Smart Automation for easing Milestone Tracking for Trade Facilitation in Air Cargo

Automations are the key word engulfing Cargo Handlers, Forwarders, Customs Brokers and Airlines at the current times. Thanks to the pandemic, which has pushed everyone to the brink and think digital. Apparently, a major number of Cargo Handlers are now choosing an Air Cargo Management System or a Cargo Community System to continue their business operations despite the grim scenario. Various other software suites to facilitate e-services is also seeing a lot of traction.

The demand for electronic air waybill, electronic delivery order and electronic certificate of origin is increasing multifold. Anyhow, there is a sharp drop in cargo handling capacity similar to the year ago period. Well, if asked why digitisation is picking up so much pace, there are several reasons to quote. The major one being, tackling staff shortage followed by contactless transactions due to disease spreading cues. But the key reason why Cargo Handlers tend to choose digitisation is Milestone Tracking. Yes, due to lack of cargo visibility and tracking milestone updates in the manual process, various issues arose. Here are certain service modules which are smartly automated to ease milestone tracking and ensure trade facilitation.

Document to EDI conversion

Manual document exchange continued to be challenging. Not only did it cause physical effort, but also a plethora of other challenges such as data inaccuracies, misplacement etc. Document to EDI conversion services ensure the electronic Air Waybill (eAWB) is converted into an EDI format and shared to all relevant stakeholders. A forwarder, consignee and others will receive this message. Therefore, there is no problem of data inaccuracies or manual intervention. Due to this, cargo handlers and airlines can save almost 80 percent of the cost spent on documentation.

Freight audit support

Freight auditing always turns out to be strenuous. The one verifying will always have a pile of documents to examine and verify for accuracy. Also, freight cost varies according to several factors such as cost of transportation, fuel to name a few. With a digitised system for freight audit support, calculating freight rates according to different parameters are made simple. With this, a lot of time and resources can be saved.

Track and trace

With the freight moving from the land side to the air side, there are various bottlenecks in the air cargo ecosystem in the manual process. In this, visibility of cargo is not guaranteed to any of the stakeholders involved. A trade facilitation e-service suite offers complete track & trace facility so that cargo handlers, forwarders and truckers receive advanced shipment information. With information in advance, all entities can plan their tasks and assign relevant resources to handle incoming freight.

Digitisation ensures future-ready businesses. Apparently, a major chunk of cargo handlers, forwarders and airlines switching to a complete suite of digital trade facilitation software is now preparing the industry for a new normal. With the current scenario getting extended for a prolonged time, the Air Cargo ecosystem will rise to a world of digitisation. From there on, no turning back to manual processes.