At the Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Istanbul, Lufthansa Cargo has been appointed leading cargo carrier for the “e-freight” project in Germany. IATA simultaneously named Germany, the biggest air cargo market in Europe, as e-freight market for the year.
“Lufthansa Cargo will press ahead firmly with the e-freight project and expressly further paperless cargo transport,” said Lufthansa Cargo chairman Carsten Spohr. “With the help of this initiative, we intend to accelerate processes for the benefit of our customers, create cost-efficient structures and generally advance the cause of the airfreight industry.”
In cooperation with customers, Lufthansa Cargo will now make preparations for the first paperless shipment and put in place the required processes. The aim is to facilitate the first paperless transport from Germany at the end of the year.
The “e-freight” project was initiated as part of the IATA ‘Simplifying the Business’ initiative in 2004. In November 2007, it was trialled worldwide in a pilot phase in six markets. On completion of the pilot phase, IATA named further countries including Germany.
IATA has also selected Spain as a pilot country with an exclusive group of the Madrid air cargo community, mainly formed by customs, airlines, forwarders and handling agents, having participated in the evaluation of the necessary requirements for this project.
The group has elected Iberia as the leading partner of this project, as the airline company has had its own electronic air waybill, IBERIA CARGO e-AWB, available on the Spanish domestic traffic since June 2007.
According to IATA, an average of 38 documents are produced for each single shipment, worldwide. Th ose documents could fill 39 Boeing 747 freighters yearly. Theoretically, an electronic solution could save the international airfreight industry in the region of US$1.2 billion.