Professional ground handling is not a matter of chance. When it comes to ground handling, we hold all the right cards.

Swissport was just named once more Global Aviation Ground Services Company 2008 by the Institute of Transport Management.

In its deliberations to choose the winners of various accolades in the Aviation sector, the Institute canvassed and polled: : 46 National and International Airlines : 8 International Airport General Managers/Directors : 22 Regional Airport General Managers/Directors : 2,450 Passengers : 72 Suppliers to the Aviation Industry

For eight consecutive years, the ITM has honored Swissport with its top award for excellence in airport services. It commends our flexibility, innovative spirit, single-source partnership philosophy, and uncompromising dedication to each customer’s individual requirements. We owe this distinction to your ratings. It proves that our quest for constant improve-

ment, our strong roots in ground handling, and the energy we invest in delivering quality services are bearing fruit. On behalf of 30,000 committed women and men who look after your needs at 187 airports around the world, we thank you for your invaluable support and your continued loyalty to Swissport. It is a privilege to serve you.

Swissport International Ltd. Ground Handling, Cargo, Aircraft Maintenance, Fueling, Executive Aviation, Aviation Security www.swissport.com

CONTENT 3

5 EDITORIAL

DEAR CARGO MATTERS READER By Oliver Evans

6 HIGHLIGHTS

HOW MUCH DO WE CARE FOR YOUR CARGO? According to the results of its third customer survey, Swiss WorldCargo continues to deliver the kind of products and services one would expect from a quality provider. By Julia Dellinger, Swiss WorldCargo

10 PARTNERS

ONE THOUSAND AND ONE SOLUTIONS The GSA agreement between Swiss WorldCargo and Lufthansa Cargo Charter will soon celebrate its second anniversary: Cargo Matters reports on two years of exceptional services beyond the ordinary. By Silvia Cappelli, Swiss WorldCargo

14 CUSTOMERS

DESTINATION, OUTER SPACE Sometimes, working at Swiss WorldCargo can be as challenging as taking part in a NASA space mission. By Silvia Cappelli, Swiss WorldCargo

16 ONE OF US

A STAR MOVES ON An interview with Sabumon Abdusamad, from TV to air cargo. By Silvia Cappelli, Swiss WorldCargo

18 PARTNERS SPECIAL

TIME:MATTERS As well as further expanding its „Special Speed Solutions“, time:matters it‘s now getting increasingly involved in time-critical spare parts logistics, too. By Miriam Berle, Head of Public Relations, time:matters

21 INFO GUIDE

SHORT NEWS, EVENTS, PARTNERS, MEDIA AND MORE

ONE CLICK TO EVERY DESTINATION – You`re just one click away from a real-time update on how your freight navigates the world. With our online tracking system at our new website, transportation becomes easier than ever before. Visit swissworldcargo.com

SWISSWORLDCARGO.COM

EDITORIAL 5

DEAR CARGO MATTERS READERS –

Can we “reach for the stars” at a time of high oil prices and falling demand for cargo volumes? No doubt that the industry crisis is deepening along with the crisis in the global economy, and that 2009 will be a difficult year. Our strategy remains unchanged, though: we will strive to become even more special, to provide even more care in our service to customers. We will not be distracted by the global economic storm around us. We will not lose focus. We will spot and grab the opportunities in the market and further improve our key performance indicators.

“Reaching for the stars” still sounds ambitious to you? To prove it is not, we are coming out with an “all star” issue of “Cargo Matters”: the results of our customer survey were again positive, and show that we retained our “5 star” carrier class. With our partner Lufthansa Cargo Charter, we have been offering a wide range of air cargo solutions with “no limit to time and space”. And we can even include “outer space”: some of the cargo which was aboard space shuttle “Discovery” last May, for NASA mission STS-124, was formerly transported aboard SWISS aircraft. Not to mention, that we have “stars” among our staff; Sabumon Abdusamad, who is now 2008 has been a very challenging but rewarding year indeed for the part of the Swiss WorldCargo team in Riyadh, is a former “TV star” cargo division of SWISS: we replaced our reservation system with from the Indian state of Kerala. the next generation end-to-end cargo management system “Swiss Worx”, which marked a tremendous change in the way we do busi- Reaching for the stars? Yes we can! ness, and involved the dedication and intelligence of the whole We care for your cargo. organisation. We expanded our network, by introducing new destinations as well as additional flights and capacity to existing ones: Shanghai, Sofia, Moscow, Florence, St. Petersburg, to name only a few. And we even found the time to revamp our website, swissworldcargo.com. You can call it “best service” on the ground, in the air Oliver Evans and on the world wide web! Chief Cargo Officer Swiss International Air Lines And it looks like this is widely acknowledged within the industry, too: actually, we have been selected by IATA to lead the introduction of a new ‘e-freight’ location. From the beginning of next year, we will be ready to say “No paper, thanks!”, and record and handle cargo consignments in electronic form only on selected routes.

From left bottom: Dieter Vranckx, Bernd Maresch, Urs Stulz, Ashwin Bhat, Marco Venturini, Oliver Evans From left top: Robert Muelhauser, Markus Loeffler, Marc Weinmann, René Mattes, Jack Lampinski

HOW MUCH DO WE CARE FOR YOUR CARGO? –

According to the results of its third customer survey, Swiss WorldCargo continues to deliver the kind of products and services one would expect from a quality provider. By Julia Dellinger, Business Development Analyst

HIGHLIGHT HOW MUCH DO WE CARE FOR YOUR CARGO 7

marks from our customers, and we‘re delighted to see that we continue to deliver the kind of products and services one would expect from a quality provider.“ In the most important key areas - Satisfaction, Outside Sales, Inside Sales, Proactive Information, Product Range and Physical/ Document Handling - Swiss WorldCargo has shown a clear competitive edge. „Indeed, the gap between ourselves and the competition has increased, largely because Swiss WorldCargo has managed to maintain its very high performance of previous years while its competitors have not,“ Barden continues.

As part of its customer value management and in line with its premium strategy, for the last three years, Swiss WorldCargo has been conducting a customer satisfaction survey. The latest edition was held again in cooperation with the Prof. Homburg & Partner market research institute, which conducted the telephone interviews between June 2nd and 20th 2008. „All in all, more than 1 700 customers in 35 countries answered our questions, so we can have every confidence in the survey‘s results,“ says Christine Barden, Manager Business Intelligence & Development. „On the whole, those results are very encouraging. Like last year, our product and performance generally earned high

+6

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+10

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OVERALL SATISFACTION –

+7

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OUTSIDE SALES –

+4

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OUTSIDE SALES –

+3

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PRO-ACTIVE INFORMATION –

75

77

PRODUCT RANGE –

Scale in points from 0 to 100. Number of points ahead of competition (points marked off in red).

Graphics 1 Gra

+4

73

PHYS / DOC HANDLING –

Cust Customers were asked a straightforward question about their „Overall Satisfaction“ with Swiss WorldCargo: Satis „How H satisfied are you in general with Swiss WorldCargo?“ They were also Swis asked about their satisfaction with aske Swiss WorldCargo on the main touch Swis points. These touch points cover p poin the air a cargo service chain, ranging from customer care and the booking process to the physical and document proc handling process up to the final hand h d delivery of the goods and documents deliv and the invoicing. We also asked our customers to rate these touch points cust t with Other Airlines.

Other Airlines

Swiss WorldCargo

OVERALL SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY ALMOST UNCHANGED – CUSTOMERS HIGHLY COMMITTED – WORLDWIDE: OVERALL SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY

Graphics 2

80

80

86

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OVERALL SATISFACTION –

OVERALL LOYALTY –

COMMITMENT 1 –

COMMITMENT 2 –

RECOMMENDATION –

REPURCHASE –

How satisfied are you with SWC in general?

(Average of the four statements right)

We will remain a customer of SWC in the future.

We will continue to do at least the same volume of business with SWC.

We will recommend SWC to business partners or colleagues.

If we were to decide again, we would choose SWC again.

Scale: 100 = very satisfied / fully agree, 0 = very dissatisfied / fully disagree

2008

2007

Loyalty is a concept that cannot be questioned directly. We therefore put the concept in an operational context under OVERALL LOYALTY as determined through the four loyalty statements shown as on the left: COMMITMENT 1, COMMITMENT 2, RECOMMENDATION, REPURCHASE. We measure our customers‘ degree of agreement with these statements on a scale from 0-100.

8 HIGHLIGHT HOW MUCH DO WE CARE FOR YOUR CARGO

„While we‘re heartened by our customers‘ praise, we see it as an incentive to make further enhancements to our products and services, based on our customers‘ input“, Barden continues.

IMPROVEMENTS ACHIEVED AFTER LAST YEAR‘S SURVEY – Yes, we are a pure belly carrier - but we are also increasing our capacity Looking back, we introduced new flights to Shanghai and Delhi and added capacity to Tel Aviv and Cameroon after our 2007 survey. The survey revealed that capacity was a major issue. We‘ll also be paying due heed to this in our 2009 schedules. Capacity is one key element in our customer satisfaction survey. We offered more, and we could see this in our results, too. Satisfac-

tion with available capacities on the Intercontinental and African market increased, but of course we are still a belly carrier and cannot compete with other airlines offering freighter capacity. Further, to take just two examples, there was a desire among customers in some countries to receive more frequent Swiss WorldCargo visits, and a number of requests for a more regular supply of our Service Guide and of Cargo Matters, our customer magazine. We care for your „Cargo Matters“, too! „Cargo Matters“ could not be left out of the survey. While the new layout seemed to have a positive influence on overall satisfaction with the magazine, the increase in the reception figures is especially remarkable. In fact, a central send-out was introduced which made the magazine accessible to all our customers. And, as always, we‘ll welcome any further feedback you may have.

INCREASING RECEPTION AND ALSO SATISFACTION WITH “CARGO MATTERS” – Do you receive Cargo Matters?

Satisfaction with Cargo Matters:

Graphics 3 27%

66

2006

46% 58%

68

2007

75

2008

73% 54% 42%

2006

YES

2007

NO

Customers were asked whether they receive the customer magazine or not. While roughly one-fourth of our customers mentioned that they received the magazine in 2006, this number increased to almost 60% in 2008. Those customers who received the magazine were asked as well about their satisfaction with the magazine. The revamp of Cargo Matters in 2008 is clearly visible.

2008

Scale: 100 = very satisfied / fully agree, 0 = very dissatisfied / fully disagree

INITIATIVES AHEAD: 2009 AND BEYOND – Customer loyalty programme Results on the customer loyalty programme from this year‘s survey are highly illustrative. The main finding here was that no single programme can serve all needs, and cultural differences play a crucial role. A student from the University of Nuremberg in Germany, Sabine Kroczek, is currently looking into this topic in more detail at Swiss WorldCargo as part of her thesis work. Environmental programme In line with general industry trends, we also asked customers for their views on what Swiss WorldCargo could or should be doing in environmental care terms. The results here clearly reveal a worldwi-

de desire to see greater action on the environmental protection front. Precisely what form this action should take is less clear, however. Many customers seem to feel that the solution should be more than a financial „add-on“. This is fully in line with our own thinking, which favours a „step-by-step“ and „everything helps“ approach. For several years now, for instance, Swiss WorldCargo has only dealt with trucking companies who use the latest generation of trucks with lower emissions, practise strict waste management and/or have adopted energy-saving measures.

HIGHLIGHT HOW MUCH DO WE CARE FOR YOUR CARGO 9

Some areas still remain a „to-do“: physical and document handling / complaint handling Although some stations showed a positive development in physical and document handling, there are still some countries where Swiss WorldCargo has to strengthen the link to its handling agent to continue to provide the high quality performance that our customers expect. The amount of complaints stayed on a relatively low level. We still have room to improve and we will focus on obtaining better results, e.g. by improving the response time for handling complaints.

AROUND THE WORLD VIEW – Japan Japan experienced a significant improvement: Among the main actions taken, the frequency of visits was increased and visits from top management were included: „Together with the local management, I personally visit customers; This is an important statement to them, especially when in outstations that are far away from our head office, like Tokyo. This direct contact is crucial to understand our customers‘ needs and improve our services accordingly,“ says Dieter Vranckx, Managing Director Area Management Asia, Africa & Middle East. Singapore The results registered in Singapore are also worth mentioning; despite the fact that the handling agent has been replaced and the station management has changed, the South East Asian station has registered a remarkable increase in the Key Elements Outside Sales and Physical Handling.

USA New York registered a strong general increase in all Key Elements with the exception of Physical and Document handling, but we expect better results for next year in this area as operations have been moved to Terminal 4. On the other hand, Physical and Document handling has already improved in Atlanta, mainly because of JAL moving out of the facilities, relieving congestion. New countries Some countries were included in the survey for the first time: Chile, Portugal, Sweden and Ireland. The results related to these countries show that the cooperation with our GSA partners there is working well. However, some special attention and supervision is needed to make sure we can deliver the same quality performance. This was given as a special task to our GSA colleagues to foster a closer relationship with our customers. „In my region, we work in close collaboration with two GSA‘s and it is crucial that they understand our business and our customers‘ needs. I find it very beneficial when the GSA arranges the customer visits for us both to attend as this shows that Swiss WorldCargo is interested in their business even though we do not have a physical presence in the country. This is where it is imperative the GSA acts as our eyes and ears,“ says Colin McInnes, Regional Manager, UK & Northern Ireland. So if you are asked „Would you remain a customer of Swiss WorldCargo in the future?“ „ - We hope you will. This is something we work on constantly.

The Near East; Israel and Egypt Egypt is on an upward trend and Israel is keeping up its very high satisfaction level, as one would expect from a station that won the customer satisfaction award 2007. United Arab Emirates In the United Arab Emirates, while tough competition is standing firm, „Our customers appreciate the restructuring of our sales organisation, with each area now having a regional manager,“ says Alain Guerin, Regional Manager Cargo, Middle East. In fact, Outside and Inside sales have registered an increase. Europe With their small but very enthusiastic and dedicated staff teams, Eastern European stations stick out of the crowd, for instance, Warsaw and the newly introduced destination of St. Petersburg. At the same time, it is interesting to observe that the level of satisfaction with handling services at London Heathrow, which was one of the topics identified as „to-dos“ last year, has improved significantly.

Tel Aviv

Egypt

London

ONE THOUSAND AND ONE SOLUTIONS –

The GSA agreement between Swiss WorldCargo and Lufthansa Cargo Charter will soon celebrate its second anniversary: Cargo Matters reports on two years of exceptional services beyond the ordinary. By Silvia Cappelli

PARTNERS LUFTHANSA CARGO CHARTER 11

There was once a Saudi prince who fell in love with a princess and proposed marriage. For the wedding ceremony, which would take place at his palace in Riyadh in the most sumptuous manner, he had chosen some French wedding props, and had to get them shipped from Paris. With flying carpets no longer available in the 21st century, the prince had to turn to air freight. And with the props accounting for as much as 400 m3, he had to find a customised solution. That is not the opening of a story from „A Thousand and One Nights“ (the literary classic more widely known as „Arabian Nights“), but the background to the first shipment Swiss WorldCargo acquired on behalf of Lufthansa Cargo Charter, shortly after the signing of a GSA agreement at the beginning of 2006. „In a way, Lufthansa Cargo Charter‘s solutions are really like a fairy tale come true for our customers,“ says Andy Christen, Partnership Manager Swiss WorldCargo/Lufthansa Cargo Charter. „Unlike standard air cargo services, Lufthansa Cargo Charter‘s solutions are tailor-made for any type of requirement and, true to its motto „Uplift: no limit to time and space“, the company is indeed able to offer an individual network, an individual schedule, no restriction on size and weight, and even the choice of aircraft type.“ The cargo division of SWISS actively promotes and offers the services and solutions of the Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary to its customers as part of its product portfolio.

No matter how tight the timeframe, how far away or how unusual the destination, flights are planned and executed by ensuring extremely short lead times, independence from rigid schedules and networks, as well as technical facilities for loading and unloading exceptional transport, even at destinations where infrastructure is lacking. With Swiss WorldCargo, Lufthansa Cargo Charter has added an experienced sales organisation to its representation portfolio. Besides their own sales forces with offices in Frankfurt, Chicago, Hong Kong and Dubai, Lufthansa Cargo Charter‘s only other marketing partner is Lufthansa Cargo. „In Swiss WorldCargo, we have found the perfect partner for our needs,“ says Heide Enfield, Head of Global Market Development. „Swiss WorldCargo has an excellent reputation and extensive experience at the highest of levels in marketing and sales of specialised services especially in niche markets, and in the last two years it has proved a competent partner to offer our customised concepts to their customers.“ Lufthansa Cargo Charter‘s „one thousand and one solutions“ are not only within the reach of princes. In the past two years, the range of Swiss WorldCargo customers taking advantage of these exceptional opportunities includes pharmaceutical companies, computer companies and many more.

Two of Lufthansa Cargo Charter‘s shipments „beyond the ordinary“

WHY CHARTER? – - Weight and/or volume not suitable for scheduled services Capacity not available on scheduled services, especially in high season - Origin and/or destination not served by scheduled flights - Shipment is time critical - Shipment is safety sensitive

12 PARTNERS LUFTHANSA CARGO CHARTER

NATHALIE PICAUD MANAGER CARGO DISTRICT GENEVA _ While at your best friend‘s birthday party in Geneva, the last thing you would expect is to make a business deal: a conversation with one of the guests revealed that he was looking for an air cargo solution for regular, large shipments from Frankfurt-Hahn to Teheran, accounting for as much as 250 tons a week in peak season. A contract with Lufthansa Cargo Charter was signed two weeks later. Since March 2008, 14 freighters Boeing 747 (third-party equipment) have been operated from Hahn to Teheran; in June a record was set with a total of 8 flights. In addition, MD11 aircraft from Lufthansa Cargo was contracted for the route Leipzig -Teheran until the end of October 2008, with one flight per week. Of course, I had to coordinate with our colleagues from Lufthansa Cargo Charter along the way. The teamwork was very successful and also presented a great opportunity to learn more about the charter business, a very interesting one indeed.

ELI GROSS CARGO SALES, TEL AVIV _ The lack of sufficient capacity on scheduled flights for the date of delivery designated by our customer was the reason for offering a charter solution for the shipment of high-tech hardware from Tel Aviv to Tirana. The 3 tons of communication equipment were shipped as Swiss X-Presso on SWISS aircraft to Zurich on 12 April and, from there, the shipment continued on a freighter from Lufthansa Cargo Charter. On 12 June, we had a temperature-controlled shipment of pharmaceuticals. In this particular case, seamless coordination with Lufthansa Cargo Charter was necessary for the proper preparation and loading of the Envirotainer containers. Another pharmaceutical company, Teva, one of the world‘s biggest manufacturers of generic pharmaceuticals, took advantage of our partnership with Lufthansa Cargo Charter to ship about 100 tons of Copaxon to New York JFK, the aim being to get approval for distribution in the US.

Zurich Airport, 12 April 2008: Loading operations of the charter shipment to Tirana

YOUR BENEFITS AT A GLANCE _ - Individual schedules - Possibility of determining origins and destinations - Virtually no size and weight restrictions - Availability of any aircraft type - Fully individualised solutions available from/to all airports worldwide (not only LX network)

„Others offer reliability.

We give you total peace of mind.“

The Challenge:

The Uplift:

60 race horses Frankfurt to Calgary, 1 Rubens from Washington to Vienna

1 round trip, efficiency

[email protected]

DESTINATION: OUTER SPACE –

Sometimes, working at Swiss WorldCargo can be as challenging as taking part in a NASA space mission. By Silvia Cappelli

CUSTOMERS NIPPON EXPRESS FORWARDERS / NASA 15

On 31 May 2008 NASA‘s space shuttle mission STS-124 took off to deliver the pressurized module and robotic arm of the Japanese experimental module, known as „Kibo“, to the International Space Station (ISS). The cargo aboard space shuttle „Discovery“ had already travelled halfway around the Earth, covering thousands of miles over land and sea before being sent into outer space: In fact, one of the pieces was transported by SWISS aircraft from Miami to Tokyo and back about one year earlier.

in the success of the timely launching for the future of the satellite space program. I have to thank Nippon, NASA, Mitsubishi in Japan, and our handling agent for entrusting us with this most memorable cargo movement, an experience I will always cherish.“

Whether you are a certified astronaut or an air cargo professional, preparing for a space mission takes a lot of time and patience. Ines Bithinia Gutierrez, Account Manager for Swiss WorldCargo Miami, was actually involved in the shipment coordination for over two months, from February until May 2007. „When initially contacted to quote and handle this piece, I was a bit reluctant as the demands from NASA were high stakes requiring perfection and a lot of time,“ Ines says. The Atlanta branch of Nippon Express Forwarder USA had to find a reliable air cargo carrier to ship a solar panel on behalf of NASA. The sophisticated device worth more than a million dollars had to be transported from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Mitsubishi premises in Japan, in order to be calibrated with a similar one. „Even though there is a direct flight from Atlanta to Tokyo, after evaluating offers from different companies, the decision was made to use Swiss WorldCargo via Miami,“ Ines continues. „No other carrier could ensure that all the shipper‘s needs could be met.“ These included an Envirotainer RKNE1 container with a special shock absorber, the organisation of an escorted truck (FedEx) for the road transportation from Kennedy Space Center to Miami, NOTOC (notification to captain) before loading on SWISS aircraft and two agents to fly with the shipment. „As I had to arrange all of that, as well as the permits for the Nippon Express agents to visit the loading premises and synchronise with the airport manager, It felt really like being part of a special mission!“. Ines concludes: „It was a rewarding experience to know that my personal involvement and SWISS, were both instrumental

Loading of the Envirotainer RKNE1 container at Miami International Airport

ABOUT STS MISSION – The STS-124 mission was the second of three flights to launch components to complete the Kibo laboratory. The mission includes two spacewalks to install the new lab and its remote manipulator system. The lab‘s logistics module, which was installed in a temporary location during STS-123, will be attached to the new lab. More about STS-124 mission and the Kibo laboratory on www.nasa.gov

THE UNITED SPACES OF AMERICA – More daily capacity to Boston and Miami! Check the Interactive Timetable on www.swissworldcargo.com

16 ONE OF US A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SABU

A STAR MOVES ON –

An interview with Sabumon Abdusamad, from TV to air cargo. Interview and text by Silvia Cappelli

ONE OF US A DAY IN THE LIFE OF SABU 17

If you show this picture to someone from the Indian state of Kerala and say it is of one of your colleagues at SWISS they will ask if you are joking. For they would immediately recognize this handsome young man as „Sabu“, one of the most popular TV stars of the last few years on the local television scene. After reaching the peak of success back home, Sabumon Abdusamad (29) decided to make a radical change in his life and, two years ago, moved to Saudi Arabia, where he is now part of the Swiss WorldCargo team based in Ryiadh. We had the pleasure of asking him a few questions. Let‘s start at the end: how come you decided to retire from the TV scene? I had reached a saturation point. Enthralling audiences from behind TV screens no longer excited me. I continued my university studies while working and graduated with a degree in Malayalam Literature (the official language of Kerala) and law, and a post-gra- Here comes a tricky question: How would you compare the air duate diploma in electronic journalism. Reading, travelling and cargo industry with show business? observing people were always my passions, which kindled my imagination and also gave me inspiration and ideas for my TV shows. Working in the air cargo industry is no less And I felt the urge to go and explore the world. It was at this juncture interesting than working for television. that my brother invited me to Saudi Arabia, and I was more than happy to oblige. You get to experience different cultures and different regions of the world first hand and find out how people do business there, which things are produced in which places, and how they are transported Is there any particular reason why you chose the air cargo around the world. business? My job includes meeting with agents and making load plans, priAfter moving here, I thought about many professions and stumbled on a chance to work in the air cargo industry, which appealed to me oritising regions and goods and optimising profits. And with all the instantly: It was a completely new arena for me and I immediately human interaction - adrenaline rushing while chasing deadlines, liked it. It was challenging, I got to travel and interact with people. planning, logistics, finding solutions to problems in a quick span of time, coordinating with other people to achieve a desired result - to name only a few, it is not so different from show business after all. How did you start your television career in India? When I was a college student of Malayalam literature, I was in a theatre group. A TV producer saw me performing during a student Was your popularity an advantage in your career? play and offered me the chance to host a new program; It was called My popularity was certainly a big advantage in my new career. ‚Tharikida‘ and was an innovative, interactive show based on using Agents from whom I had to gather customers already knew me and a hidden camera to capture people on the streets reacting to my bi- they were eager to meet me and work with me. And I always manazarre antics. Comic and interactive shows were my forte, initially. I ged to turn these encounters into sales or potential sales! had a chance to read a few articles about you on the Indian press. It looks like your programs brought a whole new definition of entertainment on Malayalam television, and at some point you became a real star. The real success came with two game shows, the first one aimed at college students on the lines of „dare and win“, and the second, called „Attahasam“, in which participants were challenged to carry on a conversation with me in Malayalam language for four minutes in a row. The challenge in this situation is due to the fact that English is the most widely spoken language in the region. Other shows I anchored included a comic three-minute filler which was a take on 4 weekly flights connect Zurich to Ryiadh (RUH) with A330; all flights super heroes of our times, and a half-hour show called „Crazy TV“, have Jeddah as final destination. Swiss WordCargo in Riyadh is manawhich kept audiences in fits of laughter. ged by Vasco Furtado, Country Manager Saudi Arabia, Pakistan & Sri Lanka; besides Sabumon, the team also includes Mehaboob Muhammed, who is responsible for sales overall. Ex RUH, Swiss WorldCargo carries about 40 tonnes of cargo per month; the station also acts as transit hub for the destinations of Colombo and Dhaka.

ABOUT SWISS WORLDCARGO IN RIYADH –

TIME:MATTERS: ULTRA-TIGHT DEADLINE DELIVERIES –

It‘s two years now since logistics specialist time:matters created its Swiss subsidiary. The new company, which also collaborates with Swiss WorldCargo, has established itself successfully in the local market. And, as well as further expanding its „Special Speed Solutions“, it‘s now getting increasingly involved in time-critical spare parts logistics, too. By Mirjam Berle, Head of Public Relations, time:matters

PARTNERS SPECIAL TIME:MATTERS 19

With an operating network that extends not just throughout Europe but all over the world, time:matters, the Lufthansa Group‘s specialist in courier, same-day and emergency logistics, has made quite a name for itself in the Swiss market, too, over the last two years. Offering services that are specifically designed to ensure the fastest possible transport and the greatest possible reliability (and which can also provide door-to-door collection and delivery, accelerated customs clearance and loading priority), time:matters meets a growing need among companies whose manufacturing processes have become more and more „sensitive“ (and thus also more prone to disruption) through the twin trends of decentralising production in a globalised world and just-in-time delivery, both of which have steadily raised the risk of logistical problems and emergency situations.

Under its business philosophy, time:matters puts its multimodal air/rail/ road transport network, which currently extends to some 400 destinations in 90 countries, primarily at the disposal of other logistics providers, which can thus expand their own service portfolio by adding a specific ‚emergency‘ component without needing to acquire the corresponding specialist expertise. „We call this ‚time:matters inside‘,“ explains Stefan Spörri, Country Manager of time:matters Switzerland. „It means that we work away in the background, while our customer can present our service as their own.“ To take a concrete example, time:matters offers regular ‚time:matters inside‘ support to a Swiss-based logistics operator which provides one of its customers - a manufacturer of medical equipment in the Zurich area - with a Europewide overnight distribution service for spare parts and consumable supplies. The consignments concerned are destined primarily for clinics; and whether they are in Stockholm or in Budapest, these institutions rely totally on receiving them at the precise times agreed. Which is why a firm delivery guarantee is part and parcel of this forwarder‘s promise to its customer. Despite this, however, the odd occasion will always arise - for any of a number of reasons - where the standard cutoff time cannot be kept to and a punctual delivery is suddenly at risk. It‘s for eventualities like this that the logistics provider has concluded a ‚contingency programme‘ with time:matters. Let‘s look at a sample scenario: a clinic in Gothenburg that finds itself in urgent need of a spare part for one of its key diagnostic devices. The part concerned fails one afternoon, and the replacement part simply must be at the clinic by 14:00 the following day. It‘s not until 15:30 on the day of the failure, though, that the logistics provider receives the urgent request. This is too late for its regular overnight service: the replacement part won‘t be ready for collection from the manufacturer until 06:00 the next morning. Despite this tightest of timetables, though, the time:matters ‚contingency programme‘ can still ensure that the part is delivered on time. At 06:00 the next morning, a time:matters driver collects

A same-day consignment: the fastest possible transport at the greatest possible reliability

the part from the manufacturer and takes it to Zurich Airport, where it‘s sent as rapidly as possible to Gothenburg (via Hamburg) as a same-day single consignment. By the time it arrives at Gothenburg Airport, time:matters and its staff and partners will have made all the arrangements for speeding the consignment through its import formalities and couriering it to the clinic. As a result, the part arrives at its final destination at 12:45; and, thanks to time:matters, the logistics provider has kept its service promise to its customer. As the example shows, in addition to its regular and ad-hoc timecritical cargo consignments, time:matters has recently entered the time-critical spare parts logistics segment, too. This is an area that is generating a growing demand for flexible and individualised solutions which are both quick and reliable as, in their constant endeavours to minimise costs, more and more industrial concerns come to abandon their decentralised stores in favour of a more central spares management approach. Companies that spread their spares among hundreds of stores all over the globe just a few years ago have now concentrated them in a few global distribution centres. This poses a major challenge for spares logistics today, and one that will only grow in its scope and intensity. On top of this, more and more companies are also coming to appreciate that the speed and the reliability of their after-sales spares supply service are playing an increasingly important part in helping them stand out from their competitors - especially when any delay in such supplies (and thus the longer unavailability of the equipment concerned) would result in massive costs.

ABOUT TIME:MATTERS – time:matters (www.time-matters.com), the international specialist in courier, same-day and emergency logistics, offers flexible and individualised solutions for extremely urgent or complex logistics tasks, including access to various airlines‘ passenger and cargo connections. The company is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany and maintains further branch operations in Zurich, Vienna, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Mechelen, Milan, Oslo, Shanghai and Singapore. In Switzerland time:matters operates its own service stations at Zurich, Basel and Geneva airports.

INFOGUIDE 21

SWISS WORLDCARGO SUCCESSFULLY REPLACED ITS RESERVATION SYSTEM – This past summer, Swiss WorldCargo officially went live with „Swiss Worx“, an extensively customised and enhanced version of the IT cargo management system SkyChain developed by Mercator, the Dubai-based business technology provider. The greatest challenge facing the air cargo industry today is the integrity of data across all interfaces in the management of complex supply chains for our customers. Using the latest Java technology Swiss Worx substantially meets this demand and improves business efficiencies across the air freight life cycle. With the new system, Swiss WorldCargo have seized the opportunity to improve efficiency, raise quality and to streamline our processes for today‘s needs. Moreover Swiss WorldCargo will be ready for all future changes and enhancements as the industry adapts to new challenges and the necessity to provide ever increasing value to the end customers of airfreight. Oliver Evans says: „We can look back on a smooth and seamless migration in what has been the biggest IT project in SWISS‘ history to date.“ Kicked off in January 2007, the project actually saw the involvement of over 50 IT and cargo professionals in Zurich and Dubai and the overall effort of some 7 000 personnel-days. „This could only be achieved thanks to the dedication and hard work of our team, our suppliers, and the great loyalty and trust of our customers,“ Evans continues.

Patrick Naef

Patrick Naef, President, Mercator, comments: „This has been one of our most exciting projects, and we have benefitted from an outstanding collaborative team spirit. The SWISS team has been an inspiration with their insights on cargo operations which have further enhanced our cargo business technology.“ Swiss Worx seamlessly integrates with other systems to ensure the timely availability of the information required for all commercial and operational business purposes. The new system also addresses both the current and the future needs of Swiss WorldCargo in all business areas including network-wide sales and reservations, capacity management, pricing, contribution management and e-commerce.

EXPORT OFFICE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY – Results of the Export Office survey of customer satisfaction were thoroughly positive. Customers consistently appreciate the speed with which orders are processed and the friendly service on the part of staff. For the Export Office team, competence and accommodating customer service are fundamental business practices. However, just half of the customers surveyed were satisfied with the opening hours of the Export Office, which has prompted us to review this aspect of our business. To maintain our popularity we will continue to make a point of setting out chocolate and candies for customers so that the time they spend waiting is as pleasant as possible.

Bettina Zuberbühler, Export Office Agent, Zurich

INFOGUIDE 23

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI EXHIBITION SINGAPORE: FLOWN IN BY SWISS – Last April, works by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti were shown in South East Asia for the first time ever. Giacometti, who is known for his unique vision and forms of the human figure, has been hailed alongside Picasso and Matisse as a master of European modernism. The Singapore Art Museum, referred to locally as „SAM“, staged an incredible exhibition of Giacometti‘s work, showcasing sculptures and lithographs along with rare photographs of the Swiss sculptor and painter. As a matter of course, Swiss International Air Lines took the opportunity to support this great project. Thanks to the good care provided by Swiss WorldCargo the valuable artworks arrived in perfect condition in Singapore, while the alphorn players and members of the Giacometti family enjoyed very special attention on our flights.

SEEING, BEEING, FEELING:

Alberto

Giacometti TWO SMALL STEPS, TWO BIG GAINS: THAT‘S KAIZEN! Since Swiss WorldCargo adopted the Kaizen philosophy, several workshops have been held with the purpose of changing processes for the better. One of the latest workshops had the objective of improving the guiding of trucks at the Zurich hub. Early in the morning trucks arrive at the terminal and dock: the long trucks have to reverse in, and it often takes several back-andforth manoeuvres before they are properly positioned in front of their terminal door. In many cases, the driver even has to leave his cab and take a look himself. These manoeuvres are very time consuming. At some point someone asked: „Why don‘t we mark the parking bays on the ground, to help guide the drivers in?“ And any car driver knows how much easier it is to reverse into a marked parking space! A short while later, a special tape was being laid down on the asphalt in front of the cargo terminal. Suddenly it was much easier for the drivers, to get their trucks in the proper position, so their work had become far less stressful. Another problem was that, during peak hours, the drivers tended to unload their cargoes wherever there was space, which left barely enough room to move between the consignments. The answer here was designating strips, where cargo could be deposited in channels.

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