ITC grows Irish import business (5th August, 2008)

The first four months of 2008 saw a 20% boost in import business for International Trucking Consolidators (ITC), the air-interline trucking arm of Ireland’s largest cargo GSSA, IAM.

ITC’s core business of providing scheduled export trucking services commenced in 1995; the company now also offers airlines a full consignee agent marketing function designed to generate inbound business. This is supported by inbound trucking from the UK and Europe for offline carriers, and handling services provided by sister company ITC Handling at four Irish airports.

ITC’s consignee marketing function, which was first actively promoted in 2006, has since grown to handle inbound traffic for 8 airlines, including 4 not represented by parent IAM. ITC has added 2 new client carriers in the past year, and is currently in advanced negotiations with several more airlines. Apart from the growth in ITC’s customer base, the weakness of the US Dollar has produced a substantial increase in import traffic from the USA carried on American Airlines.

Says ITC’s Transport Director, Ray Dermody: “Airlines which previously focused on ex-UK exports are steadily warming to our concept of providing safe and effective transport of goods imported through the UK to Ireland, and are recognising the potential revenue that can be unlocked.

“Irish import agents are also very happy that they now have a local point of contact for import trucking; we even provide pre-alert calls for critical shipments. There’s no question that news of this enhanced quality of import service feeds back to the agent at origin, where it can be a valuable sales tool. It also influences export traffic out of Ireland.”

ITC currently handles business for a number of major import accounts, which perform an element of manufacture in Ireland before re-exporting. The nature of this business can produce periodic surges in traffic to meet short-term customer demand; these surges are readily accommodated by ITC through its instant access to additional vehicles of all types. ITC plans to further strengthen its import business and achieve more consistent traffic flows by adding to its portfolio of carriers and the spread of its import agent customer base.

Concludes Dermody: “ITC is now firmly on the map: our strenuous sales efforts in the past couple of years mean we are nowadays invariably on tender shortlists whenever a carrier is starting services, expanding into Ireland, or looking for a better provider. And the growth of ITC’s import traffic is a welcome boost to our total business, which might otherwise be held back by the current shrinkage in total Irish exports.”

ITC is a subsidiary of IAM Group, whose activities also include airline representation, cargo handling and training services. IAM is the exclusive Irish member and a co-founder of EGSAC, the world’s largest cargo GSSA network, with 80 stations in 35 countries.