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By Alex Lennane
The Loadstar never wants to be the bearer of bad tidings. But it’s not looking good for the air freight industry. While the product launch for Apple’s new iPhone 5 looks set to be September 12, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 expected to be at the end of August, few forwarders or airlines have reported any notable rise in demand or bookings. And those that have been in touch with the high-tech industry report only that it has been putting ...
Comment on this article
Michael Kusuplos
August 02, 2012 at 7:56 pmI believe that air carriers should be seeking to learn the current needs of the customer, instead of looking to the past for indications as to how business flows will happen.
The past is not always the way the future will unfold.
We are in a new paradigm where the customers are planning their logistical requirements upfront; which allows for lower cost logistics options to be employed. The final retail customer is still the one pulling the product, however the product suppliers are making the distance of pull much shorter. When the logistics [freight] costs are greater than the inventory handling costs, the product provider will adjust the mix to yield the lowest landed cost.
I believe that logistics providers are so wrapped up in their own cost situations that they are really not looking at the costs of their customers.
Alex Lennane
August 02, 2012 at 8:25 pmIt’s true – it’s a challenging time for everyone. Perhaps there needs to be better relations across the supply chain, so each party can understand both their suppliers’ and customers’ needs.