TIACA Opens up at London Press Conference

Regretfully, TIACA’s Enno Osinga had to cancel due to sickness but both Doug Brittin and Oliver Evans were there to highlight 2014 and inform the trade press on how things are planned to go forward in the future.

Changes at the top
Both Oliver Evans and Enno Osinga will vacate their posts as Chairman and Vice Chairman this year and there is much speculation as to who will replace them.
TIACA was tight lipped about this at the press meeting, but rumours floating around tend to tip David Yokeum of WCA as replacement for Oliver as Chairman.
However, nothing revealed yet and members will probably have to wait until the annual Executive Summit, planned for May in Miami, before hearing anything.

Evans and Osinga have put much effort into TIACA in the past few years in order to highlight the association’s importance for the air cargo community.
Filling their seats will be a hard task for those coming up behind them.
Enno Osinga is bowing out due to feeling he has reached retirement age, whereas Oliver Evans who will also vacate his post as CEO of Swiss Cargo, feels he needs to channel his energy into a new direction.
We all know that he is an adamant believer in getting future generations better geared towards being able to handle future challenges in the airfreight scene.
So, one can assume that he will not be out of sight for very long.

TIACA’s future role.
Evans, in his overall market review made it clear that TIACA must play the important role in pushing through changes and developments in the world air cargo scene.
Furthermore, it was stated that the aim for the future should be for shippers to be able to chose agents according to quality offered and not vice versa.

When questioned on whether TIACA needs or has enough connection with other organizations such as IATA, FIATA, ACI, the board members were all of the opinion that such dialogue is seen as being very important in order to help speed up decisions and developments in the industry.
It does not mean, however, that TIACA is bound in any way to the views of the others and it was clear that the TIACA board and members will press ahead with their own plans as agreed within the organization.

In search of shippers
There are plans for restructuring the TIACA committees and there is presently a membership survey being undertaken, the results of which will surely be disclosed at the Miami conference.
The survey which has been sent to 800 members asks for their opinions on TIACA, its events and their feelings on issues which affect them on a day-to-day basis.
Let’s hope that many fill out the survey and truly voice their opinions.
Doug Brittin stated that they lay much value on the fact that the board has become more diverse in order to help bring in a broad-based perspective for the members, with a view for further increasing participation from around the globe and to include all of the sectors in the air freight supply chain, including more shippers.

Membership should become more diversified
Doug went on to say that the second half of 2014 saw a further growth in the TIACA membership and that he and his colleagues are convinced this will continue in 2015.
The organization is looking to attract new members from so called “underrepresented regions” in order to have a more diversified membership base.

Workshops and training play an important role in TIACA’s schedule.
It was stated that the Professional Development Workshops and related Training Programmes have been a success. The next one is planned for the Air Cargo Africa conference in Johannesburg with a follow-up in Birmingham, UK.

Information flow was in TIACA’s view upgraded somewhat in 2014 with the TIACA times magazine getting a facelift along with an improved content.
The managers informed that the website will be revamped to show more network features and easier information access for the members

Executive Summit focus is on Latin America
The theme in Miami between May 19 and 21 will be “Supply Chain Strategies for Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Doug Brittin stated at the London press conference that “understanding challenges as well as opportunities is key to developing and sustaining successful supply chains.”

Other topics on the Miami agenda include U.S. and Mexico transborder trade, how to make the Brazilian air cargo market more competitive as well as the impact of advance data regimes on the region.

Let’s hope that despite the full agenda, that TIACA and its members come away with a clear road to turn down for the future and for the common good of the air cargo industry.
That’s what TICA is meant to be about!

John Mc Donagh