As transpacific e-commerce volumes from the Chinese Mainland find new markets, Europe is becoming a new battleground for air cargo. And according to the recently appointed Regional Head of Cargo, Europe Anand Yedery, the competition to meet this demand is not just with the continent’s flag carriers and the Gulf airlines. “The growing demand from e-commerce into Europe is leading to a lot of capacity being pumped in by charters and unscheduled freighters,” he says.
Yedery is a 21-year Cathay veteran, with four years under his belt as Regional Cargo Manager – South Asia, Middle East and Africa. He returns to Cargo after five years on the passenger side, replacing Jansen Stafford, who has moved to Hong Kong to head up strategic projects for Cargo’s forthcoming commercial and digital development programmes.
Yedery’s role now is to smooth out the directional imbalance created as e-commerce imports surge. “Demand does not match capacity, so it’s about finding a balance of market share while sustaining yields.” Here’s the plan.
1) Making the most of the network
It’s not just new freighter entrants who are taking advantage of this westward e-commerce harvest. “It’s an opportunity for us: we are running freighters to Madrid this winter, and so far they’ve been almost full capacity,” says Yedery. “We now have an opportunity to fill these back to Asia.”
On the passenger side, Cathay Pacific has added two new ports, Munich and Brussels. “These give us more belly capacity, where previously we relied on our extensive trucking network to gateways like Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Paris for Belgium,” he adds.
Europe is also a reliable transit point for South American perishables to Asia, especially salmon and fruit. The Cargo team has used ports in Spain, as well as Amsterdam and London, to channel these shipments carried by interline partners. “Heathrow is also a good gateway for us to connect with them across the Atlantic.”
2) Pushing our specialist solution expertise – and its higher yields
With so much capacity and falling yields for general cargo, Yedery’s team is targeting commodities with special handling needs, including perishables and pharma, while using Cathay Expert for out-of-gauge shipments. “This reflects our We Know How brand ethos, because we believe our teams are more trained, experienced specialists in handling these types of shipments,” says Yedery.
To date, the team has moved rescue helicopters, turbines and aircraft engines. There are also frequent horse movements to Hong Kong and Japan, and Cathay Cargo is again sponsoring the Hong Kong International Horse Show next year as its founding partner, which last year involved charters from Liège. “While all these may not bring us the tonnages, they bring us the yields, and our expertise is a real differentiator.”
3) Making the most of our links to the Greater Bay Area
Another focus is the Greater Bay Area in the Chinese Mainland and increasing imports, particularly perishables, using the new intermodal connectivity from Hong Kong International Airport. Yedery’s focus is on building awareness with forwarders about the smooth transfer process. “The market is there, and we’re ready to test it with our customers to give them the confidence to use it” he says.
4) Raising Cathay Cargo’s profile in Europe
Increasing brand awareness and purchase consideration is another key objective, and the team has attended events including LogiPharma in France and air cargo Europe in Germany. “We will continue to attend events where we have the right target audience who understand our solutions,” says Yedery.
The priorities for Europe
Each European country has its own characteristics, market, exports – and of course, language. Yedery has already travelled to every office to meet his team, and he’s keen to meet customers too. “I want to understand their business better, so that when we’re putting together our strategy, it’ll be a win-win for us and our partners,” he says. “Our objective is making Cathay Cargo one of the preferred carriers of choice with our European partners.”
