Saudia Cargo turns sight to more innovative products and solutions

Whether it’s about passenger, cargo or airport growth, Middle East carriers have stood up to the challenge capitalizing on their strategic position as the gateway between the East & the West.
Saudi Arabian Airlines or Saudia is one of them, making enormous strides and consolidating on markets where it is strong.
Vikram Vohra, Regional Director Asia Pacific of Saudia Cargo, who shared some of his insights in this very dynamic industry, told Air Cargo Update: “The Saudia brand is well established in the region. We are running good capacities from South Asia, Africa and Saudi Arabia itself. We will further consolidate on our position, coming out with innovative products & solutions.”
Optimising capacity
Vohra said the company’s core strategy is to grow on its strength which involves “optimizing the capacity and expanding its strong network” with quality offerings.
“Saudia will be expanding its cargo carrying capacities in the field of pharmaceuticals and perishables. We will be further improving our processes and also strengthening our temperature controlled systems as to give the best to the highly demanding pharma and perishables industry,” said the cargo executive who is based in India.
From India, Saudia carries mix products that include perishables, pharma, automotive, oil and gas, machineries and equipment, etc.
e-Commerce growth driver
With e-Commerce becoming a major driver of the cargo segment, Saudia sees enormous potential for growth, in the region of about 30 percent.
“We are changing our schedules to accommodate e-commerce. China and Hongkong are driving e-commerce segment and many a time the segment is not been served well due to poor capacities. We are having daily flights connecting many destinations as ‘time’ is at a premium.”
This year, Saudia will concentrate on improving its frequencies/schedules connecting the Middle East with South Asia and Africa.
“Our (Saudi Arabia) domestic market is huge and we are developing hubs in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. There is so much demand for pharma within Saudi Arabia that we will focus on addressing that need. Similarly, we will continue to move general pharma into Africa from India. A number of big Indian pharmaceutical companies are involved in supply pharmaceuticals through the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations,” said Vohra.
Saudia is bullish
Saudia is optimistic about the future of the global cargo industry with statistics pointing to more growth.
“We are quite bullish about the global cargo market. We will be doing marginally above 2017 results. We are talking to different big players on movement of cargo in India and the Far East,” said Vohra.
“Korea is one of our strong markets. It is high on our agenda. Bangladesh is one of our biggest partners. We primarily move textiles and other products from Bangladesh, a country which accounts for 25 per cent of South Asia’s revenues. We run five freighters to Bangladesh on a weekly basis which is indicative of its importance,” he added.
With the United Kingdom lifting ban on imports from Bangladesh, Saudia sees further opportunities, while it will strengthen safety & security systems.
Vohra said Saudia sees security and safety of cargo as among their biggest challenges, thus, is investing on improving its IT infrastructure, data quality, cold storage facilities and cargo village.
Saudia is also known for its out of the box solutions. It recently introduced the ‘Fly Box’ product which is tailor-made for Filipinos returning home after working in the Middle East. This has helped many Filipinos take most of their belongings back to the Philippines.
“Innovation is the key and we are constantly looking at improving our services to the customer, though we still remain an airport to airport carrier,” said Vohra.