United Kingdom
Ignazio Coraci is a senior figure in the Aviation industry. Ignazio is the CEO of ASC Cargo Limited, President and CEO of SW Italia and a member of the board and Company Secretary of Cargo Invest Limited, based at London’s Heathrow Airport.
The air freight industry is a dynamic and often complex business to work in, with many roles requiring extensive practical training in order to get the skills required to work safely and efficiently. But the way in which that training is delivered can be sometimes be far removed from the realities of day-to-day life in the industry.
The air freight industry is a dynamic and often complex business to work in, with many roles requiring extensive practical training in order to get the skills required to work safely and efficiently. But the way in which that training is delivered can be sometimes be far removed from the realities of day-to-day life in the industry.
In previous posts, we've already talked about the positive 2017 that the air cargo industry has experienced so far. This has been driven by a number of factors - not least a global economic landscape that is looking increasingly positive in terms of consumer and business confidence.
We've talked before in this blog about the importance of our industry embracing digitisation. As a sector, air cargo has lagged behind when it comes to technological innovation - and in a business that is so dependent on complex processes this is a reluctance that is threatening to hold us back.
It's a structure that has long been in need of updating. For the last fifty years or so, forwarders have been defined as agents for carriers under the old Cargo Agency Programme. It's an old model that no longer reflects the reality of the way that the two entities work together, and so the introduction of the new IATA-FIATA Air Cargo Programme (IFACP) is a welcome development.
A new module is currently being developed by the user group for the CCS-UK airfreight system. The addition will aim to speed up collections and deliveries at Heathrow Airport's transit hubs. The module, which is called CCS-UK Advanced Info, will allow transport companies working for freight agents to alert handling agents to their deliveries.
In a step forward for a cargo warehousing project near to Heathrow Airport, the local authority has approved the plans. The project's backer, Formal Investments, describes the project as 'visionary'. It will see an underground warehouse, with a public park constructed above ground.
Freight forwarders and trucking businesses are invited to use Heathrow Airport's brand-new load consolidation app. Launched as part of Heathrow CargoCloud, the app will allow cargo operators to consolidate loads coming through Heathrow. The aim is to improve efficiency for cargo coming in and out of the airport, but also to reduce the number of vehicles and trucks on the roads around the airport.
Airports have seen cargo demand increase throughout May 2017 to a high for this year so far. Statistics released by Airports Council International (ACI) show the high level of growth for cargo demand at an increase of 11.1% for May.
We're all too aware of the many disastrous implications of global climate change - from the impact on coastal communities of rising sea levels through to the dangers of increasingly unpredictable seasons on agricultural cycles. But what about our own industry?