newstodate.aero
OCT 26, 2004 (newstodate): In principle, forwarding and GSA are two distinct businesses, but in a small market traditional lines of demarcation are necessarily unclear, says a Lithuanian GSA in response to forwarders' complaints voiced in newstodate.
-We are ourselves both a forwarding company and a cargo GSA representing Finnair Cargo in Lithuania. Staff in these two departments refer to their own profit centers and strive to optimise sales, says Marat Barkovsky, Konekta Cargo managing director.
-Of course, the customers of the GSA are the forwarders. But in a small market like Lithuania there are few, if any, shippers that have a contracted forwarding agent. Air cargo shipments are mostly urgent shipments, and the shipper will turn either to a forwarder or to a GSA to arrange his air transportation.
-The GSA and the forwarder can also meet the shipper in tri-partite negotiations, and again it is up to the shipper to make a decision with whom to cooperate.
-We could not make business solely as a forwarding agent. Therefore we are acting as a GSA as well, and I do not see any problems in this. In Lithuania three or four major forwarders account for some 70 percent of all forwarding business, while there are some 15-20 small forwarding companies sharing the remaining 30 pecent of the volumes.
-In principle, the forwarder is the shipper's best choice as he is then independent of specific airline obligations, but in Lithuania the market is too smal to sustain that, says Marat Barkovsky..
-We are ourselves both a forwarding company and a cargo GSA representing Finnair Cargo in Lithuania. Staff in these two departments refer to their own profit centers and strive to optimise sales, says Marat Barkovsky, Konekta Cargo managing director.
-Of course, the customers of the GSA are the forwarders. But in a small market like Lithuania there are few, if any, shippers that have a contracted forwarding agent. Air cargo shipments are mostly urgent shipments, and the shipper will turn either to a forwarder or to a GSA to arrange his air transportation.
-The GSA and the forwarder can also meet the shipper in tri-partite negotiations, and again it is up to the shipper to make a decision with whom to cooperate.
-We could not make business solely as a forwarding agent. Therefore we are acting as a GSA as well, and I do not see any problems in this. In Lithuania three or four major forwarders account for some 70 percent of all forwarding business, while there are some 15-20 small forwarding companies sharing the remaining 30 pecent of the volumes.
-In principle, the forwarder is the shipper's best choice as he is then independent of specific airline obligations, but in Lithuania the market is too smal to sustain that, says Marat Barkovsky..