Electronic freight "international cold chain transport paperless" walk the world

In December 2013, the electronic waybill of imported goods was officially released at the Capital Airport and smoothly entered the second-level cargo warehouse under customs supervision at the airport. This order of goods is transported by Lufthansa, Germany, from Munich to Beijing. The information of the main waybill is uploaded to the logistics management information system of Beijing Customs in the mode of electronic data transmission, and electronic release instruction is obtained. This not only marks our customs, out of the entry inspection and quarantine Bureau and other government regulatory agencies formally approved the electronic waybill instead of paper waybill to complete the new operation process of transportation, also marks the future goods will be like passengers, "a card in hand, no paper to go to the world".

Passenger transport to simple transport to complex

As we all know, our passenger transport business has already realized 100% electronic ticket. Instead of using a paper ticket, sometimes even a boarding pass, passengers can swipe a QR code to board a plane. So, is the electronic waybill of freight also follow suit, natural? In fact, it is not. Compared with air passenger transport, air cargo business is much more complex whether from the participant, the process link, or from the documents.

Generally speaking, the logistics, information flow and capital flow of international cold chain transport air cargo business are far more complex than that of passenger transport business. The reason why freight transportation is complicated is mainly complicated in the following five aspects: First, there are many links and subjects. When passengers fly, they just need to deal with the airline, the airport and a ticket agent. But freight is not so simple, a single cargo flight journey, involving cargo shipper, freight agent, customs, ground agent, air carrier and other 9 different business links and market players. Second, paper documents are complicated. If the passenger takes the plane, the general airline only need to print the boarding pass, and then fill a manifest, relatively easy. In the case of freight, however, it is different, requiring the filling, transmission, inspection and storage of up to 20 different documents, and depending on the business and geographical differences, the document data can be up to 30. Third, the system is difficult to interconnect. At present, the domestic passenger transport mainly uses the booking system and departure system of AVIC, and the systems among companies, airports and ticket agents are fully interconnected. Freight business is different. The freight system of each company is independently established and developed or purchased, and the system process, development platform, data format and transmission interface are all different and incompatible. This not only makes it difficult to realize the electronic transfer of freight from different companies, but also affects the information interconnection with customs and ground agents. Fourth, profit coordination is difficult. Airlines are willing to promote the electronization of freight transportation from the perspective of simplifying business and improving efficiency, but freight agents do not want to realize the electronization of freight transportation for the consideration of mastering customer resources, especially the shipper's information sharing. Fifth, the relevant investment is large. Since the upgrading of the cargo system requires a large amount of capital, energy and development power, the cargo business process of airlines may also need to be improved accordingly, which requires a huge workload and investment.

Electronic freight cake is tempting

Given the complexity of the air cargo business, what would we gain from an electronic cargo program? It is estimated that the full implementation of the e-freight plan will not only bring US $3.1 billion ~ US $4.9 billion in net income for the whole value chain of global freight, but also enjoy the benefits of improved efficiency. First, increased efficiency through electronic data planning for the delivery and verification of paper documents will greatly reduce shipping times, which is estimated to bring $700 million in benefits over the course of the year. Second, to reduce costs, through 100% electronic waybills to reduce paper document printing, delivery, storage costs, estimated annual savings of $1.7 billion. Third, improve the accuracy of data. Through electronic collection of customer and goods information, data errors and omissions caused by repeated entry and transmission of paper bill of lading can be avoided. Fourth, improve the level of customer service, not only facilitate customs declaration, accelerate the extraction of goods, but also provide customers with the status and location information of freight transportation, improve customer satisfaction. This could also bring about $1.7 billion in benefits.

Progress is slow and the task difficult

Faced with such an attractive prospect, IATA is working with government agencies, air carriers, freight forwarders and others around the world to push forward the e-cargo project. With the growing growth of the e-cargo business, Global Air Cargo Consulting Group (GACAG) in 2011 proposed a road map for the future development of e-cargo, which breaks down the promotion of comprehensive paperless cargo operations into three key tasks. First, remove policy barriers: Invite regulators and governments around the world to create an "electronic customs process" policy environment to support a paperless "electronic cargo route network". Secondly, to solve the problem of key links: to realize paperless airport-to-airport before 2015, organize and realize the electronization of key documents, including electronic master waybill (E-AWE), electronic freight manifest, electronic freight forwarding and electronic freight charging. Comprehensive promotion and implementation: digitize commercial paper and special cargo documents.

But so far, the expected progress has not been achieved. First of all, in terms of the overall traffic volume, the number of electronic waybills for international air cargo in March 2014 has reached 206,000, reaching a record high. In addition, e-waybill penetration (i.e. share) also reached 13.4%, up 1.2% from the previous month.

Secondly, in terms of airport ranking (by e-cargo business volume), Hong Kong Airport has a large volume of e-cargo business, which accounts for more than half of the total business. Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, Incheon International Airport in South Korea and Singapore International Airport ranked second to fourth. Asian airports lead the world in the electronic cargo business. Among them, Dubai Airport 85% of the international cargo business has been realized electronic, accounting for a high proportion. But starting with Amsterdam Airport in fifth place, the share of electronic freight did not exceed 20 percent.

From the perspective of air carriers, Cathay Pacific Cargo, Dragonair, Dubai Cargo, Emirates Cargo and Singapore International Cargo companies have developed their electronic cargo business significantly, and the penetration rate of electronic cargo in their international cargo business has exceeded 3/4. In addition, China Southern Airlines successfully implemented the Amsterdam-Guangzhou international electronic cargo business on October 24, 2013, and began to expand to other international routes, but the proportion is still very low.