During the exclusive TLME podcast with Dilip Kumar Sitlani, Chairman & Founder of Connect Worldwide Cargo (CWC), CEO and Publisher of Transport & Logistics M.E. Sam Khan, asked Mr Satlani, as an industry leader, what would be his advice for upcoming logistics professionals in the region on how to deal with crisis situations like the pandemic a few years ago and the ongoing Middle East conflict and how best can one overcome disruptions caused by the same.
“Learn how to go manual again,” said Mr Sitlani. The air cargo industry in recent years has become too dependent automated and digital systems.
However, he clarified that he thought the new technology systems were indeed very helpful in routine day-to-day operations, but in case these systems were to go down in the event of an emergency or disaster, present and future industry professionals must have the practical knowledge and capabilities to continue operations in manual mode.
For example, one should be able to trim an aircraft with a printed load sheet with manpower. And with almost every aircraft using CAT 3 systems today, they can still take off and land on zero visibility with minimum support from control towers.
Mr Sitlani further emphasized his point saying that there has been no “show-stopper” event like this in the last forty years of his air cargo logistics experience. Barring the current situation when airspace itself has been closed, air cargo operations in the region, particularly in the UAE, “have always been on”, he concluded.
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