Air freighting of perishable agribusiness products: Process and issues : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor with Honours at Lincoln University

Abstract

In 2017 New Zealand’s export revenue from the primary industry sector reached $38.101b, meaning that over half of the country’s export revenue was produced through the agribusiness sector. Within this sector there has also been substantial growth in the production of perishable products in New Zealand including produce, meat and seafood. Such growth not only illustrates the increase in demand for New Zealand agribusiness products, but also generates problems for supply chains. With a significant proportion of these products being perishable, and the trend of agribusiness exports increasing, there is significant reliability on effective and efficient transportation and handling in order to reach customers in export markets in optimal time and quality. Air freighting is the most feasible mode of transport for these perishable products as it provides a suitable timeframe for perishable goods in transit, therefore the goods are limited to a short amount of time in less than optimal conditions. This leads to the question of whether there is enough air freight capacity at Christchurch International Airport (CHC) to cope with the growing production of perishable agribusiness products.

The two key research objectives were: to identify the process that perishable agribusiness products move through air freight to international markets, and secondly, to pinpoint issues in the process, recognise how these impact the stakeholders in the process, and make recommendations to improve these.

In the literature review, Beilock (1988) stated that the literature is “virtually silent” in regards to the area of losses in the supply chain for perishable goods. This was found to be the case with very minimal literature in regards to this area of study, showing the importance of exploring this research topic. Other prior literature such as Tozi et al., (2006), Pozar (2001) and Claypool & Morris (1952) provided information on the vulnerability of perishable agribusiness products and why they require suitable and rapid transportation and handling. International Air Transport Association (IATA) (2016) and The Ministry of Transport (2016) gave insight into the demands for air freighting perishable products and why it is an essential mode of transport. Lastly, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) (2017a; 2017b; 2017c), Bez (2016) and the Dodd (2014) illustrated alternate versions of supply chain processes for perishable produce, with some relevance in regards to air freight and operations in New Zealand, but lacked specific detail of the process such as this study.

This research was a case study focusing on qualitative data. The research objectives guided the research, with the scope being on the global logistics businesses (GLBs) and the airlines operating within Christchurch that are licensed to export perishable products. Once determining the sample of the population, the data collection involved interviewing each respondent using pre-determined questions. Following this the responses were transcribed verbatim and summaries were provided in the Results Chapter. Results were then compared and contrasted in the Discussion section.

The results helped form a process model detailing the steps from the perishable exporter through to the products being loaded on to the aircraft and exported from CHC. Several issues in the process were then exposed including freight capacity shortages, excessive licensing and auditing, cool store shortages and lastly, unit load device (ULD) shortages. Similarly, a number of strengths were also found in the process including seasonal operations and alternative carriers, tourism campaigns, import capacity and airport initiative.

To conclude the study, recommendations were made in order to reduce the issues and their effects on the process. The first recommendation involved continued investment by CHC into tourism campaigns to bring more visitors to Christchurch and therefore increase carriers out of CHC for perishable products. This also linked to the promotion of agritourism which will help agricultural businesses and their operations, but also solve capacity issues. Next, CHC introducing a new cool store for the perishable market will help solve the shortage of cool store space which the market is currently facing. Government support through Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to streamline the documentation process and reduce or remove unnecessary licensing and audits will have a positive impact on the process and its stakeholders. Finally, airlines achieving better forecasting will help to solve their issue of supplying enough ULDs to their clients.