As the air cargo industry is preparing to move to a data sharing model and adopt a new messaging standard, the eAWB transition is not yet completed. For Lufthansa Cargo (LCAG), the goal is of course “100% eAWB” which, according to Edvino Corradi, Commercial Manager Italy & Malta, is not only about eliminating paper but also improving data quality. For this endeavour, in Italy, the air cargo community could strongly rely on the support of the Cargo Community System (CCS) by CARGO START.
Q. In 2021, the eAWB topic should belong to the history of air freight. On the contrary, paper has not been completely eliminated. Where does Lufthansa Cargo stand in the transition roadmap?
A. As a technology-focused air cargo carrier, Lufthansa Cargo (LCAG) has been actively pursuing all the industry initiatives for the digitalization and standardization of air cargo messaging such as eFreight and eAWB since their inception. LCAG is now ranking as one of the top 10 carriers worldwide in terms of eAWB penetration, with 80 percent we have a ratio higher than the world’s average.
Of course our goal is to reach “100% eAWB”, which means eliminating paper and going completely digital but also and foremost improving data quality. In fact, the quality of data flows in the air cargo industry shows still room for improvement .
As a future oriented carrier, we believe our mission is not just about transporting goods from airport to airport, but data as well. We already demonstrated the benefits of a higher data quality with our “PreCheck” service: By checking data before they are delivered at the airport, errors can be corrected in advance and all parties can benefit from the time savings.
We believe that business efficiency can only improve by improving data quality and enabling data sharing. The higher share of electronic documents, the higher the quality and more time savings.
Q. Italy is an important market for LCAG. How did the local air cargo community respond to the call for digitalization?
A. Although Italy improved a lot in the last few years in terms of eAWB ranking and rapidly climbed from the 30th position in 2017 to the 12th in 2021, unfortunately it has been hard to eradicate the habit of printing the documentation regardless the electronic transmission.
One of the issues is that every stakeholder has been bringing about its own digital transformation process. Companies and Authorities did invest in upgrading their IT systems, but a joint approach would be preferable. Digital platforms don’t interact easily with one another and therefore, when two or more players have to exchange messages, they end up printing – or entering data twice – which is a waste of time. At the expense of business efficiency.
In Italy, this is one of the main topics in the agenda of the “Tavolo Tecnico – Position Paper Cargo Aereo” – within the “Cluster Air Cargo Italia” interest group, promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility – where I am participating as a representative of carriers operating in the country (Italian Board Airline Representatives – IBAR), and aimed at improving the cooperation among all the stakeholders and encourage a community approach.
Q. In the last 20 years, you have been personally collaborating with CARGO START as the CCS (Cargo Community System) provider of many of your customers. What was the added value of the collaboration?
A. As a third party IT provider acting as Cargo Community System in Italy, CARGO START has been a strong enabler of the eAWB initiative and played a very important role in enhancing our customers’ digital potential. A CCS is like a “magic box”, a facilitating system that translates the forwarders’ messages into IATA standards and makes them available to the airline and all other stakeholders.
One of the reasons why we started liaising with the CARGO START’s team of experts was that the FWB, the messaging standard defined by IATA for the eFreight project in the early 2000, could be used and applied in numberless variations, and therefore, it needed constant adaptation.
When our customers tell me they are supported by CARGO START on these matters, I can be sure the quality of data is the highest. It is indeed amongst the CCS provider that better understands our needs and that can better support our customers to keep up with the ever-changing operational challenges of our industry.
Q. What do you think is the way forward for the industry?
A. Eventually, there should be only one, common platform. We should move from a peer-to-peer messaging model to a data sharing model relying on virtual shipment record. IATA One Record could actually be the way forward, as it allows data to be easily and transparently exchanged in one digital ecosystem accessible to all stakeholders.
The technology is already there to make it work – Cargo XML – but the mindset is not, I am afraid. I give you an example: some of our customers with a good data quality still have a 50% eAWB ratio only – because there is still no real motivation. Ten years after the eAWB initiative was launched, most of our customers are still reluctant to upgrade from FWB16 to FWB17 standards. So, they do not seem to be ready to hear about Cargo XML. It is a matter of mindset and, obviously of investment. We are still too used to paper. The COVID-19 crisis which forced us all to work from home was a great opportunity to learn that we can live without it. Let’s hope it won’t be wasted!
Q. How is LCAG involved in the One Record project?
A. LCAG participates in the IATA One Record working groups for the definition of the new standards – and we hope we will be able to test them and implement them soon. We really need to move on. The opportunity that we have now is to launch a new standard which is really the one and only. Of course, we have to start with a different approach, otherwise it won’t work.
A. I personally believe that third party IT providers like CARGO START can be a great asset in this ongoing “revolution”. CARGO START is part of the One Record implementation team too, and I think they can be instrumental, especially when it comes to find ways to further facilitate the forwarding community to switch to the Cargo XML standard and share their messages in the One Record cloud. The improvement of data quality is a mission possible.
More information at lufthansa-cargo.com
- Read more about IATA eAWB and IATA One Record
- Read more about the Cluster Cargo Aereo Interest Group
Contact the Cargo Start team for a free consultancy.