Demand for new refrigeration solutions and greater transparency from pharmaceutical customers is prompting new developments in both equipment construction and temperature monitoring devices.

Mark Mohr, manager product development and specialty sales for Continental Airlines Cargo, says it will be “interesting to watch” rivals such as American, United and British Airways that have all entered or
re-entered the temperature-controlled market.

Around 90 percent of customers that are using powered refrigeration to shift temperature-sensitive airfreight are moving high-value pharmaceutical or healthcare products, Envirotainer CEO Thomas Persson says.

Despite the global recession, key countries in South America are responding to a new era of growth. Many are fostering foreign direct investment despite political unrest that still inflicts parts of the region.

When this headline popped into my head (writes ACW editor Simon Keeble) I was tempted to phone a friend and ask where I’d heard it. Then I thought Google might provide the answer.

Most trade associations are reducing their fulltime personnel, dismantling regional networks and cutting costs as their memberships fall. Happy to buck this trend, despite the difficult financial climate, is the British International Freight Association, which represents around 1,400 UK-registered forwarders.

OAG, in its updated 2010 global airfreight forecast, suggests the industry will experience an average annual growth rate of 5.3 percent over the next 10 years.

Since March 25 it has been official that Asia’s sixth-largest cargo carrier will turn its back on the maindeck business before the end of this year, but virtually all other decisions about the future of Japan Airlines’ cargo business are still in limbo.

By early July, BP was reported to have spent $2.25 billion – including more than $75 million paid to the US Coastguard – in a bid to stem the flow of oil from a broken well following the explosion of Transocean’s semi-submersible rig Deepwater Horizon off the Louisiana coast.

At the age of 68, and active in airfreight since he was 17, Chris Chapman can claim as long a career in this industry as anyone alive.