Air cargo transport: The need for speed, security, and technology
Logistics is a services sector whose growth potential in Turkey is second only to tourism. As a services sector, logistics is one that is extremely sensitive to developments in the national economy: when economic growth is strong, the volume of its business surges; when it is sluggish or negative, the demand for its services shrivels.
The growth in international trade resulting from increasing globalization over the last ten years and particularly the introduction of e-business applications have gone a long way towards internationalizing production as well as consumption. These processes have resulted in the development and transformation of shipping requirements and this in turn has given air transport a position of primary importance all over the world. This is no less true in Turkey, where the growth in demand for air transport has turned it into a service that is of strategic importance in business. The basic reasons for this increased activity in air transport are these:
The elements of time and speed: Although air transport costs are higher when compared with those of other shipping methods, the elements of time and speed give it advantages that increase the demand for air transport service day by day.
Swiftness, convenience, and security.
Continuously changing and improving technology in air transport.
When all of these factors are taken into account the reasons why air transport is increasing its share in the movement of people and cargoes as compared with other methods become obvious. Paralleling developments taking place in civil aviation around the world, this sector has also been experiencing serious growth in Turkey as well.
What and how much is being carried by air?
Structural changes occurring in parallel with commercial and industrial growth everywhere in the world, including Turkey, have also been transforming the character of the goods transported by air. Fresh produce and perishables, once the mainstays of the industry, have been yielding their primacy to manufactured goods over the years. In the 1980s for example, fresh produce and seafood as well as newspapers, luxury apparel, pharmaceuticals, and spare parts figured prominently in cargo manifests. By the 1990s they were being accompanied by a wide range of other goods such as machine parts, electronic goods, high-tech instruments, fresh-cut flowers, live plants, fish and other seafood, automobile spare parts, photographic apparatus, and durable consumer goods.
Developments in recent years
2000
A study comparing the value of air-transported cargoes per ton and kilometer in 2002 revealed that 50% of the total was shipped in the cargo bays of passenger aircraft; 25% in passenger airline operated cargo planes; and 25% in cargo planes operated by cargo carriers and express cargo deliverers.
2001
In 2001, the value of the worldwide cargo industry's bills of lading was put at something like fifty billion dollars. When the invoices issued by forwarders that provide door-to-door service are added, the total comes to about 150 billion dollars. (The same year, a total of 763,156 tons of cargo moved domestically and internationally in Turkey.)
The most recent decade
A mere 2% of the total tonnage of cargo moving around the world over the last ten years was shipped by air. That 2% however accounted for something like 33% of the total dollar value of all goods being transported during the same period.
Air cargo transport in Turkey
Developments such as these taking place elsewhere in the word have given an impetus to the sector in Turkey, particularly in the last few years. The impact in Turkey of global developments in textiles, electronics, mechanical equipment, computers, automotives, pharmaceuticals, and horticulture has been such as to increase both the scope of and the demand for air cargo services in the country.
The future prospects for Turkish air cargo transport incorporate a number of other aspects in addition to these however. Most important is Turkey's upcoming membership in the EU, which will make it a natural transit country between Europe and the Turkic republics of Central Asia with which it has strong cultural and ethnic ties. This will greatly expand the volume of direct and connected cargo traffic through the country.
In addition, Turkey's geopolitical position creates an opportunity for the country to be an air cargo transport base and center for a market numbering some four hundred million people. For this to happen however, essential infrastructure needs to be installed, problems related to issues such as storage and distribution need to be resolved, and the provision of such services needs to be centralized to a degree.
One thing that is evident from this assessment is that while positive developments have been taking place in air cargo transport in Turkey, the sector still has a long way to go. The most important reason for this is the absence of a legal infrastructure that focuses on the elements of time and speed in the provision of services. Turkey's General Directorate for Civil Aviation is currently working on a set of regulations to facilitate air transport based on the international standards set forth in the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Annex 9 and in the European Civil Aviation Conference's (ECAC) Document 30.
The issue of security in air cargo transport has always been a matter of great importance from the standpoint of safety in civil aviation but it became even more so after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Both ICAO and ECAC recommend that air cargo agents be held responsible for the security of cargoes in member countries. Under aviation directive SHY-150.11 published on 13 June 2002, air cargo agents in Turkey are required to obtain a license from the ministry in compliance with the provisions of that directive. While this is a step in the right direction, there is still much that needs to be done from the standpoint of bringing the areas of cargo agents' activities into compliance with ICAO and ECAC rules.
ARCHIVES: ISSUE 1 | ISSUE 2 | ISSUE 3 | ISSUE 4 | ISSUE 5
|
|
