Angelo Fontana
Business Monday

Centurion Air Cargo grows, eyes new international markets.

For years, the air cargo industry has been plagued with too much capacity chasing too little business. Jet fuel the single largest cost, currently consuming more than 40 percent of expenses is essentially beyond management’s control. Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, security costs have skyrocketed and regulations are tough. Last week, a shipment of horses from Miami to Caracas was postponed after the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez held up paperwork. When Chile’s salmon industry suffered production woes several years ago, it crimped shipments of fresh fish to Miami. Volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes all mean delays and missed opportunity. “Everything that affects your life every morning affects our business,” said Rey, who built his privately held cargo business through a series of acquisitions, some in bankruptcy-court proceedings. He has bet heavily on Miami’s place as the gateway to Latin America, a position that has blossomed fully in recent years. Miami International Airport, which is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County, ranks third among U.S. airports for air-cargo volume and is number one in perishable cargo, accounting for 69.7 percent of U.S. airport tonnage in 2011. For Rey is a great advantage been in the best location. The main advantages I see about been in the Miami international airport is the proximity to countries that their economy is based in a port where everything comes from other countries especially the US. These countries are most of them South Americans, like for example Venezuela where most of the things come from the port and internal production has drop significantly. Centurion has been taking advantage for all this situations that these countries are facing by these days and have help them grow faster than they thought. After finding more about the countries that they deal with and how many times a week I found out that six times a week they travel to Venezuela and most of the other countries only one. Also about half of Centurion’s cargo is perishable: Besides fish from Chile, it carries fresh flowers from Colombia and Ecuador, and asparagus from Peru. Southbound, the fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighters carries a lot of electronics and telecom equipment, car parts and other manufactured goods. The carrier has carved out a niche in transporting horses, including Argentinian caballos criollos, the beloved steeds of the gauchos, which are popular, among other things, in polo. In 2001, he bought the air operating certificate of Challenge Air, which had been the biggest all-cargo carrier to Latin America when UPS acquired its assets in 2000. He renamed the business Centurion, marking the beginning of his U.S.-flagged cargo business with U.S. planes flown by U.S. pilots. The new warehouse facility, which automates many functions that previously required manpower, is expected to boost Centurion’s competitiveness in handling perishables along the “cold chain,’’ where time and temperature control are crucial. In 2011, Centurion launched service to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as a first step in its expansion to Europe. Amsterdam is a big market for fresh flowers. Plans call for expanding service in Eastern Europe and Asia as its fleet adds more Boeing 747-400Fs

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/17/v-fullstory/3291868/centurion-air-cargo-grows-eyes.html#storylink=cpy