In the past The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has been criticised for what many saw as a lack of input into issues which they should have tackled on behalf of the air cargo community. This has changed during the past twelve months after there was a change at the top and the new heads, Sebastiaan Scholte, Steven Polmans and Vladimir Zubkov took up the reins. Since then there has been a distinct move within TIACA to react to problems and problem areas in air cargo. Two recent events have highlighted this even more.
Kenyan airports adopt TIACA Quality Tool
TIACA has created what they term as a new ‘Cargo Service Quality’ (CSQ) tool which has been designed to improve airport standards. It is interesting to note that the Kenyan Airport Authority
(KAA) has signed up as the very first country in the world to adopt this new tool.
The online tool which Kenyan authorities plan to implement at all of their air cargo hubs by latest mid-next year, was designed by TIACA Board members who in various get togethers realised the
importance of trying to set what they see as ‘new global benchmarking standards for the worldwide air freight industry in order to enhance quality across the chain.’
The TIACA Board members went a step further by encouraging various airports and forwarders to take part in the pilot scheme this past summer before signing off on the project. In total, 18
airports and 179 forwarders supported the TIACA move and the result is that because of the positive feedback TIACA plans a global implementation the CSQ into all segments of the air cargo supply
chain. The CSG tool consists of four elements: Benchmarking, Assessment, Improvement and Excellence.
More importantly, this ensures that airlines, forwarders and air cargo related companies and TIACA are moving closer together.
Air Cargo Belgium & TIACA set up masterclass
Another good example of joint cooperation is the two-day Masterclass course being arranged by TIACA and Air Cargo Belgium (ACB) at Brussels Airport. The ‘Connected Air Cargo Masterclass’ which
takes part at BRUcargo’s Air Cargo Academy is from January 30th to 31st and is aimed at ‘exploring how the air cargo supply chain can leverage digital transformation and data sharing as enablers
for growth.’
Included in the course will be a seminar on the ACB BRUcloud which was created by Steven Polman’s and Nathan De Valck’s team as an open data sharing platform where stakeholders can become more
integrated and act as a network together. There are workshops and various demonstrations planned for those attending.
Interested parties can gain more information by visiting the Masterclass website (www.aircargomasterclass.com) or via www.tiaca.org
We think that it can be worthwhile to attend and it is gratifying to see that TIACA’s efforts of the past twelve months are bearing fruit.
John Mc Donagh
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