Page 20 - AAA JUNE - JULY 2022 Online Magazine

INTERVIEW ECS GROUP “There are opportunities in every region but Asia

FREIGHT and Europe, in particular, remain strong due to

the rise in e-commerce,” Adrien Thominet, ECS
Group Chairman, tells Arun SIvasankaran in
an interview. “We are planning to strengthen our
presence further in these regions. ECS Group
FORWARD is present in Cambodia, China (with Hong
Kong and Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
and Vietnam. Recently, we also established
our presence in Korea with Globe Air Cargo
(GAC). We have network expansion plans that
consider Northeast Asia, especially Japan, as
having the greatest dynamic potential.”
Interview: Adrien Thominet, ECS Group Chairman The company, which embraced digitalization
even before the pandemic, wants to become
a leader in the efforts to digitize the cargo
ECS Group, the largest integrated GSSA worldwide with over 95 industry, says Thominet. The company is also
subsidiaries and offices in more than 50 countries, is primed for working to expand the number of contracts it
more growth and eager to expand its global footprint further, par- has with existing subsidiaries and is focused
ticularly in Asia and Europe.
on continuing to offer and develop Total Cargo
Management solutions, which remains its
number one expertise, he adds.

When do you see the global air
freight sector returning to normalcy?
When will high rates and the capac-
ity crisis become a thing of the past
across regions?
We are living in the new ‘normal’ and the chal-
lenge now is how to adapt to it. The question
is therefore not so much when we will return to
pre-Covid (if that is a date) as how to adapt to
this new situation, this new normal. As for the
high rates and the capacity crisis, it depends on
the routes; the transatlantic is rapidly returning
to a level close to normal but the transpacific
and Asia remain high.

What is it that makes ECS Group
stand out from competitors in the
GSSA field? There must surely be
something more to it than your
global footprint and sheer size?
Our difference lies in the way we
have structured ourselves in recent years
and the new direction we are taking. Our
“Augmented GSA” strategy, the foundation of
ECS Group, is based on 4 pillars: commercial,
new abilities, technology, and sustainability.
The aim is simple; to fit our customers’ needs
and optimize their revenues.
We have gone through an in-depth work on
our raison d’être, and we are rethinking our
organizational model itself. This implies mana-

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