Page 24 - STAT August 2022 for Magzter

interview

also benefited from an improved freight
rate which is consistent with what has
happened globally. But what's ultimately
driven this result is our team's focus on
providing valuable solutions to our clients
during a very difficult period.
What are your expectations for the
next half of 2022?
The next half of 2022 will be filled with un-
certainty. Globally, there are many moving
parts, both in terms of consumer demand
and production challenges. In particular,
in South America, there is a lot of political
and economic uncertainty making fore-
casts even more difficult to make.
Our primary goal is to continue to pro-
vide the finest solutions to our customers'
demands while remaining highly adapt-
able and nimble in terms of adjusting the
network. At the same time, we are leverag-
ing two areas in which we have invested
heavily over the previous four years. First,
create a better customer experience by
providing our products in a more con-
venient and efficient manner. We are also
capitalising on the cost efficiencies that
we have by improving productivity.
We believe we are well prepared for the
second half of the year even if conditions
shift from a traditional peak to a more
bearish situation in terms of demand.
Recovering the In our case, we are focusing on scenarios
What are the most significant and attempting to figure out what we
challenges confronting cargo staffing levels is would do anyhow and what would pro-
operators today? challenging because vide us additional options later on.
First, the level of uncertainty that we face.
We are coming off a time in which demand due to training and How are you addressing the issue
exceeded supply, and it is unclear whether security requirements of staff shortages? What fueled
this will happen in the second half of this this shortage? Are you expecting
year or in 2023. The second significant there is a rather long any impact from your capacity
challenge is staffing or service difficulties growth plans?
at key destinations. This has occurred in dif- lag between hiring Staffing shortages hit us the hardest in
ferent locations since 2021 and it is becom- someone and that 2021 because our core facilities are that we
ing more evident as passenger operations operate by ourselves, in countries where
recover. The third element is fuel price person becoming this has already occurred, namely the Unit-
increases which put certain parts of our active. ed States and South America. Recovering
network under pressure. To address these the staffing levels is challenging because
challenges, we will need to adapt and due to training and security requirements
navigate in order to present better choices global demand, and how are things there is a rather long lag between hiring
to your customers. We believe flexibility likely to change? someone and that person becoming ac-
will be the key in the next 2-3 years. The combination of higher inflation and tive. Therefore it is critical to complement
monetary policy changes is clearly impact- the hiring process with improving your
Fuel prices have been volatile ing consumption and investor decisions. value proposition to improve retention.
in recent months as a result of Therefore I believe there will be an impact
geopolitical events and airspace on demand, but how large that impact will A recent incident occurred when
closures. How is this affecting be is something we are all trying to model. a flight was compelled to make
22 | AUGUST 2022 www.stattimes.com