Just a matter of time

Forwarders now accept that Newcastle is a viable UK gateway to world markets, reports Mike King

When Emirates SkyCargo set up a direct daily link from Newcastle to Dubai, managers recognised they would face an uphill battle to convince shippers and forwarders to rethink their London Heathrow-focused air cargo strategies.

It’s now just over two years since its launch in September 2007, and the seventimes-weekly A330 service offering 13-14 tonnes daily uplift has proven a major success, despite the economic downturn.

Volumes in October set a new monthly record, double those of 2008 and November and December were also a long way ahead of 2008 levels, according to Ross Barnett, cargo manager for northern England and Scotland.

He says competitive cargo pricing and the realisation among shippers of the time savings available by avoiding trucking cargo to and from Heathrow have been critical.

"We’ve worked closely with forwarders and shippers to get them to fly north-east cargo on a north-east service using our global connections via our hub at Dubai, " he says.

"The biggest competition is Heathrow and some forwarders have tonnage commitments to airlines there. Some also use European hubs.

"If you send freight to the forwarder’s gateway at Heathrow, the shipment requires processing by the forwarder’s gateway, then submitting to whatever carrier it is using. Therefore, flying ex-Newcastle, the time saving would be 24 hours at least."

Servisair, Emirates’ UK ground handler, provides next-day pick-up and delivery around the UK, with the trucking element bookable from origin for inbound cargo.

"Servisair does all our UK haulage imports and exports moving from one airport to another, if space constraints mean we need to move a Heathrow shipment elsewhere, for example, " says Barnett.

Inbound cargo on the service doubled in 2009, although exact tonnage figures are not available.

Personal effects, textiles and electronics featured heavily, with Newcastle now used as a gateway for destinations as far south as Manchester.

As 2009 progressed, says Barnett, shippers bringing cargo in from China saw that a direct service into the north-east made more sense than consolidation at Heathrow and trucking long distances, particularly as capacity from China to Heathrow tightened in the final quarter of 2009.

For exports, the most popular destinations are India, China and Australia, with the region’s successful pharmaceutical industry prominent, and exports of oil well equipment and car parts from Nissan’s Sunderland plant also offering substantial volumes.

"It took a while to build relationships, " he adds.

"Once we got started and put some pricing incentives in place, and they realised how quick the transit at Dubai was, volumes really started to increase from last summer towards our record October."