At this year’s Munich-held Air Cargo Europe (ACE), there was a new exhibitor on the scene who it seems has plans to expand in Europe and give airline customers a different set of services for the future.
BCUBE or in short B3, is a long-established Italian company operating in the integrated logistics services. BCUBE Group has a sub-holding operating in the Air Cargo Handling field. CargoForwarder Global spoke at length with BCUBE AIR CARGO’s CEO, Mauro Grisafi, who gave an insight into his plans for the coming years.
Founded almost 70 years ago
The company prefers the name B3 at its visiting card to the industry. The prefix represents the third generation of the Italian Bonzano founding family which it still belongs to. Mr Grisafi also
explained that the various colours displayed in their company logo show all those one would see in a rainbow after a rain shower. ‘Giving a fresh and striking image to the industry,’ he
says.
BCUBE AIR CARGO is a name which so far is relatively new in the German air freight market. This is going to change according to Mauro Grisafi, as the company sets its sights on expanding in this
lucrative market.
B3 which has an annual turnover of around 600 million euros has eight major industrial sectors in their portfolio, of which air freight is one. They are specialists in managing logistics flows
and operate from 180 different sites worldwide, employing around 4,000 staff. The B3 business sectors include among others services for the automotive, energy & industrial, aerospace, food
& beverage and fashion industries, of which around 50% are performed in Italy and the other half in various locations in Europe, Mexico, North America and South America.
Air freight to play a larger role
The main reason that B3 opted for a booth at Air Cargo Europe was to bring the air cargo community’s attention to their present air cargo portfolio and their plans in this sector for the future,
Mr Grisafi explained.
Revenues from air cargo activities presently represent around 15% of total company sales. The plan is to increase this percentage considerably in the coming years by adding new areas, either by
acquisition or joining forces with other operators.
In Italy BCUBE AIR CARGO offers dedicated air freight services out of Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Rome Fiumicino and Venice Airports. The first move on expansion in Europe has recently been
made whereby B3 has created a new company (BCUBE AIR CARGO BELGIUM) with a new handling platform at Belgium’s Ostend Airport. The handling facility is situated at the Apron 1 development area
which was once the home of the now defunct carrier MK Airlines. The refurbished area consists of 3,200 square meters warehouse space, six aircraft parking stands and a further 1,200 square meters
of land side open space.
When asked, why Ostend?, Mauro Grisafi explained that it is their aim to concentrate on acquisitions and new air cargo operations at airports which are not overloaded and can give B3 the
opportunity to offer different services. Ostend, for example, he says, is one such airport and with the upcoming Brexit is ideally located as a logistics link between the European continent and
the United Kingdom. B3 have invested in twenty new staff there as well as updating the facilities in order to attract other airlines to operate cargo services into Ostend.
This is apparently the formula which Mr Grisafi and his team look at following when considering other air cargo related acquisitions in Europe. In closing, he informs us that there are
discussions going on with possible candidates and hopes that news of these can be released in the not too distant future.
BCUBE’s aim is to offer a new approach to air cargo handling by offering airlines and others, dedicated logistics services tailored to their individual needs.
‘A new light on the horizon?’
John Mc Donagh