Soaring above the crowd

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/2000

Over the past decade, shippers have implemented supply chain management strategies to keep down their inventory stockpiles. This shift in strategy has resulted in a decrease in the actual size of shipments and an increase in the number of shipments. Air-express carriers have been the main beneficiaries of that trend.

When our readers were surveyed this year on which carriers were soaring the highest in the new airfreight environment, they gave top honors to just two: FedEx Express and United Parcel Service. FedEx, with a score of 36.84, and UPS, with a score of 36.57, were well above the average mark of 34.00 for all air-express carriers this year.

Although that overall average score slipped slightly from last year's mark of 34.40, the carriers' ratings improved in the critical category of on-time performance. That grade rose from 11.28 last year to 11.42 this year. The rating for information technology among air-express carriers also climbed, from 4.30 in 1999 to 4.61 in 2000. The equipment and operations score, meanwhile, increased from 3.99 to 4.22.

But express carriers saw their ratings fall for the two other attributes. The value grade declined from 7.91 last year to 7.39 this year, as did the customer-service ranking, which fell from 6.92 to 6.36.

Though the air-express industry has benefited from the changes in the airfreight industry, the airline segment's outlook is mixed. A decline in heavy airfreight shipments is putting the traditional line-haul carriers in a difficult position.

Despite these market difficulties, shippers singled out five carriers for honors: Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways, Trans World Airlines, and USAirways. The overall score for airlines fell from last year's mark of 32.67 to 31.86 this year.

Although the carriers' rating for information technology rose from 4.04 to 4.13 this year and the equipment and operations score increased from 3.81 to 3.92, the ratings diminished for other attributes. The carriers' on-time performance score declined from 10.55 last year to 10.45 this year. The value rating also dropped, from 7.68 to 7.22 this year, as did the customer-service measure, which fell from 6.60 to 6.13.