SHORT SHOTS

Hit the road, Jack! But let me know where you are
Software company, CargoHub, Emirates Airlines, and road feeder service provider, Jan de Rijk, are collaborating in a Cargo iQ sub-working group to improve communication between road feeder services and airlines on road segments of an air cargosh shipment’s journey. They are carrying out various shipment scenarios with live air cargo shipments on truck routes, in a first pilot. A second pilot will include more trial participants. The aim is to test Cargo iQ's new Road Feeder Services messaging standards and their ease of interaction, via messaging or API, between CargoHub’s Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) platform and the airline’s and trucking company’s systems.
Lothar Moehle, Executive Director, Cargo iQ, said that Cargo iQ is setting milestone requirements for shipment updates and stipulating which messages need to be sent by the RFS provider: “CargoHub will standardize the content of the messages by 'translating' it for the airlines. Ultimately, the RFS specification will be integrated into the Cargo iQ Master Operating Plan and the potential IT service solutions will be standardized to fit the Cargo iQ requirements, allowing members to choose one of the potential providers.” CargoHub not only transfers messages but helps to improve planning processes by providing movement, capacity, and cargo availability information. “The goal is to minimize loading and unloading times, thus increasing the speed of air cargo transportation by road,” said Raoul Paul, Chief Executive Officer, CargoHub. “At the same time, airlines will benefit from end-to-end supply chain visibility of air cargo shipments subjected to road transport. Our team has worked hard over the past two years to build an innovative platform based on the latest technologies to provide end-to-end digital logistics and transport supply chain visibility.”
Laurent Lebouille, Chair of the Cargo iQ RFS sub working group, and Manager Process, Planning and Project Delivery at SkyCargo, Emirates Airlines, summarized: “We recognized that not all trucking companies have equal system capabilities and to make the standards openly available and attractive to use for all truckers, we had to provide an easy way for all to participate. That meant we had to find software-as-a-service companies that could deliver the kind of status updates in the formats that we were looking for from an industry perspective. After a collaborative extensive market search, we found several providers that offered the kind of services that are needed to support the smaller trucking providers without their own system. Now we just have to show that it is possible in practice.”

Canada’s second busiest cargo airport is going cargo digital
Vancouver International Airport has opted for Kale's Airport Cargo Community System (ACCS) in its effort to improve the efficiency and transparency of its cargo operations and fulfil another milestone in its aim to create a more sustainable airport environment. The implementation will be carried out by Kales Logistics Solution’s U.S. subsidiary, Kale Info Solutions, once an initial proof of concept of ACCS has been completed. Alongside efficiency gains for all its customers, the airport hopes to streamline cargo flows, and counter the issue of airport truck congestion affecting many North American airports during cargo peaks. As an example of what is possible: WFS at JFK Airport, which adopted Kale’s ACCS truck slot and dock management module at the start of this year, improved its truck wait times by 66% for exports and 48% for imports.
Jason Tse, Manager, Commercial Leasing – Cargo, Vancouver International Airport, explained: “As Canada's second busiest airport, YVR is focused on enhancing our cargo operation and working with our airline and freight forwarding partners to meet our shared goals for the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of goods, all while advancing our climate commitments. Technology and digitization are key aspects of how we will achieve success, and we look forward to working with Kale Info Solutions and applying its innovative Cargo Community System at YVR for the benefit of our partners, our community, and the economy that supports it.”
ACCS enables real-time shipment updates between all relevant stakeholders in a shipment’s journey: shippers, agents, truckers, cargo handlers, airlines, airport, and results in improved planning thanks to estimated arrival times, and details on actual cargo on board, for example. Trucking companies can book slots in advance, and ground handlers can better coordinate landside freight movements, minimizing congestion and pollution by avoiding long waiting times.
Amar More, President, Kale Info Solutions, commented: “This project is testament to the efficacy of our solutions, and we look forward to helping the Vancouver Airport Authority and other airports in North America to overcome the challenge of truck congestion in the region. Our ACCS brings tremendous benefits in meeting environmental sustainability objectives with a major reduction of paperwork, carbon emissions and pollution, and creates a vibrant stakeholder digital eco-system around the airport.”

Total Cargo Expertise  - who has that?
Total Cargo Expertise or TCE is one of ten New Abilities that ECS Group offers as a standalone module to airlines in order to take time-consuming, but necessary work off their hands, so that they can concentrate on customer-facing topics. It promises to “keep a trained eye on safe operations,” and covers a range of services relating to operational air cargo safety, security, and quality. A central team of 12 ground control experts, based at Frankfurt/Main Airport, and headed by TCE Managing Director, Sarah Scheibe, is available 24/7. It currently serves 12 international airlines in all cargo operational and quality aspects, providing supplier or handling management, customs reporting (ICS/ACE/AMS/VUCEM/ACI), security filing (PLACI/ACAS/ICS2), quality assurance, load plan creation, contract management, and cargo charter coordination, among other things. The work is both onsite and remote, depending on the relevant function and the airline’s request. Sarah Scheibe, Managing Director of TCE, explains: “Handling supervision is always carried out in accordance with the carrier's needs. The airline defines the standard, and we ensure that third parties are in compliance during the operational window from cargo acceptance to build up, and from cargo towing to loading. TCE proves its worth when unexpected problems occur during daily operations as these are often complex situations and always under time pressure. We rise to the challenge and coordinate solutions with our external ground service providers and affiliated carriers.”
She also points to the team’s Safety and Security Management specialization and its various certifications when ti comes to carrying out longer term audits and risk assessments or negotiating standard ground handling agreements around the globe for cargo handling: “Our dedicated ECS Group team of experts is trained to the highest degree in all aspects of airline safety management, from auditing to risk assessments, from operational process standards to legal aspects. Place your audits, contract management, handling supervision, and much more into our capable hands, with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that fully certified staff are in control.”

Challenge Technic completes the Challenge Group family
Challenge Group is pretty self-sufficient all round when it comes to air cargo – all the way through to having its own in-house maintenance services: Challenge Technic is the group’s maintenance subsidiary since 01SEP21. Yossi Shoukroun, Chief Executive Officer of Challenge Group, says: “In-house line maintenance expertise was the only missing link when we began establishing Challenge Group as a comprehensive aviation and air cargo logistics conglomeration. Rather than establish our own subsidiary from scratch, we opted to acquire an established, quality service provider and found a perfect match in JETMX last year.”
The Iceland-registered, independent EASA 145 / BCAA third-party line maintenance service provider, was acquired and rebranded Challenge Technic at the end of last year, taking on all JETMX staff at the company's five line-stations in Liege/Belgium, Hannover, Cologne, and Leipzig in Germany, and Sal/Cape Verd. Though Challenge Technic’s headquarters and operational management are in Iceland, Yossi Shoukroun state: “We do not envisage a line station in Iceland, as the line maintenance market there is already saturated. However, we grew our maintenance presence in our main hub in Liege by 20 staff, in order to be able to handle the Challenge Group fleets alongside the 25 passenger and cargo airline customers that we already serve across all five stations. We are also in the process of sourcing further locations to establish more line stations in the coming months.”
Its team of around 60 certified technicians and 25 mechanics and stores staff is fully EASA 145, BCAA, UKCAA, and TCCA certified, and provides maintenance services for all B737 types through to B747, B757, B767, and B777 variants, and A318/319/320/321 versions. The service menu lists transit checks to ETOPS pre-flight checks, borescope inspections, daily & weekly checks, and A-Checks. “Other services include engine washing, engine changing, cabin defect rectification and other troubleshooting measures. 24/7/365 AOG support is available, as are flying spanner services,” the release states.

Air Premia goes digital with iCargo
Just half a year after taking up cargo services, the 2017-founded, Seoul-based, hybrid-service carrier, Air Premia, has gone live with IBS Software's iCargo. It has opted for the entire iCargo Sales and Operations suite as it looks to enhance its cargo processes. “Air Premia is excited to begin its business operations with the focus initially on cargo given the global situation on travel. The iCargo solution from IBS meets and exceeds many of our requirements for a cargo solution. We are also looking forward to joining the significant iCargo community of customer airlines, whom we believe will also be a helpful source of guidance in our journey to become a successful cargo carrier in the coming years”, said Daniel Kim, Vice President at Air Premia.
Air Premia benefits from iCargo’s scalability, particularly as a fledgling airline, as it grows its operations from the current B787-9 services to Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and Los Angeles in the U.S. The software supports it in daily cargo booking and operational processes, U.S. Customs regulations, shipment reservations, capacity allocation and management, AWB stock management, cargo product and service portfolio management, proactive disruption management, cargo acceptance and load planning.
“IBS Software is excited to see iCargo in action as the system showcases its agility to handle operations of carriers of all sizes and business models in various geographies. We strongly value the commitment that Air PREMIA has to IBS and the iCargo product, and are looking forward to providing excellent support to Air PREMIA in its growth. We're particularly proud of delivering the solution to market extremely quickly - in just under eight weeks - which is critical for a start-up airline”, said Ashok Rajan, Global Head, Cargo and Logistics Solutions at IBS Software.

Brigitte Gledhill

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