Soaring success for high-flying delivery service

ALBERTO D. LINA Chairman of Airfreight 2100

When the U.S. multinational company FedEx decided to set up its Asian hub at the former American base of Subic Bay near Manila, it needed a well-established Philippine transport logistics company as its local licensee. The search did not take long. The only company to fill the bill was Airfreight 2100, which had built up a reputation as a serious and dependable firm since it was founded in 1979 by six Filipino business leaders headed by Alberto D. Lina, its current chairman.
Since then, Airfreight’s success has soared by focusing on the semiconductor and electronics industry, the Philippines’ main exporting sector which accounts for 70% of Airfreight 2100’s revenue. Airfreight officials are proud of the fact that the company fulfills 99% of FedEx requirements in terms of service quality and pick up and delivery commitments. Its mainstay is bulk cargo express in which manufactured products and parts are flown to Asia and North America overnight, a delivery record that would even make Tom Hank’s character in the movie Castaway proud.

DEFYING TIME AND DISTANCE With over two decades of delivery experience behind them, Airfreight 2100 have built up an extensive client base.

“We started as a customs brokerage company and then grew into a full-blown logistics company, including a warehousing, trucking and inter-modal transport service that caters to the electronics industry,” Mr. Lina explains. When we began working as FedEx’s sole licensee in the Philippines, we were responsible for the delivery of shipments moving through the FedEx network to the Philippines. We then expanded our partnership, which included the signing of a trademark agreement that allows Airfreight 2100 the right to use the FedEx logo in this country. The service agreement also included pick up and delivery for FedEx in the Philippines.”
The company also assists FedEx in its clearance operations and provides warehousing services to U.S. multinationals. In terms of manpower, Airfreight has about 900 people that support FedEx operations, sales and marketing.

“We are strategically located in areas where the semiconductor companies are present from north to south,” says Mr. Lina. “Our FedEx express service, also known as International Priority Service, is the most popular service, especially among the semiconductor and electronics industry. We can provide overnight delivery service to major Asian destinations and to all major cities anywhere in the United States.”
Those companies in the Philippines counting on that service include such big names as Intel, Texas Instruments, Cypress, Analog, and practically all 161 members of the country’s powerful SEIPI (Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines) association.