British Airways World Cargo – Supporting business growth in Europe

Based in La Coruña on the northern tip of Spain, Inditex is one of the world’s largest distributors of fashion garments and supplier to retailers including Zara, Massimo Dutti and Bershka. Delivering clothing to over 2700 stores across 62 countries twice a week means that the group’s ability to sustain its growth strategy and to react quickly to changing demand patterns and fashion trends depends on the ability of its partners to offer creative and flexible solutions to its logistics and capacity needs. Airfreight plays a crucial role in this. In fact, in 2005 alone, the Spanish textiles giant shipped a staggering 75,000 tonnes of fashion goods by air.

In 2004, BA World Cargo commenced regular shipments for Inditex to supply high street outlets in Japan using a scheduled B747 freighter from Vitoria and connecting with British Airways passenger services to Tokyo. As Inditex required further uplift to destinations such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Canada and Hong Kong, BA World Cargo was able to set up a B757 freighter service from Oporto linking into British Airways’ global passenger network.

One of Inditex’s most pressing logistics problems was the need to increase uplift to the key Greek market. To address this, BA World Cargo added additional stopovers to one of its Hong Kong-bound B747 freighters in Oporto and Athens. This radically improved the Greek imbalance, offering a stable and reliable proposition that supported the retailer’s business model.

Today, BA World Cargo operates four weekly B757 freighters and one weekly B747 freighter from Oporto in support of Inditex’s business. The group now moves up to 600 tonnes of airfreight per month with BA World Cargo and, together with their forwarding experts Van Esch Iberica, the three partners continue to explore further areas of cooperation.

This example demonstrates some of BA World Cargo’s key strategic priorities and the competencies the carrier brings to both existing and new EU member states.

As in the case of Inditex, BA World Cargo aims to align its network to the needs of customers in the accession countries. This means having the right capacity operating in the right places at the right times. The recent expansion of its European short-haul freighter network further increased capacity from the East European gateways of Prague and Frankfurt, where additional A300 freighter rotations were introduced in response to customer demand. These link into BA’s global passenger network, allowing for next-day connections to over 50 long-haul destinations in the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. The short-haul freighter programme is complemented by BA World Cargo’s scheduled point-to-point B747F services from Frankfurt, providing customers with freighter capacity to Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Hong Kong, Delhi, Dubai and Shanghai and catering for project shipments and outsized cargo as well as regular business flows.

Access to these gateways is guaranteed through BA World Cargo’s extensive network of scheduled and ad hoc road feeder services from almost any city in the new EU member states. New origins are frequently added to the schedule in line with customer demand and in addition, cost and time effective factory pick-ups are offered for both regular and project shipments.

The right network and capacity must be complemented by investments into products that meet the requirements of customers in the new EU member states. The express and parcel market in these countries is forecast to see double-digit growth over the next five years and BA World Cargo’s UK£15 million investment in a new premium facility at London Heathrow will allow the carrier to meet the growing customer demand with reliable and world class products. Express shipments from numerous airports in the new EU member states will be handled speedily through the new high-tech facility, allowing for same day connections to a network spanning nearly 200 destinations in over 80 countries.

Other product improvements include a recent UK£1 million investment in BA World Cargo’s perishables handling business. This included the launch of a new product, Constant Fresh, and improved infrastructure at its Perishables Handling Centre at London Heathrow, offering a definitive product, high standards and increased handling capacity.

The product range is under constant review and developed in direct response to customer demand. From providing exceptionally high security for valuable shipments from Poland to regularly shipping tropical fish from the Czech Republic to worldwide destinations, BA World Cargo adds value for its customers, helping them to become faster and more efficient and improving their business by integrating the carrier further into the supply chain.

BA World Cargo sales and customer service teams bring together a worldwide network and strong product range. There are BA World Cargo sales and customer service teams in nearly all new EU member states, offering freight forwarders and manufacturers professional advice on logistics solutions in a challenging infrastructure environment. BA World Cargo professionals constantly strive to meet their customers’ needs and this example from Poland demonstrates this commitment.

On opening a new facility for the production of injection moulds in Poland, a US blue chip manufacturer needed a cost-effective solution to shipping its product on a regular basis to its factories in North America. Following an approach by their forwarding partners, BA World Cargo secured capacity on the BA passenger network for a weekly shipment of 7.5 tonnes. The local BA World Cargo team then set up a direct pick-up by truck from the customer’s facility in the north of the country directly to BA World Cargo’s gateways for Eastern Europe in Frankfurt and Prague. This logistical solution met both the shipper’s requirements for a four-day transit time to the final destination and reduced cost, as terminal charges and trucking costs could be minimised by circumventing Warsaw. In total, some 540 tonnes of injection moulds were moved by BA World Cargo from Northern Poland to the US in 2005 and customer satisfaction has been extremely high with 98 percent of shipments flown as booked.