The Brazilian carrier has appointed 40-year-old Luis Quintiliano as new Director Cargo. His main challenge will be to consolidate TAM Cargo’s position as domestic market leader by
developing business solutions that allow the air freight division to offer outstanding services to its clients.
“I firmly believe in the potential of the Brazilian market and I am hoping to see some change regarding the scenario we have witnessed in recent times, in order to be able to grow
sustainably,” emphasized the former LAN manager in a first statement after becoming TAM Cargo’s new helmsman. In fact, the economic environment is weak, despite the country hosting the Soccer
World Cup last summer. This is expected to continue throughout 2015 with the Brazilian GDP forecasted to grow by no more than 0.8 percent, according to government estimates. Therefore, Luis
frankly speaks of a “challenging year” lying ahead for his airline, but despite the rather unfavorable external circumstances he estimates an increase of tonnage in the region of 5
percent.
Large investments in ground infrastructure
To propel this growth, TAM Cargo made important investments in infrastructure, process improvements, systems and security, the São Bernardo do Campo-born points out. He goes on to say that “until
2016 we will have invested more than R$80 million (€25 million) in warehouse infrastructure in Brazil. In 2015 we should not only continue to invest in important warehouses (e.g. Rio de Janeiro,
Belem, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, etc.), but will also inaugurate some of our new terminals.” There are two major terminals TAM Cargo intends to inaugurate this year. The first one
is the new Guarulhos facility at Sao Paulo which according to cargo chief Quintiliano is the largest and probably most important investment. “This will be a state-of-the-art warehouse that should
start operating this month and will improve significantly the quality of service to our customers as well as the work environment for our employees.” In addition a brand new warehouse in Brasilia
will open its doors at the end of this year, which should improve significantly the quality of TAM Cargo’s domestic connections as well as the service for all cargo originating at this important
airport.
TAM’s cargo biz is profitable, assures Quintiliano
Asked by CargoForwarder Global if TAM’s cargo division is earning or losing money, Luis delivers this answer: “Unfortunately we cannot discuss profitability numbers, however I can say that TAM
Cargo is a profitable business and therefore contributes positively to TAM’s finances.”
Currently, TAM Cargo operates 4 freighters which are fundamental to ensure a consistent and reliable service in some high demand routes, particularly Guarulhos-Manaus.
It’s unlikely that more main deck capacity will shortly be added to the fleet, but TAM’s new Cargo Chief does obviously not exclude anything: “We are constantly studying how to help our customers
to resolve their logistics issues and if they need more space than what we can offer in the belly of our planes but at this point we don’t have any news to share with the market.”
e-AWB introduced
Worth noting is that the airline group consisting of LAN Cargo, TAM Cargo, MasAir and LAN Cargo Colombia have started implementing the Electronic Airway Bill to eliminate paper usage in air cargo
transportation.
The implementation of the e-AWB aims to improve efficiency and benefit both freight forwarders and airlines by eliminating the use of paper, decreasing delivery times, operational costs and
delays, an improvement in terms of productivity, simplifying processes, improving customer experience, reducing CO2 emissions, reliability, confidentiality and efficiency as a result of an
increase in data precision.
Heiner Siegmund
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