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Air freight to South America – Interview with Route Manager Oliver Krautter

Quick Cargo Service has had a special focus on air freight to South America for many years and offers weekly allocations to South America.

Advantageous air freight rates to South America – our destinations.

  • Sao Paulo (SAO)
  • Mexico (MEX)
  • Lima (LIM
  • Bogota (BOG)
  • Guarulhos (GRU)

Quick Cargo veteran Oliver Krautter has been working at QCS for 20 years, started in exports, quickly switched to sales and shortly afterwards took over branch management in Stuttgart. Internationally, Mr. Krautter is also one of the trademarks for QCS worldwide. One focus of the branch in Baden-Württemberg is, among other things, the freight business to South America. The station manager & route manager Oliver Krautter in an interview.

Why should you handle your freight to or from South America via Quick Cargo Service?

On the one hand, you should choose us for cost reasons: We have extremely attractive tariffs – well below market rates. We have blocked space on our allocations to South America and have control of a weekly cargo space of 25 tons to Latin America on various airlines.
Quick Cargo has built excellent contacts with airlines over the last 46 years and, especially now during the pandemic, we are benefiting even more from our close partnerships. We coordinate the space optimally and reliably in close consultation with the airlines.

What has particularly changed in the freight business to and from South America over the last two decades?

Business has become faster and the number of hits has increased. Previously there were only fixed contract rates at which loading was carried out, but this has now largely changed into a large ad hoc market. Anyone who does not purchase sufficient capacity in advance will currently have great difficulty booking cargo space due to the reduced flight offering.

What are the biggest challenges regarding air freight to and from South America currently during Corona?

Particular challenges are the tight capacities due to the extensive cancellation of passenger flights and the persistently high rates. Cargo space is extremely limited and therefore it is all the more important for us as a freight forwarder to maintain good connections with the airlines and block capacity accordingly in advance. Almost 18 months ago the rate to South America was one euro per kilogram and now the rates have increased fourfold and higher.

In “normal times” you travel a lot as a route manager to maintain personal contact with partners in South America. How is this working out at the moment?

We regularly hold virtual meetings with our customers and partners. This contact is very important to us; only those who are proactive will be able to increase their freight volume. I see it as one of our most important tasks to approach our customers and partners.
Of course, we have also taken part in several virtual trade fairs and events. In my opinion, none of this replaces personal contact. We are therefore looking forward to traveling again to maintain our business relationships in person.

What do you particularly value about your customers and partners in South America?

Loyalty and reliability – we have been working with many customers and partners for many years.

What special or strange cargo was there from or to South America?

Often we simply transport normal “general cargo”. But of course every now and then there are special features that stay in your memory. We recently shipped vaccine samples to South America – this is nothing strange, but at least something very important in these times.
For the 2014 World Cup, we shipped 18 tons of equipment to Sao Paulo for a well-known sponsor. When you see something on TV that you transported, that’s something special.
Our Düsseldorf branch is currently planning four full charters to Rio for the Easter holidays. Very limited capacities are still possible here. Please send inquiries to dus@quick-cargo-service.de

And what is the current status at your branch in Stuttgart?

We currently have a strong team in Stuttgart, we are optimally positioned – with strong operations and a good sales team. Everyone gives 100%. Of course, we are also dependent on other service providers such as carriers and truckers. We can only be as good as the service providers we work with. Many mistakes can be seen coming and can be avoided in advance, but this only works if you are wide awake and have every program on your screen. You have to imagine it like stop and go traffic on the motorway, where I don’t look at the person in front of me, but rather at the two vehicles in front of me! Because that’s where the errors are caused.