newstodate.aero
Sep 05, 2014 (newstodate): The call by FIATA to respond to its survey among forwarders about a threat of airlines to capitalize on the e-AWB drive is duly received in the market.
-We have seen this and will file our response, but so far we have not seen evidence of the perceived action in the Danish airfreight market, says John Blasbjerg, ALPI Air & Sea managing director.
-With our volumes of AWBs this would not in itself be a major issue but on the other hand we are vehemently against any potential new surcharge levied on the industry that is already suffering from lack of transparency when it comes to assessing the real cost of airfreight. As it is now, the various surcharges already imposed weigh heavier than the rate in itself.
-I suppose that for instance fuel costs were already part of the airline's airfreight rate from the start, but the vacillations of the fuel prices caused airlines to introduce a specific surcharge to be able to respond more flexibly to ups and down.
-It seems, however, that the fuel surcharge has now become another way of regulating, primarily increasing, cargo rates without too much ado - and the situation has readily become so muddled that no forwarder can single out the components behind the calculation.
-So inventing a new surcharge like a penalty on paper-AWBs during this transition period of implementing the e-AWB would indeed be totally unacceptable, says Mr Blasbjerg.
FIATA has set September 7, 2014, as the deadline for taking part in the survey among forwarders.
-We have seen this and will file our response, but so far we have not seen evidence of the perceived action in the Danish airfreight market, says John Blasbjerg, ALPI Air & Sea managing director.
-With our volumes of AWBs this would not in itself be a major issue but on the other hand we are vehemently against any potential new surcharge levied on the industry that is already suffering from lack of transparency when it comes to assessing the real cost of airfreight. As it is now, the various surcharges already imposed weigh heavier than the rate in itself.
-I suppose that for instance fuel costs were already part of the airline's airfreight rate from the start, but the vacillations of the fuel prices caused airlines to introduce a specific surcharge to be able to respond more flexibly to ups and down.
-It seems, however, that the fuel surcharge has now become another way of regulating, primarily increasing, cargo rates without too much ado - and the situation has readily become so muddled that no forwarder can single out the components behind the calculation.
-So inventing a new surcharge like a penalty on paper-AWBs during this transition period of implementing the e-AWB would indeed be totally unacceptable, says Mr Blasbjerg.
FIATA has set September 7, 2014, as the deadline for taking part in the survey among forwarders.