Shippers up in arms as air cargo carriers shift the goalposts on fuel surcharges

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• Joel Glusman

  August 09, 2013 at 1:00 pm

  Last week we have been informed by EK and LH about their decision to base the fuel surcharge on volume as opposed to actual weight.
  Below is the message I have sent.
  The French forwarder association has agreed to open a debate after the holidays season.
  The forwarder community must band together at a worldwide level and say loud and clear to airlines: enough is enough!!!!

  “Dear Emirates Sky Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo France,

  Thanks for your message, which makes absolutely no sense at all.
  I’m not an aviation load master but with my simple logic I understand that the more volume you load in an aircraft, the less heavy will be the aircraft at the take off time and consequently the less fuel would be needed!
  So why do you want to base the fuel surcharge on chargeable weight as opposed to actual. This is ridiculous! And the shipper community cannot accept this any longer.
  We sympathize with the economic difficulties most airlines are facing but let’s be straight!
  If you need to raise your revenues, why don’t you simply have the courage to raise the basic tariff instead of adding unjustified taxes that have now become just smoke and mirrors and a total hypocrisy in most airlines’ pricing policy.
  It definitely pollutes the relationship with your customers!
  I’m sharing this message with the representative of TLF Overseas ( the French forwarders association ) asking them to open a debate on this subject.
  We want to be sure that at least the airline community is seriously re-considering the way they treat their forwarder customers, not only in France but worldwide.
  This is the least we can expect from strategic vendors who claim to value the relationship with their customers.”

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