MASKargo CEO resigns

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd (MASKargo) CEO Mohd Yunus Idris has resigned in a move which could signal a change in the top management of the cargo division plagued with vendor issues and stiff competition, sources say.
Mohd Yunus is believed to have handed in his resignation on Wednesday, and is expected to serve his last day at the cargo operator on June 10, 2014.
MASKargo did not respond to requests for comment as at press time.
As recent as May 26, 2014, the Air Freight Forwarders Association Malaysia (Afam) had written to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya lamenting service levels at its cargo arm's Advanced Cargo Centre (ACC) based in Sepang, which it said has not normalised since a manpower transition took place at the end of last year.
Signed off by Afam chairman Walter Culas, the letter to Ahmad Jauhari said service levels have been greatly affected by the no show of the staff of the appointed vendors which resulted in a shortage of manpower to carry out the operations that would deliver satisfactory service levels.
"MASKargo must admit their shortcomings in the selection of the vendors and be gracious enough to conduct a review of their performance," he said.
Walter went on to urge Ahmad Jauhari to direct the parties at MASKargo to resolve the problems immediately in the best interest of all parties.
Sources say, MASKargo's senior vice president global sales and government affairs Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi is in the running to take over from Mohd Yunus, who has been with MASKargo for umpteen years.
In 2013, countless manpower issues experienced by its vendor Kumpulan SF Powertech Sdn Bhd (Powertech) had led to its contract not being renewed by MASKargo. Powertech had held the contract for 18 years.
A tender process which was held thereafter to award the job to new vendors has not shown results, with countless correspondence between Afam and MASKargo still highlighting operational disruptions.
MASKargo, once MAS' highly profitable subsidiary, has in recent years been recording losses as a result of stiff competition putting pressure on yields.
In the first quarter of the financial period ended March 31, 2014 it made a net loss of RM48 million compared to a net loss of RM49.8 million for the same period in 2013. This was on lower revenue of RM435.1 million for the period compared with RM449.1 million a year ago.