Every week, CargoForwarder Global’s ‘Spotlight On…’ shows just how varied careers in air cargo can be, and how different the many business structures are. Company sizes can range from organizations employing over 100,000 people across the globe, to just a single person. What they all have in common is the fact that people are both the mesh and the motor of this industry – they ensure that it functions smoothly across all interfaces and geographical borders, and are the ones driving efficiency and innovation. Independent consultants highlight areas of improvement in specific industry segments or processes, develop projects to bring about the required changes, and maintain the focus their implementation and progress. This week, Michael Webber (MW), President of Webber Air Cargo, talks about his function and where he sees the greatest challenges in the industry.
CFG: What is your current function and company? And what are your responsibilities?
MW: Webber Air Cargo is a niche consulting firm focused on air cargo planning mostly for airport operators and civil aviation authorities. Effectively performing that work requires constant outreach to airlines, handlers, forwarders, trucking companies, regulators and commercial developers of cargo facilities. I am the sole employee of my firm.
CFG: What does a normal day look like for you?
MW: My workload depends on the nature of clients at the time. Some clients mandate weekly calls to monitor project progress. My clientele had been almost entirely airport operators, but in recent years, I’ve completed assignments for the World Bank, the Transportation Research Board (a division of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S.) and similar institutions.
When starting a new airport project, I typically hold an on-site workshop for airport staff, on-airport cargo tenants (airlines, handlers, regulatory agents) and mostly off-airport cargo constituents (forwarders, trucking companies, major shippers and local economic developers). This often secures agreement of key cargo industry players to participate in individual interviews. It may seem outdated, but I still believe meeting in-person leads to higher quality interactions. Then in planning, I’ll integrate the subjective input from workshops and interviews with the more algorithmic elements of facilities planning.
CFG: How long have you been in the air cargo industry, and what brought you to it?
MW: My interest in logistics tracks to work-study curriculum completed while still at Tulane University (New Orleans). During and immediately after MBA School in the late 1980s, I worked on efforts with the World Trade Center of New Orleans, New Orleans International Airport, the Port of New Orleans, the New Orleans Consular Corps and the International Freight Forwarders & Customs Brokers Association of New Orleans (IFFCBANO). More than 35 years later, I am still in touch with mentors like freight forwarder John Hyatt, formerly of New Orleans-based Irwin Brown Corporation. In some cases, I even encounter the now-adult progeny of my mentors. Kristi App – recently appointed as Chief Commercial Officer of the Port of New Orleans – is the daughter of long-time New Orleans freight forwarding legend, Billy App, who was another of my mentors when he was with J.W. Allen & Company for so many years.
CFG: What do you enjoy most about your job?
MW: I started in the industry in my twenties and I’m now in my sixties. What I enjoy most is what I’ll miss most when I give it up – the people. Nothing about my upbringing in Kansas City would suggest I’d work on multiple projects in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to experience such diversity of cultures. At a time when multiculturalism is under attack in some societies, I’m struck by how myopic one must be to regard the beauty of the melting pot as something threatening.
CFG: Where do you see the greatest challenges in our industry?
MW: Even in a global industry, many challenges are still national or regional. In the developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere – thinking mostly of Africa and Latin America – economic dependence on perishable exports creates trade imbalances, but more recently, has put those regions in the crosshairs of unanticipated debates. When comfortable people in the industrialized nations argue against the environmental impacts of freighters used to transport winter (in the north) fruits and vegetables, they seem to forget what losing those markets would do to producers in Africa and Latin America. Don’t get me wrong, I have kids and I worry about sustainability, but let’s not ignore potential unintended consequences. I believe that most of the answers derive from optimizing operations, rather than eliminating them. That’s true in the industrialized world, as much as the developing.
For a more U.S.-centric answer, we have squandered assets that made this country an incomparable economic powerhouse when we were able to leverage our large geographic size and population thanks to the transcontinental railroads and national highway system. Tragically, subsequent generations of Americans are conditioned to disregard the physical infrastructure, the social contract and other common forces that connected us physically and otherwise. Our collapsing bridges provide the perfect metaphor for our society at large.
CFG: What advice would you give to people looking to get into the air cargo industry?
MW: I occasionally am invited to speak to college students, and I am partnering with Purdue University on a research project, so I have given some prior thought to this question. Technology is evolving so rapidly that I’m not inclined to offer specific advice that could become outdated quickly. In a more timeless vein, choose mentors carefully and be comfortable asking a lot of questions. Our industry is full of people willing to share their experience. None of us knows everything, so just have the humility to ask questions and then pay it back when your experience eventually has people asking for your input.
CFG: If the air cargo industry were a film/book, what would its title be?
MW: The opening line (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”) of Charles Dickens’s ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ comes immediately to mind. None of us wants global tragedies like war and pandemics, but those crises consistently underscore how critically important our industry’s unmatched timeliness is and how proud we should be for how our industry responds.
Thank you very much, Michael!
If you would like to share your personal air cargo story with our CargoForwarder Global readers, feel free to send your answers to the above questions to cargoforwarderglobal@kopfpilot.at We look forward to shining a spotlight on your job area, views, and experiences.
