Exclusive Interview: Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the AfA

The Airforwarders Association (AfA), Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) and the Air Expedited Motor Carriers Association (AEMCA) will stage their annual AirCargo Conference to be held January 26 – 28, 2020, at the Omni Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The theme of this year’s conference is “Everything Counts” and coming off one of the most well-attended AirCargo events in Las Vegas this year, the conference is poised to grow even more next year. 

In 2020, AirCargo is introducing a two-track curriculum for attendees. One track is focused on topics that corporate leadership deals with in both the day-to-day management and the vision planning of operating a business. The second parallel track is for compliance professionals and operations staff who are interacting daily with customers, vendors and regulatory agencies. 

“This is the first year in AirCargo’s history we have made a concerted effort to develop a rigorous, full set of parallel sessions targeted at attendees who our surveys have demonstrated come from these two primary audiences,” says Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the AfA. 

In this exclusive interview, Brandon Fried shares his views on the state of the industry.

Logistics Management: What impact are international trade tensions having on the air cargo sector? How do your members respond?

Brandon Fried: U.S.-bound volumes from China have dropped so the traditional peak season was not as robust and a good deal of shipments are shifting to regional origins including Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. Forwarders are always ready for a change so we provide resources in educating clients on how to deal with the current challenging global trade situation while remaining as competitive as possible.

LM: Is filling the “talent gap” still an issue for your industry?

Fried: Finding knowledgeable and talented people is always a challenge but our industry trains well and provides the necessary knowledge to those who are eager to learn and provide a contribution to the business. In fact, we plan to address this issue at the upcoming AirCargo 2020 conference with a session entitled “How to Recruit & Retain Good Workers” where there should be lots of helpful information.

LM: What concerns about cybersecurity and related risks are surfacing these days?

Fried: Cyber and ransomware attacks on freight transportation companies have increased tremendously over the past year spurning the Airforwarders Association to provide members with the necessary resources to protect themselves. In fact, our technology committee meets frequently to monitor threats and share vital information. This past week, we opened a new technology resources page on our website to provide news and information about this continuing threat.

LM: The Boeing Max 737 incident has disrupted many global supply chains. Are your constituents among those struggling to avoid a similar risk?

Fried: Our sympathy goes to those families who lost loved ones due to the two 737 Max incidents and we hope that Boeing and the FAA resolve the situation soon. While several of our airline partners used the aircraft, the grounding has not affected a significant amount of space and existing fleets have been able to accommodate our current freight volumes with the amended schedules. 

 LM: How big a role is air cargo playing in Reverse Logistics these days? Is this a niche that will be expanding?

Fried: Inventory at rest or in transit can be a significant drain on capital and sales opportunities for suppliers.  While I cannot point to any statistics on the issue, anecdotally the volumes appear to be significant. However, many of our members are becoming significantly involved in e-commerce fulfillment and of course, reverse logistics is an important component of online ordering.

 LM: May we expect to see more shippers moving freight from water carriage to air this year? What kind of commodities are most likely to shift?

Fried: Speed of transport and predictable transit schedules continue to be the hallmarks of the airfreight value proposition so we do not expect to see a significant shift away from air transportation for important, time-sensitive shipments this year.  That said, we remain concerned about truck congestion within airports, customs delays, and insufficient automation that slow the process and decrease our promise of fast, time-definite service for our customer.

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