TIACA Honors Hall of Famers

A highly respected campaigner for the removal of barriers to trade and one of air cargo’s most respected media publishers are being honored with a place in The International Air Cargo Association’s Hall of Fame for their outstanding work in promoting the development of the industry.

John Raven and Ray Crane will be officially recognized at a special Hall of Fame Gala Dinner in Moscow on May 24, 2012, during TIACA’s Executive Summit and AGM.

John Raven, who passed away at the age of 91 in November 2011, dedicated his career to trade facilitation. A former head of the British Coal Exporters Association, in 1968 the UK Board of Trade asked John to set up an expert committee tasked with looking at procedural, regulatory and documentary hindrances to UK international trade. Two years later, he became Chief Executive of the UK Committee for the Simplification of International Trade Procedures and its recommendation report published in 1970 represented the start of international trade’s discussion and drive for facilitation.

John also wrote articles and features for the national newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he worked on behalf of the fast-growing express and courier sector, representing the industry at the World Bank, United Nations’ Development Program, and World Customs Organization. He became director of the International Express Carriers Conference, whose members include UPS, FedEx, TNT and DHL, and more heavily engaged in WCO matters. During this time, the express industry was particularly influential in helping the U.S. and Canadian Customs support the production of the WCO Immediate Release Guidelines, and took a keen interest in work on the revised WCO Kyoto Convention on the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures resulting in 1999 with a new and significantly improved text.

For the last 10 years, John was TIACA’s representative in Brussels providing industry input and support for the development of the post-9/11 WCO SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Trade, the Data Model, Unique Consignment Reference, and capacity building for developing countries’ customs operations.

Ray Crane is the former chief executive and major shareholder of Air Cargo Media. He launched Air Cargo News in 1983 and sold his interest to a German publisher in July 2011. He had previously been publisher of the monthly magazine, Airtrade.