The City of Lights – Paris – will be the stage for The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) 28th Air Cargo Forum (ACF) & Exhibition and it is set to be the biggest yet.
ACF will be held from 26-28 October at Porte de Versailles in the centre of the French capital and the nation’s logistics hub, close to the city’s most recognisable landmark – the Eiffel Tower.
Paris is home to the busiest cargo hub in Europe in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, which was ranked as the ninth busiest freight gateway in the globe last year by the Airports Council International.
This year’s ACF is entitled Air Cargo Vision 2020: An open sky to innovation and the biennial event is set to welcome more than 3,000 airfreight decision makers and more than 200 exhibitors from around the world, who will network and address the principal industry challenges and explore further business opportunities.
The conference will take place over three days and feature a who’s who of speakers from across the supply chain including from airlines, freight forwarders, shippers, cargo handlers, IT providers, airports and other parts of the chain.
Sessions in the conference will include discussions focusing on e-business, multimodal challenges, the cargo hub of the future, as well as practical workshops on the new EU Customs rules and the latest on security regulations.
TIACA’s secretary general, Doug Brittin who is retiring from his role at the end of this year, explains (pictured above): “TIACA represents all sections of the air cargo supply chain and the ACF is a unique opportunity for logistics decision makers to find ways of moving cargo more efficiently, meet new suppliers, and network.
“This year’s seminar and workshop series will tackle trends affecting our industry and give up-to-date information on regulations affecting us all.”
Among the exhibitors this year are Aeroports de Paris, Air Charter Service, Air Logistics Group, ATC Aviation, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Boeing, Brussels Airport, ECS Group, and Emirates Skycargo.
ACF will feature conference sessions on a range of subjects and focus on the key issues, kicking-off on Wednesday, 26 October at 9am with the opening plenary, when TIACA chairman, Sanjiv Edward will welcome delegates.
A debate will then take place on what are the most important issues facing the industry and how air cargo should prepare for the challenges of the next five years.
TIACA’s secretary general, Doug Brittin will be joined by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Dr Fang Liu and World Customs Organization deputy secretary general, Sergio Mujica for the discussion.
The second session – Air Cargo: What lies ahead? – will focus on the growth of e-tail and shifting consumer models and ask what will we see in the future?
Jan de Rijk Logistics chief executive officer and TIACA vice chairman, Sebastiaan Scholte (pictured above) will be joined by Boeing’s vice president for marketing, Randy Tinseth; Airbus head of freighter marketing, Oliver Von-Tronchin; and Seabury Group senior vice president, Marco Bloemen. They will share their views on the challenges ahead to help shape business plans in the coming years.
Next the session Disruptive Innovation – an inspirational roadmap for tomorrow’s leaders – will see topics covered like advanced robotics, RFID tracking, self-learning algorithms and optimisation, security and data products and integration.
Unisys vice president for logistics solutions, Christopher Shawdon will be joined a panel including Air Canada Cargo vice president, Lise-Marie Turpin.
After lunch, the new EU Union Customs Code (UCC) will be explained. The UCC will have an impact on businesses importing and exporting within the European Union and members of the panel will talk about the new rules and give advice on how to be compliant.
Among the panelists will be Volga Dnepr-Airlines vice president, Vladimir Zubkov; KLM Cargo director of operational integrity and division safety and quality, Kester Meijer; and FedEx Express Europe manager of customs regulatory affairs and clearance solutions, Brigitte Iconomoff.
The last conference session of the day will be Multimodal Opportunities & Challenges in Europe where panelists will discuss if sustainability is so important, why are multimodal developments so slow, and with increased night bans, rail developments and the flexibility of trucking – why still fly?
Former TIACA vice chairman, Enno Osinga will chair the debate and be joined by the likes of European Shippers’ Council chairman, Denis Choumert and DB Schenker quality, security and environment manager, Tariel Chamerois.
E-commerce provides air cargo with a significant opportunity and day two on Thursday, 27 October will start off with a debate on the sector, and the session e-Business Challenges will focus on how the industry must reinvent itself to rise to the challenges of e-commerce, which is set to hit $2.3 trillion globally by 2017.
Panelists will gives their thoughts on how airfreight can be faster and smarter when it comes to technology and ask what are the options, where are the bottlenecks and what should the industry be doing to improve.
Kale Logistics chief executive officer (CEO), Amar More will chair and be joined by a panel including IATA’s global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes (pictured above); FedEx managing director, Frank Newman; and Air France-KLM Cargo and Martinair Cargo e-freight project manager, Jean-Louis Salfati.
After lunch, the session Manufacturing and Market Trends that will Shape the Industry will take place and discuss how a blurring of the industrial and the digital revolution is forcing huge developments in manufacturing, driven by disruptive technologies, the industrial internet advanced manufacturing, and big data analysis.
Agility Logistics CEO, Essa Al-Saleh will chair a discussion, which will centre on how the air cargo industry must stay agile and adaptable to keep up with the pace of change and make the most of the opportunities.
Panelists will include Global Shippers’ Forum secretary general, Chris Welsh; Tosoh Corporation manager of supply chain and general affairs, Lars J.T. Droog; and Chanel Fragrances and Beaute head of transportation and customs, Pascal Meyer.
TIACA chairman and head of cargo business at Delhi International Airport, Sanjiv Edward will then chair the last session of day two – The Cargo Hub of the Future.
A panel will discuss with him what role will the next-generation air cargo hub play in supporting the industry as it rises to the challenge of a changing e-business landscape, asking what new technologies will be needed and how airports can be smart hubs.
Shippers will be an integral part of The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) 28th Air Cargo Forum (ACF) & Exhibition from 26-28 October at Porte de Versailles, in Paris.
The Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) will hold workshops as shippers take the spotlight and it will welcome shippers from across the globe, and host a pavilion.
GSF members will also benefit from access to TIACA’s one-to-one meeting scheduler, CargoLinX, which is new for 2016, giving forwarders, airlines and cargo service providers from around the globe the ability to set up to 30 25-minute meetings.
GSF secretary general, Chris Welsh (pictured above) says: “The GSF represents the interests of shippers globally and campaigns on the issues that most affect them. The GSF has taken the lead in air cargo industry cooperation and was a founder member of the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG), established to enhance the air cargo product and to jointly campaign on key issues with regulators and key international organizations such as ICAO and WCO.
“We greatly value our co-operation with TIACA and the ACF is an ideal opportunity for our members to network with suppliers and peers, and take part in practical workshops which will help them run more efficient supply chains.”
Shippers will also feature heavily among the speaker line-up during the conference and will include Chanel Fragrances and Beauté’s head of transportation and customs, Pascal Meyer, and Tosoh Corporation supply chain manager, Lars J.T. Droog who will take part in a discussion on new manufacturing trends.
On Wednesday, 26 October the free workshop run by GSF – Connecting the links to a high-performance supply chain will be held and a panel will debate on how data, quality and interoperability are corner stones for the industry’s performance and how this will drive its future economic success.
Panelist will include Welsh, Cargo iQ executive director, Ariaen Zimmerman (pictured above) and Panalpina global head of airfreight, Lucas Kuehner.
On Thursday, 27 October the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) will also give a briefing on how industry and customers can work together for a smarter airfreight business.
Former TIACA vice chairman, Enno Osinga will chair a debate and among those joining him will be ESC chairman, Denis Choumert, and Brussels Airport Company head of cargo, Steven Polmans who was recently appointed to the TIACA board.
The final day on Friday, 28 October will see two sessions held – the first will be Embracing the Cloud, where a panel will debate what Cloud looks like for air cargo, what does it mean and what are the advantages.
Lastly, a session on Pre-Loading Advance Cargo Information (PLACI) will see experts looks at the most up-to-date information and explain the impact on the supply chain. TIACA secretary general, Doug Brittin will chair and among panelists will be the Airforwarders Association’s director, Brandon Fried.
