operators like Jan de Rijk, Arthur Welter, Wallenborn, DB Schenker, Panalpina and others. They basically have three choices to survive:
1 the independent: deciding on standing alone as long as possible operating as a niche player;
2 becoming a subcontractor of one of the larger enterprises;
3 joining forces and forming their own alliances.
Road Feeder service 75
unemployment rate, which led to a sharp drop in private consumption, Spain has been badly hit by massive import problems. There is simply a lack of buying power, hurting the entire economy, he stated. However, the manager also mentioned a light at the end of the dark tunnel: ‘Spanish exports are running very well, up 14 per cent in average yearonyear.’
So despite the current crisis in Spain, Portugal and most of southern Europe, there is still a substantial market demand for transporting goods across the old continent, he concluded. This could ensure the basic capacity utilization of trucking services on the North–South corridor. In addition, this initial tonnage could be supplemented by intercontinental air freight shipments. This was the basic and simple idea behind the strategic pact formed between the RunAir Group and Ibertinsa. Indeed, many shipments arriving in Frankfurt on board Lufthansa Cargo’s fleet, AirBridgeCargo’s, Cathay Pacific’s freighter aircraft or those of other carriers serving Rhine
Main, Madrid or Barcelona are transit cargoes that need onward transpor
tation to get to their final consignees.
According to Ibertinsa’s Manuel Corominas and his RunAir counterparts Sven Zelmer and Detlef Warburg, there is a huge opportunity to tap a great portion of this road feeder volume running from Germany to Spain and vice versa by collaborating closely. ‘We have the trucks and the drivers, the tonnage is there, so let’s go,’ Corominas concluded. How this is functioning practically is demonstrated by Amsterdambased forwarding agent Interport BV that partnered some time ago with Ibertinsa by forming a joint venture.
‘We managed to become the market leader in air freight trucking between the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal,’ reported Interport’s MD Wilma Bram at the Hamburg gathering. She had more impressive figures to present: ‘Our claim ratio is 0.02 per cent on average and 99.2 per cent of the entire loads are delivered on time to their customers,’ Wilma said.
Something similar will now be set up between the RunAir Group and Ibertinsa on trucking routes between Germany and Spain, although not as joint venture but on pure marketing conditions. Operationally this means that the eight members comprising the RunAir Group will feed all shipments originating from Germany and going to Spain into Frankfurt for consolidation. This includes linehaul trucking services from places like Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich and other major German cities to RhineMain. Once in Frankfurt these domestically produced goods will be bundled to new loads by combining them with the intercontinental volumes arriving by air and destined for the Iberian Peninsula. ‘Through this move we extend our mainly domestic network considerably by tapping into the Spanish market,’ stated RunAir’s MD Detlef Warburg.
The necessary infrastructure is in place with Ibertinsa providing trucks and drivers. RunAir’s task is to manage the entire road feeder service between Germany and Spain through the group’s Frankfurt office. As agreed between the two parties these scheduled trucking services linking Rhine
Main with Barcelona’s and Madrid’s airports are three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. ‘We guarantee a driving time of 48 hours each way between the three gateways. For beyond shipments going to Seville, Valencia or other Spanish cities we need an additional 24 hours,’ said Ibertinsa’s MD Corominas. He announced integrating Portugal in the panEuropean linehaul service after the Spain runs have been established.
Strategic plans for expanding the operational network are a rather small but promising step in Ibertinsa’s and RunAir’s mutual fight against the ongoing economic crisis in most parts of southern Europe and their joint effort to stay in the highly competitive market of European RFS.
Conclusions
Although there has been much discussion over the last 30 years on substituting rail transport for road feeder, the truck remains the most flexible and cost
effective way of linking airports with customers. However, a rail connection between China and Europe has been successfully started and others may well follow in the future. We have seen how the trucking sector is calling out for change, and it is our conclusion that only through effective communica
tion and joint efforts can trucking companies, ground handlers and airports become once again efficient and effective tools for the airlines in improving capability to compete. Days not hours can be saved in the logistics supply chain if this could happen. The examples from Europe may not apply to other regions of the world, due to local roads, regulations, traffic flows and the distances involved. All countries, however, share the same basic need to take export goods to the airport or sea port and to collect and distribute imports. In the global market, efficient road transport becomes increasingly important as logistics companies are forced to deliver goods faster and without mistakes.