In November 1999, Quick Cargo founder Dieter Haltmayer brought all medium-sized freight forwarders together. The goal was to bundle forces and thus to better counter the purchasing power of the large forwarding companies with the airlines. David versus Goliath. (The picture above is from the year 2001)
Already in December the brand IGLU Air Cargo was registered. Over the summer of the year 2.000 there were negotiations and a first shareholders' meeting, in which 24 interested shareholders took part, before all shareholder agreements were signed in November 2000 and IGLU Air Cargo was able to act as a purchasing association on the market. Such a shippers' association was a novelty for the industry. This community of interests enables the individual freight forwarders a concentrated purchasing power, competitive rates and secured capacities. )
IGLU lasts much longer than its homonym. "After 20 years IGLU can look back on a successful history. Already in 2002 the Deutsche Verkehrs Zeitung (DVZ) certified IGLU to play in the "Aircargo Bundesliga", reports IGLU Managing Director Günther Gasthuber. "As the first of the German airfreight alliances, IGLU acts as a unit in the accounting system CASS of the airline umbrella organization IATA. IGLU cooperates with all major airlines at Frankfurt Airport," Gasthuber continues.
An interview with IGLU initiator Dieter Haltmayer
How did it come to the foundation of IGLU?
The starting point was a speech by Wilhelm Althen, the former Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo, who predicted poor future prospects for medium-sized freight forwarders at the annual conference of Cargo Network Services (CNS), the US arm of IATA. "The takeover game had only just begun," Althen said at the time. In three to five years, five to seven groups would control 70-80 percent of the airfreight market. We wanted to counter this with the combined forces of small and medium-sized companies. The airfreight interest grouping was intended to counteract the airlines' preference for certain business partners and increase the competitiveness of its members.
For the XNUMXth of November XNUMX the initiators of IGLU invited a total of XNUMX forwarding agencies to the Holiday-Inn in Bad Soden. The response was very promising and only four weeks later, the trademark registration for IGLU could be registered. IGLU was founded with ten members as a purchasing cooperative on volume. Volume contracts were concluded with the airlines, this gave and gives the members the opportunity to purchase much cheaper freight rates. In this respect, IGLU was and is a neutral purchasing platform where all members receive the same rates.
What was the biggest challenge when founding IGLU?
It was difficult to bring the different transport companies together at one table. After all, we are all competitors in the market. The most important challenge was to anchor the aspect of "together against the big ones" in people's minds. Together as a community of economic interests we can achieve better rates and better conditions. We have to compete against the big players - act as one - because they will destroy our prices. And that's the way it still is today: in the market, everyone competes with everyone else, but everyone is in agreement towards the airlines.
How has IGLU developed?
In the year 2.000, 5.000 KG were dispatched via IGLU - today it is over 20.0000 tons. From 10 members IGLU has grown to 24 members - further growth is not desired. Too many cooks spoil the broth - agreements become more and more difficult otherwise. IGLU is a non-profit organization. It is not IGLU but the individual carriers who are supposed to make the profit. IGLU is financed by monthly membership fees. IGLU members benefit from a discount of about 5-10 percent on freight rates.