Queensland government and industry collaborating for global air freight export market share

BNE Enterprise together with Brisbane EDA today led an expert panel of guests from Brisbane Airport Corporation, Trade & Investment Queensland (TIQ), Japan Airlines (JAL), Export Connect, Mulgowie Farming Company and 3D Logistics (3DL) to provide industry and producers with an update on progress being made to facilitate greater access to global air freight exports from Brisbane Airport and Queensland.

The key focus of the discussion was to highlight the continued coordination between all levels of government and key industry stakeholders to create a highly efficient and cost effective air freight export platform for Queensland producers.

Brisbane Airport Corporation Head of Aviation Carl Jones pointed to the federal government’s International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM) supporting the state and the nation’s aviation industry as being a critical platform that would allow aviation hubs, producers and freight forwarders much-needed time to adapt to changing global market conditions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite such challenging conditions, he highlighted a number of encouraging figures for Brisbane Airport.

“In these challenging times, we are currently the busiest major airport in Australia, with roughly 2,000 flights per month, including 800 domestic freight flight and 200 international freight flights,” Mr Jones said.

This past month we’ve managed to achieve 380,000 passengers, due mainly to the intrastate network from FIFO and services by Australia’s domestic carriers and nine international airlines,” he said.

Guests at the one-hour Q&A discussion also had the opportunity to hear from Japan Airlines (JAL) Masayuki Harakawa and Patrick Orth who, after ten years, have recently recommenced exporting seafood produce from Brisbane Airport.

Brisbane EDA Industry Development Manager (food) Lisa Cavallaro spoke of the critical role that the organisation has played over the past six months in bringing together key industry associations and producers through its Future Food Initiative, and its efforts to include export readiness pathways as part of Brisbane EDA’s upcoming program offering to Queensland producers.

Trade & Investment Queensland (TIQ) General Manager Qld Operations Matthew Andrew updated guests on TIQ’s continued facilitation of government and industry bodies to streamline air freight exports from Queensland and introduced the newly appointed TIQ freight coordinator Quentin Masson.

Mulgowie Farming Company’s National Sales Manager Shane Quin was the webinar session’s real-world export success story, giving guests unique insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by the Queensland vegetable grower in reaching its goal of producing and exporting world-best fresh produce for international markets.

A global freight expert, Export Connect’s Najib Lawand provided guests with a snapshot of current market conditions, highlighting the growing demand from countries throughout the Middle East, Asia and North America for Australian produce, and the significant opportunities for producers who are prepared to take the necessary steps to become globally competitive.

Our final guest for the afternoon was BNE Enterprise member, 3D Logistics (3DL) and Australian Customs Clearance Director Chris Roberts. Chris provided guests with practical solutions on how Queensland businesses can develop cost-saving duty minimisation strategies, whereby manufacturers who import commodities for the purposes of producing export ready goods can claim from Australia’s duty clawback scheme, potentially saving significant money.

A thank you to all our expert guests at the session and to our webinar session partner Brisbane EDA for working with BNE Enterprise to give our members and industry more knowledge and insights on how to create and export ready business.

The full webinar session can be viewed below and for those seeking more information from any of our panellists, please contact us at info@bneenterprise.com