The air cargo industry is on a “solid but unspectacular growth trend,” notes The International Air Transport Association (IATA). More worrying however, is that there is little evidence today that would point towards an acceleration as the year goes on.

This observation – recently made by Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO –  coincided with a cri du coeur for governments to work in partnership to remove barriers to trade.

“The growth in air cargo markets has shifted down a gear,” says Tyler.  “World trade and air cargo are still growing, but only in line with industrial production. Removing barriers to trade in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) would deliver a much needed boost to the global economy.”

The World Economic Forum estimates that the WTO TFA could boost the global economy by as much as $1 trillion, so the timing for such action could not better. Furthermore, freight performance over the first quarter of the year indicates year-on-year growth of 5.3 percent.

This is in line with general global economic trends and slightly higher than the 4.5 percent growth that was anticipated in IATA’s December outlook.

One of the biggest issues confronting logistics operations is the need for quality employees. To help bridge the talent gap, Logistics Management is pleased to announce a new Supply Chain Job Board, where prospective employers and employees can search for specific talents and opportunities.

The job board is very specific to the industry niches served by Logistics Management and its sister publications in the Supply Chain Group. Because of the strength of these media brands, the job boards are powerful tools for connecting high quality candidates with high quality employers. For example, one employer told us that although the quantity of applicants was lower than other broad-based job boards she had used, every applicant had spot-on qualifications and she ended up hiring them all.

New tools permit automated filtering and tracking of applicants throughout the interview process. Other features include mobile-optimized listings, full resume export capabilities, detailed monthly performance reports and advanced filtering that allows job seekers to control what is seen by viewers to protect their identities.