Good news, bad news

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/1998

There is good news and bad news for airfreight forwarders in this year's Quest for Quality survey. The bad news is that 50 percent of the participants report that they plan to shift from air freight to other, less costly modes of transportation. The good news is that 46 percent of the respondents say they will use more air freight in order to satisfy their customers' needs.

The 1998 survey provides other good news for forwarders. Eighteen percent of the respondents say that they will shift more volume to forwarders, while only 5.0 percent plan to shift volume to integrators and 4.0 percent plan a shift to airlines.

This news comes at a time when buyers are giving their forwarders lower average marks than they have in the past few years. As always, the forwarders were measured in several service categories, reflected in the accompanying chart. This year, for the first time in the Quest for Quality survey, the scores were weighted to reflect the relative importance of each to shippers. Thus, shippers who responded to the survey rated the importance of each category on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 as very important), and the average weight was multiplied by the unweighted score given in each category, based on a three-point scale, to provide a weighted score. Carriers qualified for a "Best of the Best" award by scoring above the average total weighted score for all companies. (The weights assigned to each category are listed in the footnote to the chart.)

The majority of airfreight buyers measure four areas of their transportation programs. According to the survey, 88.0 percent measure on-time door-to-door service. Eighty-six percent measure competitive rates and 62.0 percent monitor problem resolution. Billing accuracy is measured by 55.0 percent of the survey participants.

Few airfreight shippers employ formal quality programs to monitor these areas. According to the survey, quality programs are used by 25.0 percent of the airfreight buyers, which amounts to the lowest percentage of shippers in any mode.

In terms of selecting an air carrier or freight forwarder, shippers report that information technology is a more important attribute than a provider's equipment and operations. The two most important priorities for carrier selection are on-time performance and value.

1998 "Best of the Best" Airfreight Forwarders

Carrier On-Time Value Info Customer Equipment Total* Performance Tech Service & Operations

Eagle USA 10.54 7.52 3.28 6.37 3.35 31.07

Expeditors International 10.38 7.65 3.83 6.59 3.83 32.27

Fritz Cos. 9.96 7.38 3.84 6.37 3.45 30.99

Kuehne & Nagel 9.89 7.10 3.50 6.91 3.59 31.00

Pilot Air Freight 10.51 7.78 3.43 6.30 3.40 31.41

Team Air Express 11.13 8.15 3.51 7.41 3.68 33.87

Average 9.97 7.19 3.44 6.34 3.40 30.35

*Totals may be greater than the sums of the individual scores because of rounding.N.B. All scores are weighted. Weighted scores are determined by multiplying average raw scores by average weighted importance of each attribute (1 = least important, 5 = most important). Attribute weights for this category: On-time performance, 4.7; Value, 3.6; Info tech, 1.8; Customer service, 3.1, Equipment & operations, 1.7.