2026 Air Cargo Conference delivers the goods

With 49 sponsors and over 1000 attendees, 2026’s Air Cargo Conference, held from February 15th to 17th, was the most successful yet. The Air Cargo Conference attracts professionals in the industry from not only across North America, but also the globe. The conference was hosted by the Omni Hotel’s resort in Championsgate, Florida.

An introduction by Kendra Tanner of Allstates World Cargo kicked off the conference. Her story of rising to the top and the support she was given by many was both fascinating and heartwarming. In addition, she offered words of caution, citing past companies to remind everyone that no business is too big to fail. It was an excellent start to the conference and set the tone. From there, attendees were let loose to wander the exhibitor booths.


Air Cargo Exhibitors

There were 102 exhibitor booths in the National Ballroom of the Omni Hotel. Every company put their best foot forward with informative booths that gave a good idea of what they have to offer. Each of them brought something unique to the conference. Of interest were green shipping-focused companies, such as FibroCorp, who manufacture pallets out of wastepaper. Many companies that work with shipping technology had booths as well. The National Ballroom was a hub of networking and conversation.


Tariff Panel

As of February 20th, the Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump’s tariffs, with Chief Justice John Roberts stating, “we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.” This will no doubt be celebrated by the panelists who spoke at Air Cargo’s panel, “Tariffs, Turbulence, and Truth.” As Glyn Hughes said, “What I think is driving trade policy right now is stupidity.”

Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association, led the panel. While he has announced his retirement, Brandon was in top form as he ran the panel. With questions like, “So in your opinion, what is driving US trading policy right now? Is it economics, politics, or is it [mid-term] elections now?” and “Are you seeing instances where the importers are working out a split of tariff costs with the manufacturers overseas?” He put the panelists on the spot. The panelists themselves answered these tough questions with grace and intelligence.

The panelists were Seth Cutter of Airports Council International (ACI), Jonathan Gold of the National Retail Federation (NRF), Glyn Hughes from TIACA, and Jay Acayan of Roberts & Kehagiaras LLP. The four of them had a lively discussion and didn’t falter at tough questions. As Seth Ketter said, “The word we would all agree on this panel would be ‘uncertainty’, right?” This uncertainty was a major part of the discussion, with each panelist confirming that they did not feel comfortable trying to predict future changes.


Cargo Theft

Tariffs may be on everyone’s minds, but they aren’t the only challenge facing the shipping industry today. The “Truck Fraud in Freight” panel discussed the cargo theft problem that supply chains don’t have a permanent solution for. Post pandemic, the problem of “strategic theft” of cargo has risen from 3% of thefts to 33%. This strategic theft is what the panel focused on. Topics covered included the difficulties of getting local law enforcement to take organized cargo theft seriously, the importance of training your staff to recognize fraud, and the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act. The Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act is a proposed bill that would create task forces to crack down on cargo theft. Possibly the most important takeaway of the panel was that companies need to stop posting their solutions to cargo theft on social media, such as LinkedIn. Cargo thieves can see these posts, and unlike the intended audience, will use this knowledge to get around security precautions. Keeping information secure is the first line of defense against theft.

Scott Cornell, of Logistiq Insurance Solutions, had many suggestions for companies looking for solutions to the problem of cargo theft. Part of the issue, in his opinion, is that the heads of the organized crime rings currently leading cargo thefts are overseas. This means that while law enforcement can arrest the “foot soldiers” on the ground, they have no access to the people in charge at this current time. Due to this, law enforcement at this time has not taken the threat of cargo theft seriously. Until law enforcement knows how to handle this situation, companies must be responsible and take measures against cargo theft, as best as they can.

“Your front-line staff is your best weapon,” said Scott Cornell. What this means is that the staff who are, for instance, actually assigning the truckloads, need to be trained as much as the risk or security departments. This will allow front-line staff to develop a sense for when a situation does not appear to be aboveboard. According to Scott, many times after running his training program, he received emails from clients telling him that his program had allowed them to prevent a theft.


Women in Air Cargo

Although it wasn’t the main focus, the role of women in the cargo industry came up quite a bit. Kendra Tanner’s opening speech was in part about how she wanted more women to get the opportunities she did, and how the men in the industry need to open up to taking a chance on the women working in this field. While she experienced sexism, Kendra was able to press through the difficulties to reach her current position, President and CEO of Allstates World Cargo.

There was also a Women’s Networking Event, with a panel discussing leadership in airfreight. While this was intended for women to network, it wasn’t exclusive, and many men came to speak to the various accomplished women who attended. Several of the same topics from Tanner’s speech came up, such as how to manage your work-life balance or manage your team.

Air Cargo Conference Delivers

Overall, this Air Cargo Conference was an incredible success. There was a wide variety of knowledgeable panelists, intriguing booths, and networking, and it all took place in a beautiful environment. One expects that next year’s Air Cargo conference will deliver like 2026.