27 Oct Reasons why the need for air cargo community system is gaining traction across the globe
In a time when major car companies such as Jaguar Land Rover are shipping auto parts across the world in suitcases and huge quantities of perishable goods are stranded at origin or destination ports and airports. Therefore, it is difficult to be confident in predicting for next 12 months.
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak has thrown thousands of programs generating forecasts, planning and scheduling into chaos and its ongoing effects will no doubt create an anomaly in air cargo statistics for decades to come.
So, do events such as the coronavirus mean that working to increase levels of supply chain visibility and data generation through digitization, AI (artificial intelligence) and other means – to better predict future trends and demand – is a waste of time?
Or, maybe, access to the right data at the right time, and/ or interrogating it in different ways, can help companies adjust more quickly to the new circumstances and even take advantage of them. One of the great benefits of digitization is the ability for closer cooperation between suppliers, customers and their supply chain partners. This, in turn, increases the potential to respond more quickly and efficiently when planned deliveries are delayed or major regional disruptions occur.
Every player in the supply chain must feel confident that sharing their data does not constitute a commercial risk – especially where a supplier works for several competitors. And the customer must feel equally confident that the data and information they receive are accurate. This is precisely what the airport cargo community system does much better, as everyone sees the same data at the same time, with the bottlenecks or points of failure much easier to identify – and so to fix.
Well, over the years, cargo visibility, reducing inefficiencies and the causes of manual documentation were considered bottlenecks. Added to those, truck congestion was also a predominant issue causing operational delays. Now, these challenges are addressed with a 360-degree digitalisation drive powered by technologies such as machine learning and AI.
These technologies are offering cognitive as well as predictive capabilities to perform operations smartly. Now, an air cargo community system is slowly picking up pace across the world. But the reason to choose the same is not conventional. Here are some challenges due to which airports around the globe are sticking to cargo community systems.
Ensuring data security
EDI message triggers are an inbuilt feature of community platforms. They eliminate the need for paper documents and enable instant data sharing on milestone completion. Earlier, with disconnected ERP systems in place, each stakeholder could email the documents in a static format to the next stakeholder in the fray.
But not essentially the other one waiting to take the baton forward is digitally equipped. In such cases, the document will have to be printed and physically presented to the stakeholder. There are challenges involved in this step, the primary ones being delay and security risks of data leakage. Whereas with the EDI trigger, the information shared is secured and specific to the stakeholders who share it with each other. Therefore, there is no scope for a security breach.
Regulatory compliance
As the industry is now penetrating deep, the regulations as well grew. To date, the regulations to send cargo from one country to the other are so high that not adhering to the same will lead to enormous delays. Be it ground handlers, freight forwarders or customs brokers to name a few, all of them have a process to follow to adhere to the guidelines. Failing to do so will hamper their operations. In turn, to incorporate and adhere to regulatory compliance.
Becoming future-ready
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the global supply chain, now there is a clear emphasis on keeping the supply chain dynamic. Despite the uncertainties, the supply chain must be functioning. To ensure the same, stakeholders are becoming future ready and to enable it, an air cargo community system comes in handy. Right from automation to integrations and real-time status updates, all those are in line with the digital infrastructure.
With all these futuristic attributes, the air cargo community system offers multi-dimensional capabilities to cut down on redundant and manual processes. By doing so, adhering to compliance and ensuring trade facilitation will not be a distant dream.
About the Author
Rahim Bhimani, Senior Vice President-Air Cargo, Kale Logistics Solution
Coming up with out-of-the-box solutions to real business problems is his speciality. His own designed and developed solution is working for many airlines across the world.
He has dedicated his last 15+ years to the IT Air Cargo industry and has knowledge of business across the complete lifecycle of the shipment.
With more than 2 decades of experience in relevant industries, Rahim has gained experience across multiple levels of organizations, thus giving him a unique point of view of bottlenecks or issues across the organization and coming up with a best-suited solution.