The staff shortage slowing down air cargo and bags

When photos of the world’s largest cargo plane surfaced reduced to a smoldering shellat Hostomel Airport in Ukraine, Dan Morgan-Evans recalled how many times his company had chartered him for urgent cargo deliveries.

This includes the transport of personal protective equipment (PPE) and antigen testing during the pandemic – but also plastic Christmas trees, explains the Group Director of Cargo at Air Charter Service.

Ahead of the 2021 Christmas shopping season, the Antonov An-225 Mirya made four flights from China to Ireland, carrying 130 tons of plastic Christmas trees on each trip. At the time, high street retailers were under enormous pressure to get products into stores.

“Those were some of the last charters we’ve done with it as a company,” says Mr. Morgan-Evans. “It was madness.”

Air freight has always been considered the ultimate – and most expensive – option for people who want to move goods quickly.

Trouble in the container shipping industry as a result of the pandemic has pushed more companies towards air freight, but it too faces challenges.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the cargo-handling industry lost thousands of workers during the pandemic. Consequently, there is now a “severe shortage” of skilled ground handlers to move goods.

Niall van de Wouw, Chief Air Freight Officer at Xeneta, highlights the shortage as a key issue.

“There’s enough capacity in the air, but not the capacity on the ground,” he says, saying the current situation is something of a “bottleneck.”

“Whether it’s truck drivers, ship or plane loaders, or warehouse workers, there seems to be a global problem in finding operational staff at the lower end of the pay scale,” he adds.

He suggests that some of these problems are self-inflicted for the industry, caused by the continued undervaluation of cargo handling as a service and maintaining a system where staff are poorly paid.

Many cargo handling companies are keeping a low profile about the situation. IAG Cargo recently announced its “biggest recruitment campaign ever” with 500 positions available. However, a spokeswoman declined to comment on the plans.

Another company, dnata, is “not immune to the human resources challenges facing the industry” but is “relatively well positioned” to meet those challenges, a spokeswoman says.

While a spokesman for Swissport commented that the company “is not experiencing staffing shortages to the extent that cargo operations are affected”.

“To attract someone to a particular deal, you have to offer attractive terms,” ​​says Peter Drummond, baggage director at technology company Sita.

Mr Drummond adds that there is also currently a shortage of passenger baggage handlers. It takes time to recruit these workers and carry out the necessary security checks, he notes.

Rates of mishandling – when bags are left behind or sent to the wrong place – before hopefully being reunited with their owners, increased in 2021 versus 2020, according to Sita.

The number of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers rose to 4.35 from a low of 3.5. However, it remains below the 5.6 rate recorded in 2019 and well below the 2007 rate of 18.88.

While the likelihood of your baggage being mishandled on an international flight is 4.5 times higher than on a domestic flight, the likelihood of it happening at all remains “quite slim,” argues Mr Drummond.

He also suggests that despite staff shortages, the airline industry is investing more in technology like that offered by Sita, which automatically tracks bags as they move through airport systems.

Aside from staffing, there are other pressures on the sector right now.

Jess Nitsche, a Southern California photographer and designer, owns Aixela Studio, which sells photo prints, home decor and clothing online.

Some of their products are printed in China and then shipped to the US, but lead times have doubled, she says, adding, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep my business open next year.”

Ms Nitsche uses air freight to ship her products overseas, but says it’s far less reliable than domestic shipping.

She has been advised that the delays are partly due to disinfection processes affecting shipments in some parts of the world. Chinese authorities have insisted packages be disinfected, although experts warn the risk of contracting Covid-19 at the post office is very low.

Some companies that can afford it choose to purchase their own cargo aircraft or specifically charter aircraft.

Air charter service has seen a huge surge in business, says Morgan-Evans, estimating that volumes are up about 400% in 2021.

Unlike some air freight options, charter companies can and do airports to ensure they have staff on hand to load and unload these premium flights when needed to ensure timely deliveries, says Mr Morgan-Evans.

More technology of business:

Helane Becker, chief executive of market analysis firm Cowen, predicts that demand for logistics services will cool off year-on-year after an “unprecedented” situation in late 2022.

And while Mr Morgan-Evans hopes to see continued appetite for chartered freight services in the final quarter of the year, he concedes that rising inflation could reduce overall consumer demand.

He wonders whether people are still willing to pay high prices for certain products in view of rising inflation, adding: “It’s a kind of waiting, it could go either way for us.”