Be it due to its remoteness, the recession of its countries or the scarcity of representative companies, Latin America was nowhere to be seen during the Air Cargo Forum 2002, celebrated in Hong Kong last month.

Still, the region is not out of the map or the strategies of some airlines.

Many of the ones that are already there count on reinforcing their presence. Others plan landing in the near future.

“We want to fly to Ecuador and Brazil. For our arrival to South America to work we need a combination of countries, because different markets and demands exist. The problem is that cargo is needed in both directions. We have already requested the flying rights and we believe we will have answers in two or three weeks. The idea is to circulate cargo between Asia, United States and Latin America, and similarly in the opposite direction”, says an Evergreen International Airlines director.

The reason that justifies Evergreen’s choice is clear: Latin America is the only market that grew after September 11^th. “We had already requested the rights before and we did not get them, that is why we are trying again now. Firstly we need to know exactly what we have and after we will explore all the possibilities. We could reach shared code agreements with airlines that already have experience in South America, we do not discard any possibility”, they point out enthusiastically from the airline.

“Latin America will carry on growing, we are very happy to operate there. Aviation has grown noticeably in the last thirty years, it is a very big industry and the airports have been improved continuously”, Bob Wilson, Gemini Air Cargo vice-president, illustrates.

This North American airline, founded in 1995, flies today to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Caribbean, Brazil and Argentina and has six Miami based aircraft.

“Our client for Argentina is Staff Airlines, we go to Argentina and Paraguay, although not as much as to Brazil. We also operate together with Tampa to Bogota, Medellín and Cali. The Peru market is seasonal mainly asparagus. Ecuador is also seasonal for the transport of flowers. Colombia is a mix of flowers and cargo. Brazil is a very growing market” Wilson explains.

Jim Mc Keon, Continental Airlines Cargo director is another optimist with respect to the region’s potential. “It is surpassing our expectations, we have got on very well mainly in exports towards the United States. We believe it will carry on growing" he ratifies.

From its Houston hub, Continental has a significant presence in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.

Two years ago, Aeromexico, Air France, Delta and Korean Airlines Cargo integrated what is known today as Sky Team Cargo. Checo Airlines Cargo (April 2001) and Alitalia Cargo joined in later (August 2001).

The alliance clients have access to a 1.224 aeroplane fleet, which means more than 8.217 daily flights.

In2001 the Sky Team Cargo partners transported 15.1-billion kilometres/tonne cargo throughout the world.

As part of the structure, Sky Team Cargo launched an initiative denominated “single roof warehouse”. 72% of the cargo that moves through Sky Team common cities is now processed with integrated storage operations or by the ordinary ground services.

Nevertheless, the greatest worry of the sector lies in the political and economic difficulties in South America, which reflect in the recessive indexes of their activity. If the region constricts there will not be any posibility of arriving with cargo and if the planes’ holds cannot be filled both ways the airlines expansion projects can not be met.

As it is well illustrated by Frederik Jakobsen, Tampa Cargo president, “the Colombia exports market is fine, specially the flower s one. In fact we have quite a high usage in exports, the problem is the compensation cargo, to Colombia as well as to Venezuela, Brazil or Argentina. The market is very resented and the importation cargo to South America was very affected, this creates a problem for us because we have the merchandise to export but the aircraft return empty”.

Maybe for this reason the British Virgin Atlantic Cargo does not consider innovating in the region.

“We will not go to Latin America in the short term. There were talks with Brazil some years ago, but it did not come to anything. We fly from Costa Rica or South America to Miami or Los Angeles, and we transport the products to Europe, but through agreements with other companies.

We work with Tampa, Fine Air, Lan Chile. The cargo we bring from Europe we give to them. We are also looking into expanding the market towards the Far East. That way we take that cargo to London, and from there to Latin America. We are expanding frequencies to New York, in June 2003 we will put another flight to Washington, and we are expanding in the Caribbean next year: to the existing flight to Barbados and Antigua we will add Bermuda and Tobago” Says the Virgin vice-president.

Security on the scene

Last year was unprecedented for the sector after the September 11^th terrorist attacks and airlines faced difficult times. Anyway, while the passenger business faces a serious decline, in tariff terms as well as passenger volume, the cargo business is working relatively well.

According to recent reports, the capacity reduction derived from September 11^th, had a low impact in air cargo with stable tariffs in spite of the frequency cuts.  Even in the United States, despite its recession, they watch their volumes growing again: in July 2002 the North American carriers transported 5.9% more cargo than the same month the previous year. Likewise, July was the fourth consecutive growing month after a long slump period started at the beginning of 2001.

Furthermore, recovery signs for the first half of this year are shown in the Boeing “World Air Cargo Forecast 2002/2003 which was presented in the ACF

“The Asian Air Cargo markets will continue being the world leaders in the annual growth indexes”, says Kent Fisher, Boeing Marketing vice-president.

Nevertheless, the industry faces a series of challenges this year and the new security requirements pressure on airlines, forwarders and logistic suppliers. In fact the security issue dominated the conference agenda that took place at the ACF.

“The terrorism menace is not new, it was always there and it was fought in many parts of the world. The risk lies everywhere, but prohibiting cargo on passenger aircraft is not the way to fight it” Victor Fung, Hong Kong Airport Authority president stressed.

“With the new type of aircraft such as the Boeing 777, where the cargo capacity in routes such as the transatlantic ones may signify an enormous income/economy for the carriers, the loss of this invoicing would leave some in a more than desperate situation”, Olivier Bijaoui explains, cargo manager for WFS/SFS, handling group that operates in 42 cargo stations and shifts 1.7 million tonnes a year for the main international airlines.

Bijaoui believes that the air cargo industry must have a more representative voice before legislation is imposed on. “From the security point of view cargo is very different to the passengers, and we must be sure prepared people handle these matters.

In Airport management, the businessman assures that the security systems in France and England are the models to imitate. “Many countries in Europe have not reached this level, the United States either, but they are heading in that direction”, he added. Bijaoui is based in Paris, where apart from other carriers; SFS has been handling El Al cargo for 22 years.

South America absent

More than 200 companies of the entire world, between cargo airlines, logistic operators, forwarders, airports, couriers, and specialist media were summoned in the 21^st edition of the Air Cargo Forum (ACF)

Enormous and luxurious stands like the Emirates Sky Cargo one, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines or the North American Washington Dulles airport disputed the publics favour with other not so pretentious but yes original proposals, such as the one of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, where visitors were invited to taste a “Virgincola” soda drink manufactured by the group belonging to the well known entrepreneur, Richard Branson.

Regrettably South America missed that important date once again, except some exceptions such as the Lan Chile group, Tampa Airlines Cargo of Colombia, Varig and the Air Market magazine from Argentina, the southern cone was nowhere to be seen.

In the concrete case of Argentina, the absence of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 is hard to believe, moreover if its manifest vocation for participating in every bid that is taking place in many airports around the world.

The absence of Aerolíneas Argentinas Cargo or that of Intercargo airport services company.

The Air industry is one of the most engaged with the globalisation phenomenon. It is about a business for which wide shoulders are needed due to the meagre profit margins compared to the monumental infrastructure one must put at stake.

If to this panorama we add fierce competition being carried out in the freight market, it remains clear that the business generated is fundamental for the survival of the business.

Notwithstanding, one has to show oneself for that nobody will come and knock on the door of the so run down reputation to offer a business. One has to get out into the world to look for them, and for that, nothing better than an international forum and as prestigious as the ACF, that South America just let pass as if we were flinging butter to the roof in these lands.