Close to 30 international senior executives from various areas of the air cargo industry, have confi rmed their participation in the 13th Air Freight Asia 2007 Conference in Hong Kong, which will take place in the ballroom of the Regal Airport Hotel on September4 and September 5.
The 13th edition of this biennial trade event will be offi cially opened by Stanley Hui, chief executive offi cer of Hong Kong International Airport and former CEO of Dragonair. The latest to confi rm his participation in the AFA 2007 Conference is Zhang Zhifeng, senior vice president cargo of China Southern Airlines. The largest carrier in China also confi rmed its participation as an exhibitor in this trade event. Zhang, who is participating as an Air Freight Asia panel member for the second time, will join Hong Kong Shippers’ Council chairman, Willy Lin (also a previous speaker at Air Freight Asia) and air cargo and logistics veteran, Guenter Rohrmann, the former DHL executive and chairman of Cargo Network Services, the US cargo arm of IATA. Other panel members include Traxon managing director, Felix Keck and the vice president sales & marketing of United Airlines Cargo, Neel Shah.
Moderator for the Round Table Discussion and AFA 2007 organiser, Nol van Fenema said: "We are very pleased to have such a distinguished group of air cargo executives participating in this part of the programme. Their wide experience in this industry will ensure that the discussions on a wide range of subjects will be fast and furious. Just like the panel members of the Round Table Discussion on the fi rst day of the Air Freight Asia Conference."
Also leading the Round Table Discussion on September 5, van Fenema added that the mix of panel members in the Round Table Discussion on the second day of the conference is defi nitely as impressive as on September 4, when HAFFA chairman and DHL Express executive Kelvin Leung will be joined by Gary So, director and general manager of leading logistics solutions provider Kerry Logistics, Michael Steen, the recently appointed senior vice president and chief marketing offi cer of ACMI giant Atlas Air and Dutchman Onno Boots, the regional vice president Southeast Asia of TNT Express.
The latest executive to join this part of the programme is the recently appointed vice president cargo of India’s most successful carrier Jet Airways, Jay Shelat, who joined the Mumbai-based airline from American Airlines Cargo.
The Air Freight Asia 2007 Conference, which will be opened in the Regal Airport Hotel on Tuesday, September 4 with a key note address by the chief executive offi cer of Hong Kong International Airport and cargo veteran, Stanley Hui, has two sessions on the fi rst day and three on the second followed by the Round Table Discussions after lunch.
"Some executives in these sessions have previously participated in Air Freight Asia, but their presentations and knowledge of the industry are second to none," explained van Fenema. "We are delighted to have them on the programme as their views and vision about the industry have always proved to be massive added value to the delegates attending this event."
"The Chinese Market Challenge" session on the fi rst day of the Conference, which will be chaired by Gerard de Wit, managing director of WorldACD Market Data, will see BALtrans chairman, Anthony Lau share the stage with Rudolf Tewes, general manager of Shenzhen-based cargo airline, Jade Cargo, Andrey Goryashko, chief executive offi cer of Aerofl ot Cargo and Olivier Houri, president of the Global Transportation Division of Unisys.
The second session on the fi rst day, "The Magic of Air Freight Liberalisation" brings together some of the most experienced air cargo executives in the industry, who at some point in the discussion are expected to wholeheartedly disagree about the subject of this session. Watch out for a heated debate between Cargolux’s Uli Ogiermann, TIACA’s Jack Boisen, Emirates’ Ram Menen and Northwest Cargo’s Jim Friedel and hopefullythe rest of the delegates!
The admittedly controversial subject of the fi rst session on the second day of the conference "The Boom or Bust Scenario for Airports", which will be chaired by former SWISS Cargo and Swissport executive, Ludwig Bertsch, will feature three speakers who haven’t participated in previous Air Freight Asia conferences: Michael Proffi tt, the chief executive of Dubai Logistics City, who is overseeing part of the mind-boggling project undertaken by the Dubai government to create the world’s largest airport cum logistics centre and associated facilities; Philippe de Backer, chief executive of Lödige Systems, a company which, among other things, designs and manufactures cargo and material handling systems; and Lilian Chan, manager marketing & customer service of Hongkong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL) the largest cargo handling centre in the world.
Speakers in the session "To Feed or not to Feed" will debate whether airlines should operate point-to-point freighters to feed cargo into the main hubs, or fl y directly to the point of manufacturing to pick up the loads. Boeing’s Jim Edgar and Steve Doughty of BAe Systems Regional Aircraft will share this session with former Etihad Airways CEO and LIWA executive, Robert Strodel.
Concluding the second day of the Conference before lunch will be the session "Long Live Logistics" which has already prompted queries whether the title shouldn’t be "Logistics is Dead. Long Live Logistics". Three senior executives, each with extensive experience in logistics, will cover this issue and debate whether logistics in its present form, continues to be an essential part of the transportation chain. Watch out for the presentation by Essa Al Saleh, president & CEO of Agility, Sarosh Nagarvala, treasurer of FIATA and Niko Herrmann, partner at Oliver Wyman consultancy and former head of cargo for Qatar Airways.
"The Air Freight Asia 2007 Conference continues its long standing tradition of bringing together the world’s leading industry players to debate issues that are having an impact on the air cargo industry," said van Fenema. "I am looking forward to an exciting event, which at the same time will offer unique networking opportunities with senior executives based in the booming Asian region."
