“No, I don’t think we’re ready, the infrastructure doesn’t allow for it.”
When asked about the industry’s readiness to handle the coming e-commerce onslaught, Lucas Kuehner, Panalpina’s global head of airfreight, made this honest, blunt assessment during the E-Commerce panel. “We experienced huge bottlenecks moving freight in Europe last year, particularly in Germany,” he explained, as the main European e-commerce cities of Frankfurt, Luxembourg and London all saw delays impact shipments during Europe’s most recent peak season. But he was still optimistic that smart application of technology, an area in which air cargo has lagged other industries, can help facilitate delivery speed. “This is also a call to arms — finally — so we have the reason we need to apply technology to this industry,” he said.