Four takeouts from IAG Cargo’s Cargo Live: Episode 2

In our second edition of Cargo Live, leaders from the world of air cargo offered insight and analysis to market trends, cargo flows and innovations, featuring IAG Cargo’s Chief Commercial Officer John Cheetham, Managing Director of CLIVE data services Niall van de Wouw, IAG Cargo’s Head of Business Management and Planning Naomi Robinson, and Kuehne+Nagel’s Global Head of Products and Development Air Logistics, Marcel Fujike.

Here, we reveal four essential take-outs from the second episode in our series…

John Cheetham, IAG Cargo’s Chief Commercial Officer

“We’ve completed our first sustainable aviation fuel flights, a chain of 16 charters across the Atlantic. Working with our key partner Kuehne+Nagel, we’ve sourced 1.2 million litres of Neste sustainable aviation fuel. IAG is always looking to improve and reduce our impact on the environment, having been the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 per cent of flights using sustainable aviation fuel by 2030.”

Managing Director of CLIVE Data Services, Niall van de Wouw

“As a result of the pandemic, there was a tremendous drop in passenger flights across the Atlantic, which increased load factors across the cargo carriers worldwide. Comparing dynamic load factors, spot rates, seasonal rates and spot share between 2019 and 2021, we noted that spot rates do not move in a linear fashion, and especially when buying capacity and considering whether to go for a longer or shorter period of time, we would recommend keeping a close eye on the dynamic load factor.”

IAG Cargo’s Head of Business Management and Planning, Naomi Robinson

“As passenger services began to decline over the course of the pandemic, we took immediate steps to provide solutions for our customers, in the form of scheduled cargo-only flights using passenger aircraft. We have also flown 1,250 charters since last March, with the B777-300 being the most popular aircraft for these. We’ve seen a wide variety of commodities, ranging from fish, to cats and dogs to Argentinian and Chilean cherries, of which we transported over 1,000 tonnes in 2020. Charters have also allowed us to move 20,000 tonnes of PPE over the last year. We also operated services containing e-commerce, following the huge uptick in online shopping, as well as automotive-related charters, of which we have carried out 328 flights.”

Kuehne+Nagel’s Global Head of Products and Development Air Logistics, Marcel Fujike

“In 2019, Kuehne+Nagel declared that by the end of 2020, we wanted to be carbon neutral with our direct emissions and the energy that we purchase. By the end of 2030, we aim to be carbon neutral in our indirect emissions, those that our suppliers are emitting. We are working on four areas to try and meet these targets: Visibility and Aim, i.e. knowing our footprint and understanding the emissions generated by our partner carriers; Avoidance and streamlining through paper reduction, weight reduction, route selection, alternative transport modes, new transport modes and sustainable aviation fuel; Offsetting what is left over; and Cooperation among partners to endorse policies that incentivise sustainable innovations.