The Celebi Group continues to grow its customer base through high quality cargo handling and warehouse services, the firm’s chief executive officer, Onno Boots, tells Air Cargo Week.
He explains that the Asia-Turkey market is one of the largest trade lanes for Turkey’s high- tech, automotive and industrial sector, and that Celebi is proud to welcome Korean Air as a customer, thanks to strong connectivity and a ground capacity of 12,000 square metres.
“The pharmaceutical freight market is another critical and high growth segment where Celebi has expanded its cold chain capabilities for increased capacity at the highest service standards,” Boots explains.
“With the addition of new cold rooms and specialised customer service teams, we are developing enhanced cargo services in line with the highest standards for a wide range of temperature controlled products.”
Celebi is developing a strategic investment and growth plan for the next five years. In cargo terms, the company will invest in advanced technologies, network capabilities and infrastructure that will allow customers to become more efficient and reliable across their total supply chain.
“In today’s aviation industry with fluctuating demands, increased competition and changing supply chains we aim to create even more value for our customers and business partners. We are looking forward to the opening of the new airport and are already fully engaged to make this a great and innovative success for Turkey and Celebi,” Boots explains.
The global cargo industry is currently slowing down and changing, he explains, saying that this creates both opportunities and challenges for stakeholders in Turkey.
Boots stresses that cargo has in the past been defined based on the physical shipment and the organisation around it from A to B, but this he says is changing.
“In today’s world, supply chains are increasingly defined based on the end-user requirements. e-commerce for example has penetrated almost all industries, affecting their supply chain designs and logistics approach. With the ‘internet of things’ and ‘3D printing’ this trend will accelerate to an even bigger supply chain transformation in the near future,” he explains.
“The Turkish air cargo industry can make a quantum leap when regulators, investors, operators, carriers, agents and ground handlers are joining forces together. Turkey has a huge potential as a fast developing economy with a big domestic market and international growth,” he adds.
Boots is clear where the industry needs to go to develop and grow in the future. “To make air cargo highly process-driven we need to build efficient and sustainable infrastructures like the new airport, implement simple and smart technologies like e-freight and support industry growth through seamless international and domestic connectivity,” Boots says.
And Celebi he says, has big ambitions and is aiming to reap the rewards that Turkey’s cargo market will bring: “Istanbul and Turkey have been a social, cultural and economic transit point for centuries. Celebi wants to make it the cargo hub of the future, together with our industry partners.”
