The three day workshop held in Amsterdam ended in those attending giving presentations which were aimed at reflecting real world air cargo business and operational situations. The inaugural meeting was the first of this kind, with more events featuring educational programs to come.
TIACA’s management seems to be very happy with the result of their first Professional Development Workshop. Jim Edgar, TIACA’s Chairman of the Education and Research Committee stated: “we are
delighted that so many different sectors of the industry were represented at this first workshop and the useful interaction between enthusiastic and engaged participants.”
Jim went on to say that “now that we have held our inaugural program, we are looking forward to building on this success and hosting more educational events for the industry in the future.”
The workshop which was brought to life by TIACA along with Strategic Aviation Solutions International (SASI) was the result of a joint industry study from IATA, FIATA and ICAO, which was
completed and released publicly in early 2014.
CargoForwarder Global has reported previously on TIACA’s insistence that training and education of a new generation of leaders for the airfreight industry “is a must.”
It is interesting to note that the first workshop was attended by a mix of participants from airlines, financial institutions, handlers, airfreight forwarders and GSA’s. This seems to be
the key to its success and one of the reasons the participants gave TIACA such glowing testimonials and positive endorsement.
The mix of participants allowed case studies on the whole supply chain, and a real world discussion on how to make it more efficient, less costly and therefore more relevant to the shippers and
consignees, producing change that must take place if scheduled air cargo is to finally break out of its year’s long slump.
To further reinforce the message, Mr Eric Vennekens, Director Trade & Infrastructure at ASML, a company that manufactures extremely high tech and airfreight dependant machinery, showed how
his company prefers to use scheduled airlines, and how also they very often let him down. His presentation ended with the challenge, “so let’s work together and start the change,” which is
exactly the message that TIACA has sent to the industry with this first training.
The workshop was led by SASI’s Lilian Tan, Executive Director for Learning & Development, along with Charles Edwards, Executive Director of the North Carolina Center for Global
Logistics.
Lilian, who was delighted with the number of attendees states, “the objective was for participants to have a good appreciation of each field and how the topics fit together and play a role in
successfully managing and leading a dynamic company in an ever changing market.”
One of the other sessions that received high praise from the participants was the ability to talk, debate and question prominent figures from the air cargo industry who also supported by taking
part, such as Ram Menen, Emirates SkyCargo’s former chieftain, along with Enno Osinga, SVP Cargo at Amsterdam Airport, Ben Radstaak of Air Cargo Netherlands and Stan Wraight, Executive Director
of SASI and a long standing mine of information on airline practices.
All were in agreement that this is a good start and that the momentum gained should not dwindle in the coming months and years.
Hence, the necessity for companies within the air freight circle to look closely at future participation especially from their junior members and upcoming managers in tomorrow’s air freight
industry.
Markus von Hesse of Panalpina, one of the participants, put it in a nutshell by stating “you think you know everything about the air cargo supply chain? You don’t! Take this course and you will
get new views on the same topic from different angles and diverse participants in the air cargo supply chain.”
Hopefully, the follow-up workshop will not be too far down the road.
John Mc Donagh
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