Quest for Quality 2021: Air Carriers/Air Freight Forwarders

While the pandemic may have taken a toll on passenger airlines, the air cargo carriers have been busy reeling in the business. Considering all the healthcare supplies, as well as e-commerce and products resulting from increasing global production taking to the skies, demand for air cargo services has reached record highs.

As contributing editor Karen Thuermer reported in her comprehensive State of Air Cargo feature last month in Logistics Management, the most recent International Air Transport Association (IATA) data show that in March 2021, air cargo tonne kilometers flown rose 4.4% above the pre-crisis March 2019 level.

A month later, air cargo data services firm Clive reported that for April 2021, air cargo volumes increased 78% over April 2020 and 1% over April 2019 (pre-COVID) figures. Air cargo carriers have also been racking up impressive revenues. For 2020, IATA estimates revenues hit at a near-record $117.7 billion, up from $102.4 billion in 2019. By comparison, passenger service lost more than $84 billion.

“While this has all been good news for air cargo carriers, high demand for cargo space created capacity constraints and consequential high rates over the past year on a majority of lanes,” says Thuermer. “And while it appears the height of the pandemic crisis is in the rear view, shippers most likely won’t see relief from elevated rates until demand and available capacity level out.”

And although the imbalance of demand, capacity and pricing may have made things a little more challenging for the freight forwarding community, Thuermer reports that now we’re seeing forwarders working closer than ever with shippers and airlines to plan more proactively to avoid disruption of critical transport solutions down the road.

“This year for freight forwarders, it’s all about launching new technology platforms to improve global resiliency in preparation for whatever disruption comes next,” adds Thuermer. No matter what may come our way next, we can be certain that the 18 service providers listed in this category offered world-class service over the last, difficult year in the opinion of Logistics Management readers.

Pulling into the gate this year with highest weight score in the Air Cargo Carriers category we find United Cargo (48.10). United put up top marks in the Value (10.16) and Equipment & Operations (8.84) attribute categories this year, and tied with American Airlines Cargo in the On-time Performance category at 11.25.

Cargolux posted top marks in the Information Technology attribute (8.93), while KLM put up a notable 9.95 in Customer Service to lead the way in this important attribute category this year. FedEx Express was the only carrier to score above the weighted average this year in the Air Express Carriers category, posting an impressive 50.09 total weighted score.

In the Airfreight Forwarders category this year, Ceva Logistics (49.72) and Nippon Express USA (49.59) both posted impressive weighted scores, with Nippon putting up a 12.69 to also lead the way in the Customer Service attribute category this year.

Livingstone International posted top marks in On-time Performance (14.22), XPO Logistics took top billing in Value (10.65), while Pilot Freight Services posted top marks in both Information Technology (9.27) and Equipment & Operations (8.79).