Here at Payload Asia it’s a been a very busy time as we prepare for our annual Awards and Conference event. As you read this the results of our annual Awards programme will be shortly announced and certainly as I write this the results are all in – both online voting in the Customer Choice and also from the industry-judging panel in the Industry Choice Awards.
Again this year the results have confi rmed that the Payload Asia Awards continues to set the benchmark amongst our industry peers with a full roster of nominated companies competing for the coveted top award in the 21 categories this year. I won’t spoil the Gala Dinner night, but rest assured it will be full of excitement with well-deserved wins and quite a number of very close races across the categories. Some return victors and also some new champions of the industry to celebrate.
Stay tuned online for the results, which will be uploaded after the dinner on the night of 15 October. Th e December/January edition of Payload Asia will have full coverage of both the Awards and also the Conference, which this year is being held over two days because of its ongoing popularity and generous support from sponsors.
Also do keep an eye open online and in print for more upcoming coverage from recent events around Asia, including more from the Ground Handling Conference in Bangkok that provided much thought-provoking discussion and is featured in this edition’s cover story.
You can expect more coverage from the recent FIATA annual meeting which was held in Taipei, for news on developments in the global forwarding sector. Similarly the Federation of Asia-Pacifi c Aircargo Associations (FAPAA) held their annual meeting just prior to the FIATA event and you can read more on interesting developments there both in this issue, as well as online.
Th is edition also features the usual array of statistics from IATA, ACI and Drewry which paint a rather depressing picture of the state of the industry. Th e Drewry fi gures could be taken with a small grain of optimism, showing as they do, a stabilisation of airfreight rates in July, bringing to an end seven consecutive months of falling pricing.
Unfortunately, aside from the iPhone launch, there’s not a lot positive factors to move the volumes or prices in a northward direction. Some in the industry are however, optimistic of some form of traditional year-end peak, but I think most are not going to hold their breath over that thought.