Since many years, the Belgian Tulpin Group has been a recognized advocate for the interests of European importers of fruit and vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, Jordan and South America. However, the past six months have been by far the most challenging for the perishables (PER) business since the Covid pandemic. The main reason for this was the serious shortage of freighter capacity on the charter market and the relocation of cargo aircraft from Africa and Latin America to China, triggered by the thriving and more profitable e-commerce business. Now, Alain Tulpin is hoping for a U-turn at the start of the new vegetable and flower season next fall.
The Belgian entrepreneur sends a clear message: “This season, we were forced to charter Mickey Mouse freighters such as the B737-800F in order to maintain our supply chains.” This is possibly a new normal for his company, considering the ongoing e-commerce hype. Instead of “baby freighters” [Tulpin], it is usually B747F that are chartered by his Group to bring in masses of vegetables and fruit during the main PER season which spans from fall to spring. That did not happen this season, because there was hardly any freighter capacity available on the charter market.
e-commerce rates beat vegetable transport prices
The capacity shortage was caused by airlines such as KLM Cargo or Qatar Airways Cargo which had withdrawn their freighters from traditional fruit and vegetables routes and had instead relocated them to the more lucrative e-commerce market, serving China, Europe and the USA. According to Tulpin, roughly 190 jumbo freighters depart from Chinese airports every day, mainly filled with e-commerce.
This relocation policy was recently confirmed by Gerard Roelfzema, Head of Communications at KLM Cargo, to CargoForwarder Global, and a few days ago by Peter Musola, Head of Cargo Commercial at Kenya Airways, during a panel at Air Cargo Africa in Nairobi. “A whole series of cargo aircraft operating in our area of responsibility, had to fly to Asia for the e-commerce business.” The manager spoke of around 1,000 tons of capacity being taken out of the Kenyan market. He also hinted that the African airline is considering leasing wide-body freighters to avoid future capacity shortages for the country’s dominant flower and vegetable exports.
e-commerce is killing brick-and-mortar business
Besides the capacity shortage, Antwerp-based Alain Tulpin points to another alarming consequence of the e-commerce hype: The shrinkage of brick-and-mortar businesses in Europe. “Shoppers visit stores, they put on different clothes but don’t buy them. Instead, they order the same items online for less money.” This results in shop closures and increasing commercial space vacancies in European cities, reducing their attractiveness for visitors and shoppers.
Change from air to ocean
In addition, Mr. Tulpin points to another emerging trend: an increasing number of Chinese exporters are switching from air to ocean freight and establishing warehouses in Europe and the USA. There, they store their goods which significantly shortens the delivery time of many products from the moment they are ordered online to the moment they are handed over to the buyer.
His Group operates 40 trailers, with the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands being the most important target markets. Most goods harvested in non-EU countries are flown to Ostend or Hahn (HHN) since Tulpin exited Cologne (CGN).
From CGN to HHN
“At CGN, we had constant issues with the crop protection inspectors, which were only temporarily available. However, fresh produce cannot follow the working hours of civil servants. That’s why we use Hahn Airport instead, where crop protection officials are always available for the inspection and release of shipments,” reasons the executive. Their duties also include Saturdays and Sundays. In addition to charter flights, many shipments arrive Europe on board of Egyptair Cargo freighters. The airline operates A330P2F that can accommodate around 60 tons per flight. From Hahn and Ostend, most imports are trucked to the UK or Ireland, while smaller contingents are also brought to the Netherlands. “We offer our clients one-stop-shop services. Everything stays in our hands, from landing to delivery,” stresses Alain Tulpin. Hence, it’s no surprise that the performance rate of his services is very high.
