With 30 years of experience in the sector, Lluc Navarro has been the new head of EccoFreight’s airfreight department since March 15.
During his career, Lluc has worked in very relevant companies within the logistics and transport sector and, in all of them, he has been in charge of the air cargo department. In fact, on several occasions he has been responsible for developing this area of business within companies practically from scratch, which is why he has joined the EccoFreight team.
In its 10-year history, the forwarder has become strong in the maritime and project cargo sector but, on the other hand, in the airfreight sector it was limited to meeting the requirements of its customers, in a reactive rather than proactive manner.
For some time now, the company has set itself the goal of changing the course of the airline department. Therefore, in search of the person to lead this change, they found Navarro, who is now the head of the airline and in charge of laying the foundations to meet the company’s growth objectives.
“The focus at the moment is to develop the department. That is to say, not simply to give service to what they ask us for, but to look for new opportunities and new clients”, explains the head of the department, who explains that the way to do this is through a commercial strategy, through which we make ourselves known in the different networks of agents in which EccoFreight participates.
Of all the networks, the company wants to focus on raising awareness of its airfreight services in Lognet Global, an international freight forwarding network. “It is a network that I know very well because I have worked in other companies in the sector and it is the one we want to develop first. But we will also do it in others through trips and visits to other agents,” says Navarro.
In addition to this first objective, the company also wants to be a reference in air cargo services for the pharmaceutical and food sectors.
In this regard, the head of the airfreight department points out that before EccoFreight arrived, it already had all the necessary tools to service cargo, but in order to enter the pharmaceutical sector, it needed to have the Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certificate. “For this type of cargo it is essential to have GDPs because otherwise the laboratories or the companies that work with this sector will not give you the transport because you do not meet the requirements,” says Navarro.
In addition, the forwarder also wants to develop its air services in the food sector. “In air exports there are two needs. On the one hand, there are products that, because they are perishable, cannot be transported by air and, on the other hand, there are products that cannot be transported in time by any other means due to emergencies. For these reasons, air transport of foodstuffs is in great demand, which is why it is one of the areas we want to develop,” says Navarro.
EccoFreight will give priority to airlines that make use of the SAF
In the field of sustainability and digitalization, EccoFreight is a pioneer. As part of this new era in the air cargo department, the company is digitizing all its processes to avoid the use of paper and will continue to use its Ecologistics 360 platform to calculate the carbon footprint of each shipment.
Navarro also explains that the idea is to work with airlines that make use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), although, he says, “its use is not yet widespread”.
Renewables
On a general level, EccoFreight has also set itself the goal of growing within the renewable energy project cargo sector, in wind and solar.
“We already have significant experience in this type of transport, which endorses us, and we are very focused on this objective,” point out from the company, which invoiced 95 million euros in 2022 as a result of the rise in freight rates.
Looking ahead to the coming months, EccoFreight expects to reduce its turnover due to the stabilization of freight rates, although it expects a higher profit margin.
The company also continues to focus on innovation to bring sustainability to transportation and continues to promote the digitalization and optimization of processes.
The head of EccoFreight’s air cargo department, Lluc Navarro, believes that one of the main problems of the airline industry in Spain is the lack of efficiency of the handling companies.
“The concessions made to handlings are what they are, but we must rethink the level of control exercised by the authority that grants them once they have been granted,” says Navarro, who points out, by way of example, that the cold chain is not taken care of for perishable products. “The demands of perishable exporters are very high, especially in terms of cold chain breakage, and if we go to Barajas airport or Barcelona airport, we see that the level is very low.”
Navarro also advocates greater coordination between airlines and handlings to avoid the collapse of the chamber’s capacity and points out the need to expand the air cargo center, in terms of connectivity, parking and services.
On the other hand, it also calls for the optimization of the customs and inspection service with the expansion of personnel and work tools.