ens Tubbesing is eager to stress that he continues in the path charted by his predecessor, Tony Calabrese, who retired last year after two decades at the helm of Cargo Network Services.
Calabrese was a quiet, behind-the-scenes presence running an operation that is at the center of the air shipping industry. An operating arm of the International Air Transport Association, CNS has a direct role in the industry through its business as a payment clearninghouse but has left it to others to be more vocal for industry reforms.
Yet this year's annual CNS conference saw the new president tell attendees it was time for the air cargo industry to change. What's more, Tubbesing said, CNS would assume a leading role in certain initiatives designed to bring about that change.
"I don't think leadership comes through raising your hand and saying 'I'm the leader,'" Tubbesing said in an interview at the latest CNS meeting last month. " It comes through your actions and how you display them."
Further evidence of the more assertive CNS came during the conference in the form of workshops on core IATA/CNS initiatives - e-Freight, Cargo 2000 and the CASS payment system - which left no doubt the Tubbesing-led group seeks not only a dialogue but some tangible results.
Tubbesing attributes his bid for a more dynamic role for CNS to circumstance rather than larger ambitions to leave a mark in the business. With trade and technology taking transport into a new era, he says, the time is right for change.
"I think the industry needs to be pushed in new directions," he said.
This includes IATA initiatives, which he summarized as efforts to simplify the business, improve productivity and reduce waste.
"This is a significant change from the historical, more narrow work of CNS," he said, adding that the transformation would have been unthinkable without IATA's new focus on cargo.
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Cargo Security: Speaking of Leadership
by Jens Tubbesing
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In recent months, I've seen comments by several people who complain about the lack of leadership on air cargo security issues and the need for "somebody" to step into the driver's seat.
Although these comments create headlines and raise the industry's anxiety level even higher, I believe strongly the suggestions simply are inaccurate. When the critics call for leadership, what type of air cargo security are we talking? Do they mean the sort of security that is needed after cargo reaches the indirect air carrier? Or when it hits the airports? Or before it is loaded into the aircraft? Are we looking at the entire supply chain, or merely a portion of it?
Leadership comes from leading. But recognition of leadership does not result from someone's vain self-proclamation: "I am the leader - follow me now." Leadership is the product of long-time service to a group's greater good.
Leaders are created over time because of their actions, not their rhetoric.
That is not to say there is not a need for leadership on air cargo security, of course. But The more you magnify this issue air cargo security, the greater the number of groups with differing ideas, opinions, and constituents with whom you've got to deal. Each focuses on this topic in its own way.
I believe it's important to point out that a number of trade groups and associations have been working diligently for quite some time on this very complex topic. In the United States, the Air Transport Association, the Airforwarders Association, the National Industrial Transportation League, the National Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders, the High-Tech Shippers Council and others have been proactive, supporting one another and often lending their expertise on behalf of the industry.
In addition, there is the recently formed alliance that includes the International Air Transport Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CNS, as well as numerous corporations. Even the International Air Cargo Åssociation is considering participation, I understand.
All these organizations unite in order to assure a strong and practical dialogue with the U.S. Congress on potential legislation dealing with cargo security and cargo inspection. These bodies have different levels of experience in numerous areas of the industry, and each adds significant value to the overall topic.
The consortium, as some would call it, has identified a small working group that currently is actively engaged in developing and maintaining a line of communication with Congress.
Each of these member organizations has somewhat different interests and priorities, and it is clear that no single entity can and will emerge as the "leader."
However, what is more important is that these groups agree on the One Message that can then delivered by the Many Voices of our industry. It is recognized that they have different ways and means to be effective communicators and activists.
This is precisely where our efforts have a reasonable chance of success. Perhaps some dynamic leaders may emerge from this process.
Global supply chain air cargo security is a complex topic. Let's work together to ensure that we are doing our part in support of the "one message, many voices" approach. I have great confidence in the ultimate success of this program.
Jens Tubbesing is president of the Cargo Network Services, a unit of IATA.
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For years, CNS in the United States has operated mainly on its own, an outpost of IATA but one with little support or guidance from a parent organization based in Montreal. "Cargo was not in the AGM [of IATA], it didn't come up in board meetings," Tubbesing said.
But Calabrese's legacy has been an industry meeting, the annual Partnership Conference, that has become the leading gathering for airlines and forwarders in North America and giving CNS an important pulpit it can use to focus on the pressing issues of the day.
Although IATA priorities such as e-freight rank high on his agenda, Tubbesing's main focus remains on the more traditional CNS priority - the expansion of the Cargo Account Settlement System, which CNS manages in the United States.
"We want to remain the custodian of financial settlement," Tubbesing said.
In addition to the existing CASS accounting system for international cargo, CNS plans to establish a domestic CASS and is considering a similar payment system for air freight trucking. CNS recently started a dialogue with air cargo trucking firms about such a mechanism in the fast-growing line of business.
In April, IATA embraced Cargo 2000 as the central platform for quality standards and measurement in all its cargo-related initiatives. IATA had aligned the quality interest group with its e-freight drive months earlier.
CNS has also taken Cargo 2000 under its wings and is now actively exploring possible joint activities, beginning with joint back office functions.
"This cooperation will help us to bring Cargo 2000 to the U.S. market and further strengthen Cargo 2000's connection with IATA. CNS is becoming an active player in the 'Global Cargo Agenda' and has already set support for the Cargo 2000 quality mission as a key part of its strategy," Tubbesing said.
IATA's e-freight plan is another priority for CNS. The organization will take the lead in the U.S., but collaborate with others. "I hope we will become the execution arm of the e-freight initiative," said Tubbesing.
He also sees an important role for CNS in the ongoing debate about air cargo security regulations. Internatonal airlines and forwarders have been largely on the sidelines as American regulators and lawmakers have enacted restrictions in the world's largest air cargo market.
CNS's focus would be less on lobbying and more on developing viable security plans, Tubbesing says.
Tubbesing has a background the blends well with the sometimes mixed mission that CNS takes on. The group takes the lead in some areas, particularly technical and execution-level operations that span companies, but moves to the background in many areas.
Prior to joining the IATA subsidiary, Tubbesing worked in a variety of positions at several forwarders, Schenker, EGL and ABX Logistics. He was most recently president and chief executive of ABX Logistics USA.
His seminar in "strategy-oriented leadership behavior" has received widespread appeal, as has his dangerous goods course, which some suggest could come in handy in the minefield of relations between airlines and forwarders.
Those relations are changing as consolidation and the rapid growth of global trade push new business models and new demands from shippers.
"I don't think leadership comes through raising your hand and saying 'I'm the leader,'" said Tubbesing. "It comes through your actions and how you display them.
"Guenter Rohrmann wasn't a leader because he was the CEO of AEI, but because of what he did for the industry over the years. True leaders are the 'servant leaders' who work for things, who make things better," he said.
"Leadership extends from championing improvements all the way to implementation; it has to produce tangible results, he added. "The most important thing is if I say we do something and we don't, we look like idiots."
That means CNS is not likely to take up the banner of a host of causes but will concentrate on a select number of issues. Having Tubbesing at the helm reflects an understanding of the role of CNS as an agent of developing solutions rather than leading the industry with blazing banners.
"I see us more as an enabler for companies to be successful," Tubbesing said, citing the quality drive and Cargo 2000 as examples. He praises the moves to bring more air freight businesses, including ground handlers, into Cargo 2000.
This approach tallies with Tubbesing's emphasis of cooperation to advance causes to benefit the industry. "We need to move forward, but this does not necessarily come from one individual or one group," he said.
Harnessing support can be difficult. The ongoing investigation into allegations of price fixing has made airline executives extremely wary of joint initiatives.
"Every IATA meeting opens with remarks from lawyers on which topics may be discussed," Tubbesing said, adding, "People are reluctant to travel to the U.S."
Moreover, he said, in this era of shareholder rights, it is rare to find the charismatic company leader who embraces a worthwhile industry initiative beyond the interests of a single company. That said, Tubbesing does not believe industry leaders have been driven to extinction.
"You always get the naysayers who don't want to change but have nothing to offer," he said.
"Being a corporate guy tends to take over, but there are still leaders in this industry."
