ACL Airshop, a global provider of ULD (Unit Load Device) solutions, reached a significant milestone this year, marking its 40th anniversary. From its humble beginnings, the company has emerged as a key player in the ULD market, boasting a strong global network, innovative technologies, and a high-performance culture.
“It has taken 40 years for ACL Airshop to arrive at its highly competitive, intentionally transformed status today. It has taken FOUR decades of steady growth investments, plus a uniquely effective entrepreneurial culture,” Steve Townes, President and CEO of ACL Airshop, said. The company’s journey started as “Airline Container Leasing” (ACL) before merging with Airshop BV in the Netherlands, creating ACL Airshop and expanding its international presence.
Global coverage
ACL Airshop has evolved into a major player in the ULD market, owning, maintaining, and leasing more than 70,000 ULDs across over 55 airport hub locations worldwide. Its services network has grown from 23 airport hub locations in 2016 to 57 at present, with further expansion plans. This growth trajectory builds on the company’s heritage as a leasing specialist, offering both short-term solutions and long-term ULD management contracts.
Townes emphasised that a key factor in ACL Airshop’s success is its people. “The secret? In a word: PEOPLE,” he stated. “People are the priceless soul of any successful enterprise, and in ACL Airshop we are proving that every day.”
The company’s ethos revolves around exceptional customer service and strong teamwork.
“Delivery of services cannot be done correctly without well-trained, highly experienced teams of personnel who love their jobs and love this industry,” Jos Jacobsen, ACL Airshop’s managing director and chief operating officer for Eastern Hemisphere operations and global leasing, explained.
READ: Providing custom ULD solutions for 40 years
Keeping competitive
In a rapidly evolving ULD market, ACL Airshop has stayed ahead of the competition by focusing on five key principles: expanding their network, growing their inventory of lease-ready ULDs, dominating short-term leasing solutions, advancing customer-facing technology innovations, and maintaining a positive work environment.
“Managing fleet imbalances is all about being data-driven with effective logistics technologies, using speedy reporting systems, and continuous communication,” Jacobsen added.
“It takes good systems, and it takes action. For example, we recently assisted a major air cargo customer who was having coordination difficulties at a huge hub airport in North America. We sent a senior-level “triage team” there to join with the customer’s leaders and with the leaders of their largest handler in the giant ecosystem of that airport,” Townes explained.
The company’s commitment to embracing the digital era is evident through its innovative technology offerings. “Customers have grown to expect their service partners to be more and more tech-savvy,” Townes stated.
Easy as Uber
ACL Airshop was an early adopter of Bluetooth tracking and tracing, and their award-winning app, FindMyULD, has been integral in enhancing customer experiences. “It’s all about timely and measurable results,” Townes explained.
“Uberisation” – That’s one of ACL Airshop’s favourite terms, coined in relation to the digitalisation wave that is sweeping air cargo now. “The industry is quickly playing catch-up, and it’s a very healthy new quick-moving trend,” Townes said.
“We want leasing a ULD from us to be as easy as calling up an Uber ride, linked simultaneously into our global inventory, our worldwide hubs, and our financial ERP systems. That’s where we are heading as reasonably fast as possible. “UBERISATION” of the air cargo ecosystem,” he highlighted.
Examining the digitalisation of the airfreight industry, Jacobsen warned that companies must “invest in technology and keep advancing, or somebody will eat your lunch.”
Pointing to remarks from one of ACL Airshop’s outside investors, Townes claimed that to be a market leader and advance and grow, you must also be a technology leader.
As the whole industry becomes better, faster and more efficient, technology stops being an additional element and becomes a necessity to thrive and ensure the customer has the highest possible service available to them.
READ: ACL Airshop celebrates 40th anniversary
Evolving attitudes
Still calling Greenville, South Carolina home, ACL Airshop can draw parallels to how the major business centre has evolved and adapted. Just as Greenville has become a friendly hub for global businesses, ACL Airshop has become an international industry, linked around the world from GSP Airport’s impressive air cargo centre.
Looking to the future, Townes envisions further growth for ACL Airshop while maintaining a focus on its core values. The company will continue to invest in technology, expand its network, and explore potential acquisitions that align with its growth trajectory.
“The company’s short-term solutions satisfy many urgent needs in the tumultuous ecosystem of air cargo, while our long-term contracts yield cost-efficienct and stable logistics improvements for clients,” Townes stated. “Thus, our strategic vision remains the same, we are simply larger, faster, and better than we were 5-10 years ago, and we will stay on that upward trajectory of continuous improvement.”
“We are a growth “platform” to which other enterprises can be bolted-on. Especially if a deal would give us a leap-frogging result into adjacent technologies such as cold chain, or other airport-centric and airline-centric hybrid leasing solutions on specialty equipment,” Jacobsen continued.
Amidst all of the changes and fluctuations within the airfreight market, Townes is clear that “one common denominator will stay constant: taking care of our people. That is our mantra as an employer.”
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