The World Trade Center Miami welcomes you to Air Cargo Americas News, offering you updates from the industry and useful information on the 20th year of the Air Cargo Americas Conference and Exhibition.

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Air Cargo Americas & SeaCargo Americas Join Forces
Thousands of air cargo and sea cargo industry leaders and experts will gather in Miami for the first time in history for a concurrent conference and exhibition November 4-6, 2009 with the added excitement of a potential address from President Barack Obama.

Executives from the major aviation, logistics and sea cargo corporations serving the Western Hemisphere are already lining up for the 10th Biennial Air Cargo Americas and the 4th SeaCargo Americas conference and exhibition sponsored by the Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami and the World Trade Center Miami.

The Obama administration has yet to fill dozens of key positions at the World Bank and US Customs, but the organizers of the conferences expect that many top US government officials will join dozens of leaders from Central America, South America, U.S. and the Caribbean to discuss trade, transport, security and logistics issues facing the industry. Charlotte Gallogly, President of the World Trade Center Miami said, “If past is precedent, President Obama will have the rare opportunity to speak to leaders of the hemisphere in trade and transport in one place at one time.” www.seacargoamericas.com www.aircargoamericas.com

The Miami International Airport will again host Air Cargo Americas. The airport, under the leadership of Jose Abreu, has supported the event since its inception.  Abreu believes that the event will increase two-way cargo growth for the Americas by providing a world class forum on international aviation, maritime and logistics issues and showcasing the latest maritime and security products, e commerce solutions, technologies and services.

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport Expands Perishables Center
“Mothers Day was an extremely busy and successful day for Teqflor International Logistics and MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.  Teqflor recently became a tenant at the airport’s new 50,000 square foot cargo processing center located on ramp just 400 meters from the runway.  Teqflor handles warehouse, perishable center, and ground handling for all cargo flights at MidAmerica.  Since October, 2008, weekly Arrow Air Cargo flights from Bogota have been delivering flowers, herbs and dry goods to the airport.  Teqflor has averaged a 2 hour turn around on the flights and have been loaded with goods heading toward all of the Arrow Latin America destinations.  The airport has helped Arrow Air Cargo with Asian carrier interline agreements and since March 2 products from Asia have been getting on the MidAmerica airplane.

The airport perishable center is 9,000 of the 50,000 square feet of the cargo processing center.  Plans are in place to expand the perishable area to 14,000 sq ft by the fall of 2009 due in anticipation of hosting flights from other South American destinations for fruit, fish and vegetables.   Eric Andrews, one of the partners in Teqflor, describes the Midwest location as “a very central, uncongested destination with all of the necessary equipment and operations to host a great cool chain operation.  Midwest customers are very positive about product they receive and Asian users of the south bound service are extremely pleased with the handling and speed to South America.”

2009 Exhibitors List

International Air Cargo Volume May Be Stabilizing
A decline in international air cargo traffic may have bottomed out, the director of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. IATA director Giovanni Bisignani said in a prepared statement that “we may have found the floor” in air cargo volume.

Global cargo volume fell 21.4 percent in March, compared to the same month last year, the fourth consecutive monthly decline exceeding 20 percent, IATA reported. Freight ton kilometers, a measure of cargo volume, fell by 19.3 percent in Latin America in January, February and March, compared to the same three-month period last year.

IATA reported that cargo volume in the January-March period fell by larger percentage amounts, from 20 percent to 29.4 percent, in four other global regions: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe and North America. http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/2009-04-28-01.htm

American Named “Best North American Cargo Airline”
American Airlines’ cargo division has been named “Best North American Cargo Airline” by publication Air Cargo News for the second year in a row.

The award is determined exclusively by freight forwarders. Thousands from more than 90 countries participated in the online voting.

Passenger carrier American Airlines provides more than 100 million pounds of weekly belly cargo capacity to major cities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. http://sev.prnewswire.com

Arrow Cargo Gets MD-11s from Corporate Cousin World Airways
World Airways has signed an agreement to operate two MD-11 freighters for its corporate cousin Arrow Cargo, a leading cargo airline in Miami.

New York-based private equity firm MatlinPatterson owns controlling stakes in Georgia-based World Airways and Arrow Cargo.

The two MD-11 freighters from World Airways will supplement the fleet of Miami-based Arrow, which began the year with six DC-10 freighters and one DC-8. http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-21-2009/0005009886&EDATE=

DHL “Guardedly Optimistic” about Latin American Operations
DHL expects a good performance in a tough market this year from its four cargo airlines in Latin America, Carlos Gamundi, vice president, airlines, DHL Aviation Americas, said in a recent interview.

Gamundi said he is “guardedly optimistic” about the business prospects of cargo airlines Trans Am in Ecuador, DHL de Guatemala, DHL Aero Expreso in Panama and Venezuela-based Vensecar.

“The main thing now is to stay focused and consolidate routings as much as possible,” he said. Among other route consolidations, DHL Aero Expreso has started flying from Miami to Guatemala, then to Costa Rica, instead of a direct return flight.

DHL also has trimmed its flight frequency in Latin America by wet-leasing two Boeing 757 freighters that move more cargo per flight than DHL’s smaller Boeing 727 and ATR-42-300 aircraft in the region. A year ago, for example, “we had more second flights [daily] to Panama. With the 757, we’ve been able to reduce those with the higher capacity,” Gamundi said.

SPOTLIGHT:
Tampa Cargo Plans Fleet Addition, Schedule Expansion
Colombian airline Tampa Cargo plans to add a Boeing 767-300 freighter to its existing fleet of four freighters and to expand its schedule of flights before year-end.

Tampa serves Miami as well as cities in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, and with the addition of the 767-300 to its fleet, “definitely we’re going to serve other destinations,” Tampa commercial director Carlos Arango said in an interview. “We’re working on that.”

A leading cargo carrier at Miami International Airport, Tampa plans to add a converted 767-300 freighter to its fleet of four 767-200 freighters in the third or fourth quarter, ahead of Miami’s seasonal increase in air cargo business near the end of the year.

The planned deployment of a converted 767-300 for Tampa flights later this year is expected to coincide with an improvement in business conditions. After a prolonged period of uneven cargo traffic, “we think the third quarter or the fourth quarter should be normal again,” Arango said.

He said the 767-300 aircraft to be converted from passenger use to freighter configuration has been part of the fleet of Colombian passenger carrier Avianca, which acquired Tampa last year. Avianca has capacity to spare because the airline has taken delivery of two Airbus A330 passenger aircraft since the autumn of 2008, part of its long-term agreement in 2007 to purchase more than 50 Airbus passenger planes.

Arango also said the combination of the two Colombian carriers has increased sales of Avianca belly space, largely because the direct-sales force of Tampa has replaced Avianca’s prior reliance on general sales agents to book cargo sales. “Now Tampa is taking care of the bellies of Avianca, and this gave us a lot more capacity and also gave us many other destinations,” said Arango, who runs the Tampa sales team

Air Cargo Americas provides an outstanding opportunity for you company to showcase its products and services to a targeted group of potential new customers. Sponsorship range from directional banners ($1,000), welcome banners ($2,500), luncheons ($10,000), coffee breaks ($3,000 -$6,000), Air Cargo Americas conference brief cases ($10,000) and receptions ($10,000). To receive further information, please call Charlotte Gallogly at 305-871-7910 or email: info@worldtrade.org. Visit: www.aircargoamericas.com