The Second Logistics Conference in Saint Petersburg

ACEX Group organized the second international logistics conference in Saint Petersburg.  Specialists for international airfreight from China, Japan, Germany, Ukraine, USA, Azerbaijan, France, Taiwan, UAE, Italy and Spain met the Russian freight forwarding companies, as well as with the representatives of the biggest airlines and terminals.

The conference business program consisted of two parts: plenary session and business negotiations aimed at establishing cooperation between the leaders of aviation industry from different countries all over the world.

The representatives from “Aeroflot”, “AirBridgeCargo”, “Air Charter Service”, “Global GSA group” made their presentations. The heads and top-managers from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, as well as from the Russian regions: Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Kazan and other took part in the discussion. The conference was also attended by the heads of logistics companies from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

Among international guests there were the following companies: ARAMEX (UAE), Quick Cargo Service (Germany), Hankyu Hanshin (Japan), Fans Trans (Hong Kong), ASE AIR SEA (Taiwan), MIG Express (USA), Sparber (Spain), World Cargo (Italy), Clasquin (France), Marmedsa (Spain, Portugal). They knew more about peculiarities of the Russian logistics procedures and got detailed information about the biggest international airports, terminals, airlines and logistics hubs in Russia and the CIS countries.

The plenary session was headed by Oleg Dunaev, the Chairman of the logistics committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and Miroslav Zolotarev, the Head of ACEX Group. Oleg Dunaev suggested discussing specific ways of cooperation in the sphere of airfreight transportations between the Russian regions and other countries of the world. He also presented the idea of Trans-logistics platform creation in the field of airfreight transport on the basis of the Russian airports, domestic and foreign airlines, transport and forwarding companies and other professional players of the airfreight market.

The current situation on the airfreight market was estimated by Lev Bondarev, the Head of representative office of Global GSA Group, which act for 15 airlines operating in 10 airports of Russia. He pointed out general decrease in cargo turnover of both airlines and airports in Russia by one third from January 2015 in comparison with the same period of the previous year; focus shifting towards domestic market, recession in demand for import and as a consequence leaving of foreign airlines from the Russian market as they faced decrease in cargo turnover in greater degree than the Russian companies. According to Lev Bondarev, positive dynamics of airfreight market depends on the development of the Russian airports as international hubs, as well as on widening of route network and service package of airlines.

Andrey Danilov, the Head of Cargo and Mail Department for Aeroflot in Saint Petersburg, highlighted the position of the leading airline “Aeroflot”. He noted that his company is developing thanks to integration of other companies into Aeroflot group, developing of own sales and logistics services such as bonded transit and introduction of unified operational technologies.

Vasily Borychev, the Senior import sales manager for the biggest Russian freight airline “AirBridgeCargo”, presented the concept of “Volga-Dnepr” group as a “cargo supermarket” in the air freight field, integrating transport, logistics and engineering solutions for delivery of special, oversized, heavy, as well as general cargo by air, including use of own trucks, repairing and maintenance of aircraft fleet and provision of complex door-to-door logistics services by using resources of airlines in cooperation with the partners.

Dmitry Nikulin, the Head of airfreight charter for “Air Charter Service”, the winner of the Air Cargo Week Award, informed about possibility of charter flights inclusion into the system of airfreight transportations.

The representatives of foreign operators also took part in the discussion. Safwan Tannir, the CEO of the biggest international operator Aramex (UAE), informed about positive experience in cargo terminal construction in Dubai and logistics development in the Middle East. According to Safwan Tannir, construction of the airport as a hub allowed to develop logistics of air cargo in the region, stimulate airlines and create beneficial terms for them, in particular, it helped Emirates to become the biggest international cargo carrier and rank the first in the world in this sphere.

Boris Karpovich, the Deputy managing director for the Association of Air Transport Operators, the head of working group for air transportation under the Logistics committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Russia, also took part in the discussion. The participants of the conference were Alexander Lisin, the Head of the Russian Intermodal Association, Nikolay Rodionov and Alexey Malenko, the representatives of Pulkovo cargo terminal, who also participated in the negotiations with ACEX members.The second part of the business program was devoted to face-to-face meetings between the participants and discussion of practical cooperation in business, financing and operational procedures. According to Miroslav Zolotarev, the Head of ACEX Group, face-to-face meetings help the participants to cooperate and solve vital business issues, as well as increase their cargo traffic and improve their services.

The role of the Alliance is to help the market participants to build out their business relations and create model of supply chain management between Russia and other countries.

Besides business program, the participants took part in the informal events of the conference: they went on a sightseeing tour to Peterhof on a high-speed boat, saw cascades of famous fountains. In addition the conference participants were invited for an evening dinner at a luxurious restaurant on a boat which floated along the Neva under the drawbridges of night Saint Petersburg.

The conference organizers invited the participants to take part in the next events: Eurasian logistics conference in March 2016 and the third international conference of ACEX in April 2016.

ABOUT ACEX CONFERENCE:

International conference of ACEX is an annual platform for business cooperation and widening of the world agency network for the Russian logistics companies and international freight forwarding companies from all over the world. The conference enables to get knowledge “at first hand” about logistics peculiarities, local market, customs specifics, geography of different regions of the world, as well as to find a reliable partner abroad. The conference page: http://acexgroup.net/conference/