The freight division of the Finnish carrier (AY – IATA) and the electronic booking platform cargo.one have joined forces for optimizing the lower deck capacity offered by the Nordic carrier. Their cooperation will be kicked off in May.
In his recent remarkable contribution titled “15 eye-opening opinions from air cargo and logistics,” Finnair Cargo’s head of global sales Fredrik Wildtgrube identified data as the new driver of
air freight and aviation in general. Accurate data ensures the smooth flow of goods and their correct handling, it also prevents delays in daily services, he said. But he also regretted that all
the legacy systems existing in the cargo industry are not equipped to manage data in the way required. A huge obstacle for the business.
All-in-one ops
This hurdle, causing process delays and hiccups in daily operations, will – at least partially – be set aside shortly by Finnair Cargo and cargo.one at the start of their cooperation. Forwarders
or general sales agents making use of the new digital booking channel are offered live spot rates for standard freight and are provided an immediate booking confirmation for their goods should
they confirm the deal with a simple click. Finnair Cargo’s benefit: the carrier improves its operational efficiencies and ups its load factor. It can be expected that Finnair Cargo Division’s
current contribution of 7.3 percent to the airline’s overall revenue (2018) will increase as well should the fleet’s lower deck capacity be maximized thanks to the new booking tool.
More capacity, additional routes = higher attractiveness
Commented Mr Wildtgrube while the deal was inked: “Digital connectivity is the missing link to guarantee end-to-end speed, quality and continuous improvement in the industry.” The manager spoke
of a “forward-thinking move” benefitting all parties involved, particularly forwarders and GSAs: “We are happy to now offer our customers a fully digital first-class booking experience with
cargo.one.”
His statements were complemented by Moritz Claussen, MD of cargo.one, who noted that through the partnership between his booking platform and Finnair Cargo “cargo.one becomes even more attractive
for forwarders, adding more destinations in North America and Asia,” thus developing successively into a platform “no airline should want to be missed on.”
The agents were represented by Jan Kleine-Lasthues, global head of air freight at Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, who said: “We are very pleased to see Finnair Cargo joining cargo.one’s
multi-carrier platform.” It’s an appropriate effort to “decrease complexity for customers, rather than to focus on a proprietary channel.”
Booking still restricted to general cargo
Proprietary interfaces provide cargo.one with live spot rates and guarantee access to capacity. This puts an end to the anachronous and time-killing consignment booking process by email or via
telephone. However, up to now only general cargo is bookable, but more products are to follow indicated a cargo.one manager to CargoForwarder Global, without mentioning specs.
Hellmann is one of the Berlin-based booking platform’s customers, others are Dachser, Quick Cargo Service, EMO Trans, Agility or Senator International, to name just a few. Finnair becomes the
third carrier making use of the booking portal, next to Eurowings and Lufthansa Cargo. Last December, LH Cargo bought into cargo.one, holding since roughly 15 percent of the start-up’s
stakes.
Heiner Siegmund
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