The FRA Cargo Team, part of the freight department of airport operator Fraport AG, is planning a new event to revive the freight spirit of Rhine-Main, and to demonstrate the advantages of the location to the cargo community and the entire economy as such. The FRA Cargo Camp, as the event is named, will be held for the first time on the 26th and 27th May, with the aim of repeating it every two years. It will alternate with the leading trade fair, Air Cargo Europe, which traditionally takes place in Munich.
Max Conrady, Fraport SVP Cargo, took office in November 2018. Already, months before, air freight in Frankfurt had more or less been at a standstill, as can be seen from the monthly traffic
reports reflecting global trade war effects on the cargo business, but also homemade deficits caused by the operator and the broader air freight community. Fraport Cargo has concluded that urgent
change is necessary, because standstill means regression. Therefore, “it’s time for a U-turn,” Mr. Conrady emphasizes. An ambitious target, especially in times of trade wars and the
coronavirus, which are massively paralyzing the international transport of people and goods.
Glance behind the cargo curtain
Yet, despite these imponderabilia, the question is how to rapidly and best improve modifiable situations? Fraport’s answer: by
organizing a Cargo Camp with a focus on innovation. It believes that a Cargo Camp could motivate all industry players to pull together, showcasing urgent issues and desired improvements, and
demonstrating how innovations and new initiatives can address these issues. At the same time, the event will enable shippers, forwarders, ground handlers, airlines, and other participants to gain
direct insights into the innovative approaches implemented in daily processes, by offering them a glance behind the cargo curtain.
Renaissance of former Cargo Days in modern garb
With its upcoming Cargo Camp, the airport operator is returning to its origins. Nearly two decades ago, a similar event called ‘Frankfurt Cargo Days’ was offered to the industry, enjoying high
appreciation. However, as the Munich-held Air Cargo Europe grew more attractive, establishing itself as the world’s leading air freight exhibition, Frankfurt’s Cargo Days were finally given up.
So, soon the event will undergo a renaissance. Drivers are, in close cooperation with Fraport Cargo, leading ground handling agents such as LUG and CHI, the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt, and
reputable freight carriers serving Rhine-Main. “We intend to attract participants of the entire supply chain, stimulate shippers, forwarders and others by enabling them to get a direct
impression of physical cargo processes; that’s the unique selling point of our upcoming Cargo Camp,” Mr Conrady maintains.
InFr8 – Frankfurt Airport’s world innovation is part of the event
An “attractive speaker program,” as Mr. Conrady calls it, rounds off the schedule.
In 2019, Fraport successfully implemented the new platform, INFr8, which enables dangerous goods shipping using an electronical dangerous goods declaration – a world innovation. First shippers
already are signed into the new platform. INFr8 and its potential for future improvements will be one of the subjects of the event. The new platform not only offers potential for dangerous goods
shipments, but also for other commodities such as pharma, for example.
Heiner Siegmund
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