Total Cargo Management provider TCE has argued that airlines entering new cargo markets need integrated handling, supplier and customer-service capability in place before they start selling capacity, not after.
TCE ARGUES NEW CARGO MARKETS DEMAND OPERATIONAL READINESS, NOT JUST SALES
TCE, a Total Cargo Management (TCM) provider to airline cargo operations, has argued that airlines launching services in a new region need a functioning cargo organisation in place before their first shipment moves, rather than treating market entry as primarily a sales exercise of appointing a general sales and service agent (GSSA) and publishing capacity. In a company position piece, Sarah Scheibe, TCE’s Managing Director, wrote that an airline does not genuinely enter a market when it begins selling capacity but when it can deliver a dependable service from booking through to final handover, and that new entrants face freight forwarders who already have preferred carriers and established expectations.
HANDLING, SUPPLIERS AND PROCEDURES COME BEFORE SALES TARGETS
According to TCE, a successful market entry starts with identifying real demand, the customers who control it, and the service levels they expect, work TCE says its teams carry out by combining market intelligence with an assessment of whether handling, documentation and supplier networks already in place can support that demand. TCE argues that the choice of ground handling partner is critical, since a handler that performs well under normal conditions can struggle once volumes rise or when it lacks processes for temperature-sensitive, valuable or dangerous goods, weaknesses the company says typically surface only after launch, when they are expensive to fix. TCE says its approach also requires clear procedures agreed in advance among the airline, GSSA, ground handler, trucking companies, security providers and customs specialists, covering who approves special cargo, who responds to incomplete documentation and who manages disruption, on the basis that responsibility cannot be improvised once cargo is already in the warehouse. Scheibe’s piece closes on the line: “New markets reward preparation. Everything else is recovery.”
Note: TCE describes itself as operating across more than 230 airports and overseeing more than 150,000 tonnes of cargo annually. WAN was not supplied with, and could not independently verify, any specific airline client, route or contract underlying this piece; it is presented here as the company’s general market positioning rather than as news of a particular deal.
Source and Images: TCE
