B&H Worldwide has joined WCA’s Time Critical Network, making it part of the world’s largest independent freight forwarder group.
Joining the network will give B&H access to an even wider group of agents with aerospace and time critical logistics requirements, and B&H can bring its specialist aerospace capabilities into the reach of WCA members around the world.
WCA Time Critical Network general manager, Adam McKenna says, “Our goal as a group is to be the global leader, and we cannot stress that enough. Gaining reputable members like B&H Worldwide, with its newly acquired Best-in-Class status is what sets us apart. When you work with a WCA Time Critical agent, you know you’re getting the highest quality service.”
B&H Worldwide chief executive officer, Stuart Allen says, “It will provide our teams with tremendous opportunities to expand our reach into new areas. By the same token, we can bring a wealth of aerospace expertise to the members of the WCA’s Time Critical Network who may be seeking a partner.”
McKenna adds, “WCA Time Critical is honoured to welcome B&H to the group. Its capabilities in providing comprehensive solutions to the sector will help further diversify an already powerful and unique group of specialist forwarders. We are confident that B&H’s participation within the WCA will spur new business opportunities for all parties.”
Airfreight tonnage has grown in line with the market at Panalpina but gross profit per ton has fallen by seven percent in the first nine months of 2017.
Panalpina’s airfreight volumes increased eight percent from January, though gross profit per ton was down seven per cent to 632 Swiss francs ($646).
Gross profits increased marginally to CHF456 million compared to CHF453.4 million in the same period of 2016, and reported EBIT increased from CHF60 million in 2016 to CHF69.4 million.
In the third quarter, airfreight revenue was CHF738.9 million compared to CHF634.1 million in 2016, and EBIT was up to CHF30.3 million from CHF26.9 million.
Panalpina chief executive officer, Stefan Karlen says, “Nine months into the year, Air Freight and Logistics are well under way and showing continued solid performance.”
Net forwarding revenue increased from CHF3.86 billion in 2016 to CHF4.06 billion in 2017, and consolidated reported profit saw a small increase, up from CHF46.5 million to CHF48.4 million.
As the peak season approaches, Karlen comments: “We are well-prepared for another strong peak season in Air Freight, however it remains to be seen how dynamic the carrier market will be this year.”
Partnering with SEKO Logistics helps Birchbox become the UK’s number one beauty box reaching 160,000+ subscribers by the end of 2017
Birchbox has acknowledged SEKO Logistics’ important role in helping it become the UK’s number one beauty box, reaching 100,000 subscribers in March 2017 and on track for 160,000+ by the end of 2017.
Founded in 2010 by Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp, who met at Harvard Business School, Birchbox now operates in six countries, partners with 800 beauty brands and has a total of over one million subscribers. In the UK, Birchbox pairs a monthly subscription of five deluxe products with editorial content to create a seamless path to purchase full-size products online.
Birchbox was one of SEKO’s first subscription service customers when the two companies began working together in the UK over two years ago. Now, the UK is the fastest-growing Birchbox region in the world, recording a 125% year-on-year growth in 2016, and on track for three figure growth this year.
Subscribers pay a fixed monthly subscription of £10 plus £2.95 p&p and receive five personalized beauty treats per month based on their own Beauty Profile, which includes skin type, hair profile and beauty style. Birchbox’s algorithms use thousands of pieces of data in order to create the most personalised box every month, and in an average month there are up to 50 different boxes being dispatched based on these algorithms.
SEKO Logistics also fulfils orders placed through the Birchbox online shop. With more than half of Birchbox’s subscribers shopping for full-size products on their ecommerce site, this is the fastest growing part of the business, accounting for 35% of global revenue. Birchbox partnered with SEKO Logistics for its UK and Ireland fulfilment and dispatch requirements in early 2015. This is co-ordinated at SEKO’s 250,000 sq ft logistics centre in Milton Keynes from where it delivers a full range of omnichannel services for global order fulfilment, delivery management, returns solutions and ecommerce for leading retail brands. This now includes a number of international subscription services with fast-growing businesses in the UK and Ireland. SEKO’s award-winning, web-based Warehouse Management System (WMS) was a big factor in starting its relationship with Birchbox. It helps customers optimize their inventory, reduce transportation costs as well as transit-time and turn-time, and avoid shipment overlap.
Savannah Sachs, CEO at Birchbox, said: “Offering a great choice of brands to the majority of women who don’t have time to keep up with the latest trends but still want to try out new products is only one of the factors in building a successful subscription business. Getting orders right and delivering them on-time is just as critical to earn customer loyalty and drive growth. Our partnership with SEKO is one of the reasons why the UK is now our fastest-growing region. They’ve not only delivered everything they promised, they’re continuously looking to improve service and efficiency, and their technology gives us the total visibility we need to manage such a large product range and customer base. We have a great working relationship.”
Dean Townsend, Director of SEKO Logistics, said: “It was clear to us very early on that the Birchbox business model was going to be a big success and we’ve seen their orders increase consistently since the beginning. We understand the expectations of their customers and are delighted to be supporting the company’s growth in the UK and Ireland subscription markets. The success of businesses like Birchbox is creating a whole new generation of customers for subscription-based services and this is presenting a significant growth opportunity for us.”
Aramex, has recently run a study in Dubai to measure the efficiency of deliveries to regular street addresses versus 3 word addresses provided by innovative addressing system what3words. The study found that, over 100 deliveries, using 3 word addresses was 42% faster and reduced the total distance travelled by delivery drivers by 22%.
what3words is a global addressing system that has divided the world into 3m x 3m squares, each with a unique address made of 3 words. The 3 word address ///index.home.raft, for example, identifies the exact front entrance of the what3words office in London. 3 word addresses are accurate to 3m x 3m, giving every front door, mall entrance and delivery point its own unique address.
‘We’re committed to using innovative technologies to provide better customer service, improve efficiency of current deliveries and to drive growth in poorly addressed areas, which is why we’ve integrated what3words into Aramex core systems’, said Iyad Kamal, COO of Aramex.
The study took place in two well-addressed areas of Dubai: Al Khawaneej and Al Muhaisnah. Two teams of Aramex drivers, with two drivers per team, each delivered 100 packages to the same 100 locations. One team used street addresses, the other used 3-word addresses along with route optimisation software to generate the most efficient route.
The drivers who used street addresses spent 7 hours and 49 minutes on the road, drove a total distance of 255 km, and had to make 25 phone calls asking for directions. The drivers who used 3 word addresses drove for 4 hours and 28 minutes, covered a distance of 198 km, and made no phone calls to customers. Over 100 deliveries, the 3 word address drivers were 42% faster than the street address drivers. There was a 22% reduction in total distance travelled because what3words enables optimised route navigation.
‘The business benefits for Aramex and our clients are undeniable’, concluded Iyad Kamal. ‘This offers a much better retail and delivery experience for the retailer and ultimately the end customer.’
With e-commerce rapidly growing and customer expectations rising in a very competitive market, what3words can help businesses stay ahead of the competition. Online retailers can simply add a 3 word address field to their checkout pages with various plugins including Shopify, Magento, Opencart and Woocommerce. what3words provides retailers with simple, multilingual communication assets, imagery and films to ensure their customers understand how to easily discover and use their 3 word address.
‘what3words’ format is global, universal, and 3 word addresses are available in over 14 languages,’ said Chris Sheldrick, CEO and co-founder of what3words. ‘The system is being used to meet friends easily and to get takeaway food delivered faster. It’s used by music festival organisers, emergency responders and next year you will be able to use what3words for navigation in your Mercedes-Benz. Our partnership with Aramex means it can improve delivery times in all the cities it operates in, as well as deliver to a vast new market of customers who have never had an address before.’
The Indian government is currently investing in the country’s infrastructure on a massive scale – whether this involves roads, railway lines or waterways. The budget for upgrading roads alone is worth almost $14 billion until 2018. This should give a further boost to the Indian logistics market, which is already expanding at a rapid rate. Messe München is offering foreign entrepreneurs an ideal opportunity to participate in the development of this market at the transport logistic India @ CTL in Mumbai on 23 – 24 January 2018.
For the second time, Messe München is enabling interested companies to discover more about the Indian market, maintain existing contacts or establish new ones through its globally proven “transport logistic” format. There are many reasons for exploring developments on the sub-continent first-hand: The Indian government recently decided to make far-reaching investments in the country’s infrastructure with the goal of making logistics processes within the country more efficient.
“The development of the Indian logistics market was largely inhibited by the poor state of the road network in the past. Fast roads and highways only accounted for two percent of the complete road network up to now, for example,” says Vishesh Kathuria, Vice President of IMAP India. “The government has also budgeted $14 billion for 2017/18 and therefore paved the way for upgrading 14,000 km of roads.”
Kathuria believes that the distribution of freight within the modal split is another problem. “Too little consideration is given to railway and shipping traffic when it comes to cargo, although India is home to the fourth-largest railway network in the world and there are more than 15,500 km of waterways available for transport purposes.” The government is seeking to reverse this trend too. A decision was already made in 2014/15 to introduce so-called “Dedicated Freight Corridors”, for example, in order to connect the many container shipments on the north-west and north-east routes and almost triple the average speed of the trains from 25 km/h at the moment to 70 km/h. However, the expert believes that making use of the waterways provides the greatest potential. “According to estimates, opening up inland waterways provides investment opportunities amounting to $600 million.”
“The latest developments in the infrastructure sector, in the standardization of the tax system, but also in the field of digitalization and the booming e-commerce business are opening up the Indian logistics market to a large number of foreign companies. We’ve established a format with the transport logistic India @ CTL and it offers the right framework both for companies with experience of India and potential market entrants at the right time,” says Gerhard Gerritzen, a member of the management team at Messe München GmbH.
Cargo Management Company –e-Cargoware – has appointed former IATA head of cargo, Des Vertannes as its non-executive chairman of the board.
e-Cargoware’s cloud-based platform is used by ground handlers, GSAs and airlines to manage their sales, operations and management of cargo.
Vertannes says, “Over a period, e-Cargoware as built a niche of its own in the airfreight industry as a provider of simple, easy to use and cost-effective cargo management platform on the cloud.
“I am looking forward to working with the team and help them realise their of vision of transforming the air cargo community by eliminating inefficiency through paperless freight.”
Vertannes held a number of senior industry roles before leaving IATA in 2014, including CEO at Air Menzies international, head of cargo at Gulf Air and then Etihad Airways. He was also inducted to TIACA Hall of Fame last month.
e-Cargoware senior director, Arun Singh says, “Having known Des personally for many years and having convinced him to join our team, I am excited to work with him and make a significant difference to our industry that’s going through a transformation with the likes of Amazons and Alibaba’s challenging our assumptions.”
Aramex recently announced that Bashar Obeid, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), has informed the Board of Directors of his plans to exercise his early retirement option by stepping down in order to pursue other endeavors. Mr. Obeid will continue to serve as the company’s CFO until 28th of February 2018 to facilitate a smooth transition of his responsibilities. Aramex has named Nadia Abusarah, currently serving as the Company’s Executive Corporate Controller, as Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Mr. Obeid.
Bashar joined the accounting and finance team at Aramex in 1993, and since then, he has grown into several leadership positions including the company’s Financial Controller, Group Financial Controller, and finally his current position as the Chief Financial Officer. He was a member of the team that oversaw Aramex’s public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange and later on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).
Hussein Hachem, CEO of Aramex said “Throughout his 24 years with Aramex, Bashar helped guide the company to where we are today and worked very hard to grow the business, increase profitability and ensure financial stability. We highly appreciate the years of service Bashar dedicated to Aramex. He leaves a legacy of financial stewardship and discipline that will contribute to our future success for years to come.”
“Nadia is well qualified to serve as interim CFO, and we are confident of the key role she will play in the strategic transformation we’re executing here at Aramex. We remain focused and committed to moving forward with our plans and delivering exceptional results for the remainder of 2017 and beyond,” concluded Hachem.
Terry Unrein has joined SEKO Logistics in the new role of Chief Commercial Officer, Americas, responsible for sales and revenue growth and Air and Ocean Product strategy in the Americas region.
His appointment represents a return to SEKO, where he spent over two years as Vice President Global Sales before joining Crane Worldwide Logistics in March 2015 as Regional Vice President, Pacific West.
In his new role he is based at SEKO’s global headquarters in Chicago, reporting directly to James Gagne, President of SEKO Logistics. Terry’s appointment comes as SEKO Logistics has achieved its highest-ever ranking in Inbound Logistics magazine’s highly-respected Top 100 3PLs listing, which evaluates the capabilities of more than 300 companies against the burgeoning global supply chain and logistics challenges and evolving outsourcing needs of its readers. SEKO Logistics, which was ranked 4th overall, was selected because its solutions solve specific logistics challenges and improve processes, and create a ripple effect of efficiencies across the entire value chain.
“We are delighted to welcome Terry back to SEKO in this expanded role, which places International Product ownership and accountability under Global Sales. He not only knows our network and partners in the United States and around the world, but also understands and appreciates our business model and value proposition starting from day one. He is going to be a key player in our further expansion and growth as we continue to innovate global forwarding, logistics and supply chain technology,” commented James Gagne.
Terry Unrein added, “With our bundled software and shipping solutions, SEKO really is making a significant and measurable difference to companies, their supply chains and to their overall performance. The most exciting aspect of this new role is the level of potential that exists for SEKO in the Americas and globally. We can raise the efficiency of a client’s supply chain to the next level, and we know companies want to talk to us about how we can support their strategic development, provide unprecedented visibility of their supply chain, support their moves into new markets and sales channels, and identify cost benefits.”
A former pro footballer with the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers and is active with the NFL Alumni Association, Terry’s career in the logistics industry has also included senior roles in the U.S. and Asia with CEVA and Eagle Global Logistics.
Sebastiaan Scholte, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jan de Rijk Logistics, is the new Chairman of TIACA, with Steven Polmans, Head of Cargo and Logistics at Brussels Airport Company (BAC), as Vice Chairman.
Both were formally welcomed to their new roles at last week’s Annual General Meeting, part of TIACA’s Executive Summit in Miami, Florida, USA.
Scholte, who has been TIACA Vice Chairman for two and a half years, takes over from Sanjiv Edward, Head of Cargo Business, Delhi International Airport.
“TIACA is, and will be, the only organization covering the whole air cargo supply chain, and in order to stay and become more relevant we will now work on becoming more agile and engaging more with our membership base,” said Scholte.
“There is a need for more transparency and visibility across the supply chain and TIACA can play a role in facilitating this.
“In addition, we must ensure we are motivating the next generation of air cargo leaders and you can expect to see TIACA putting an emphasis on training and encouraging young people to join the industry.
“We can collectively truly make this industry better.”
Scholte has worked in the air freight industry for over 20 years, including for Aeromexico, where he was Vice President Sales.
He held senior management roles with Cargolux for eight years from 2002 and took over as CEO at Jan de Rijk Logistics in 2010.
He holds a Global Executive MBA from the IESE Business School and has been Chairman of the Cool Chain Association.
“Collaboration and cooperation between all parties in the air cargo supply chain is the only way forward to solve many of today’s issues,” said Polmans.
Polmans has 20 years’ experience in the air cargo industry and is also the Chairman of Air Cargo Belgium, an initiative bringing together airlines, handlers, forwarders, the airport authority, and other stakeholders for the greater good of the community.
Prior to joining BAC, Polmans worked for ground handler Aviapartner, before moving on to logistics marketing specialist GLU4 BV, where he managed the company’s Benelux operations.
He joined BAC in 2010 and was appointed Head of Cargo in 2012.
TIACA’s next event, the Air Cargo Forum (ACF), will take place in Toronto, Canada on October 16th-18th 2018.
Sir John Holmes, Advisory Board Chairman of British all-cargo carrier CargoLogicAir has announced the appointment of David Kerr as the airline’s new Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 January 2018.
“David is a highly respected, experienced and well-known air cargo industry executive who will bring new insight into the business and lead CargoLogicAir towards our strategic goal of recognition as one of the leaders in the European airfreight industry,” Sir John Holmes stated.
David has more than 20 years of experience in the airline sector, holding senior roles for world-leading companies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. His career-to-date has embraced the fulfilment of strategic goals, overall performance improvement, and the successful enhancement of aircraft fleets and networks, coupled with accountability for commercial and operational issues.
David’s career path has been in varied industries including FMCG, Banking and Travel. His first job in the aviation industry was with American Airlines and most recently Etihad Aviation Group.
In his new role of CEO of CargoLogicAir, he will be responsible for the successful implementation of the airline’s strategic development plans, orchestrating the growth of its freighter fleet and its network, with the focus on specialized logistics solutions for different industries.
Technology has made the world smaller and faster.Real time communication with people from all over the world at different time zones through phones and gadgets
