to the issues with force and speak with one voice," he said. "That has to change. We have to be more innovative and proactive as an industry." He lamented particularly that the industry has been "a very slow adopter of technology." He also pressed a theme of cooperation between segments of the industry. "The major challenge we face is that we finally help make sure our airline partners finally become profitable. Sixty-six percent of cargo moves in the bellies of passenger aircraft. If something happens with security, if cargo has to be pulled from bellies, that would be a disaster for us. Rohrmann began his career as an apprentice at a German forwarder and opened Air Express International in Frankfurt in 1961. After heading AEI in Germany and Europe he became CEO of the company in 1989 and helped engineer a strong recovery to a leading role in global forwarding. From there, he negotiated AEI's buyout to Deutsche Post World Net's Danzas in 2000, creating the world's largest forwarder and ushering in an era of dramatic, unprecedented consolidation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Clancy Principal MergeGlobal s air freight operators are seeking innovative ways to expand into new markets and new lines of business, consultants have taken on a more prominent role in shaping the direction of today's logistics providers. Few planes are purchased or routes added without a look from the consulting world. And the major consulting firms - from McKinsey, Mercer and Accenture to more airline industry-focused shops such as SH&E - have a strong role in many businesses around the world. In the 11 years since its inception, MergeGlobal of Arlington, Va., has carved out a niche as what its founders call a "boutique" consulting operation, small by the standards of the global firms but extensive in the influence it has exerted on air cargo operations and strategies. Formed by partners Brian Clancy and David Hoppin in the living room of a townhouse in 1993, the firm now counts 18 employees and business in North America, Asia, Europe and South America . Like many consultants, the firm won't discuss clients. But MergeGlobal's message is prominent in industry reports put out by Lufthansa Cargo, the world's largest international scheduled air freight carrier. Former officials at Atlas Air said the group's analysis combining operating statistics with air freight flows - first published in a paper called "Are Winglets Worth It?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elaine Dezenski Director, Cargo and Trade Policy Border and Transportation Security U.S. Department of Homeland Security or someone who actually is not in the air cargo business, Elaine Dezenski exerts an enormous influence across the field. To a great extent that is because of the profound impact security has had on air cargo operations since September and that industry officials believe will have in the future. It is also, say industry executives, because Dezenski has had a steadying influence on air cargo security initiatives as lawmakers and other regulators have sought to push restrictions that some believe would dramatically curtail air cargo shipping around the world. As the day-to-day head of the U.S. government's implementation of cargo security directives, Dezenski has preached a layered approach with many different kinds of checks that incorporate recommendations from cargo companies. Many of those taking part in discussions of the cargo security rules praise the effort she has made to learn detailed aspects of freight handling before acting. She came to the cargo security oversight with little freight experience and none in the aviation world. She worked at Siemens before that, managing marketing communications and government relations for the company's transportation division, before moving to the government. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ram Menen Senior Vice President-Cargo Emirates rom his post in Dubai, Ram Menen has been at the forefront of the site's growing role as a transit point for international cargo. He oversees a fleet expansion making Emirates perhaps the world's fastest growing airline and is implementing value-added services to build on the airline's role as a transport link between Asia and Europe. Menen has been the only cargo chief Emirates ever had, starting there nearly 20 years ago after stints at Kuwait Airlines, a Kuwaiti freight forwarder and British Airways. He is one of the industry's most active spokesmen, raising the profile of his airline and pressing the effort for liberalized cargo services. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hwang Teng Aun President Singapore Airlines Cargo wang Teng Aun may have charge over the smallest geographic areas among any air cargo executive, yet Singapore Airlines is among the world's top five international freight carriers and showed the greatest growth of any major airline in cargo over the last five years. Like many of the industry's airline leaders, he came to the cargo business after long experience in other sides of the business. He started at Singapore Airlines in 1972 and worked in Europe, the United States and Asia before heading up the cargo division in 1996. There, Hwang has led not only a sharp expansion of business but split the cargo business away from the rest of the airline in what Singapore Airlines calls a "corporatization" move, making Singapore Airlines Cargo a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. Since then, he has pursued separate freight strategies, including efforts on alliances and technology aimed at extending the airline's cargo service around the world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Boisen Staff Vice President Continental Airlines Cargo n his 10 years at Continental Airlines, Jack Boisen has become virtually synonymous with the freight business at the carrier. He's instituted innovative, influential and aggressive methods to best use the carrier's extensive narrowbody capacity, space that most airlines have to turn away from when it comes to cargo. But that effort has been second in the last two years to Boisen's role as a leading advocate for the combination airlines in Washington during the ongoing discussions on cargo security. In some ways, the effort to defend the belly business has been an extension of the business exercise within his company to bring more belly contribution to the bottom line. Experts say he has been tireless, firm and as knowledgeable in the way he has worked politics in the capital as he had to be in negotiating his way through airline cargo processes. Boisen has spent more than 40 years in aviation, including time with Braniff Airways, Western Airlines and TWA and then later with Tracor Aviation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ken Choi President Korean Air Cargo orea's economy may be strong but it is hardly the largest in Asia and the country's position in a perilous corner of the world doesn't make it the likeliest spot for an air cargo capitol. But from there Ken Choi presides over an operation that is not only the largest air freight business in Asia but also one of the fastest growing. As president of Korean Air Cargo, Choi is focused sharply on tapping into the logistics field that sits between the growing manufacturing in Asia and the world of cargo transport. His vision, he said in a recent discussion at the Air Freight Expo in Singapore, is to make Korean Air the most reliable and profitable global cargo carrier. "We want to focus on creating new value by continuously exploring in our network business and to provide an integrated supply chain through alliances and partnerships," he said. Choi has been at Korean Air for 30 years, including 10 years in overseas assignments in Germany and the United States. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Alterman President Cargo Airline Association or someone who has never delivered, sorted or likely even shipped air freight, Stephen Alterman has had a deep and lasting impact on the air cargo industry in the United States. As head of what used to be the Air Freight Association and is now the Cargo Airline Association , Alterman has been at the center of every regulatory matter that has touched all-cargo airlines over the past two decades. That career marks a reversal of sorts from Alterman's previous life as an airline industry regulator at the old Civil Aeronautics Board. But he's represented the interests of the broad industry with a drive that has garnered little attention outside a small coterie of industry insiders yet has been felt in the way cargo airlines have coped with new laws ranging from environmental restrictions to the new security regime. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gerard Fischer Chairman Panalpina orwarding is one of the world's oldest businesses and Panalpina one of its longest-standing operators. Yet Panalpina and its Chairman Gerard Fischer gave the business a new look in the 1990s with a "virtual airline" that has been emulated and admired but never entirely duplicated. The concept, carried out through the Air Sea Broker, involves the use of assets - chartered aircraft, that is - to fill service needs in a scheduled, dependable way that can't be met through the routine space-buying business of forwarding. The operation is most well-known for using Cargolux 747s on a scheduled basis to serve industrial shippers in Huntsville, Ala., but Panalpina executes it inother ways around the globe. It's an active strategy, and carriers higher risks than basic forwarding, but it has made the Swiss company one of the world's largest air freight forwarders. Fischer has been with no other company in his 40 years in the business, rising to chief executive officer and chairman in 1995. He was elected to The International Air Cargo Association Hall of Fame.