Tough environment ahead for air freight industry
John Allan, chief executive officer of DHL Logistics, said Monday that the air freight industry faces challenging times ahead with environmental issues potentially forcing shippers out of the skies to ocean freight instead.
'I think air freight will continue to grow in real terms and faster than GDP,' said Allan, speaking at the European Shippers' Council's Shipper Forum 2006 in Amsterdam. 'That is unless and until the environmental issues become of such importance that it causes people to rethink. I think that might happen in the next decade.
'We are moving into an era where aviation is going to receive more and more scrutiny from governments and others because of its potential and actual environmental impact,' said Allan, also president of the Freight Forwarding International trade association. 'I think that might lead to taxes of a level that cause many of us to think about switching to ocean freight or even perhaps slightly reverse the trend towards long distance sourcing.'
He added that green-taxes will be irresistible to governments across the globe keen to prove they are doing something to address the issue while at the same time boosting their coffers.
