Paperless shipments debut in Middle East

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PIONEER SPIRIT: Emirates SkyCargo’s headquarters at Dubai International Airport has overlooked the first paperless shipment carried out in the Middle East.

The ground-breaking e-freight initiative, spearheaded by industry body IATA, has arrived in the Middle East, with the first paperless shipments being delivered between Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and London on 4th November.

E-freight in this region has been spearheaded by Emirates, in association with Dubai Customs, and is one of five Simplifying the Business (StB) initiatives that have been masterminded by IATA with the intention of saving the industry billions of dollars in costs.

"The launch of IATA e-freight in Dubai takes us into a new, more efficient era for air cargo," said Ram Menen, divisional senior vice president cargo for Emirates.

"Emirates has been one of the key supporters of this initiative, as we see clear benefits in having paper-free operations - efficiency and direct contribution to the bottom line. IATA e-freight is a revolution for a US$55 billion business that generates 12% of airline revenues and has broad implications for e-trade and the global economy."

Along with Emirates and Dubai Customs, the project also required the input and assistance of Dnata, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Schenker, DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne + Nagel, Modern Freight Company, Freightworks and IATA.

"It has been heartening to see the community embracing the concept, and combining resources for a common cause despite many challenges," said Niranjan Navaratnajah, manager of cargo systems and revenue planning, Emirates.

"Over the past 10 years Dubai Customs has been at the forefront of Dubai Government departments improving the trade supply process; working with other government departments and the private sector to facilitate faster processing of legitimate trade movement in Dubai," said Mohammed Matar Al Marri, executive director for cargo operations, Dubai Customs. "Over the last five years, we have seen an average yearly growth of more than 22% on the value of imports and exports in Dubai."

Dubai becomes the fourteenth worldwide location to implement the project, following Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Mauritius, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The initiative helps member countries to put in place business, technical and legal frameworks to enable airlines, freight forwarders, customs authorities, ground-handling agents and governments to exchange information electronically instead of via paper.

As a result, e-freight eliminates the need for 13 paper documents, allowing the speeding up of business processes, improved reliability and a significant reduction in costs.

Over the course of the past year, IATA has assessed a total of 209 locations worldwide, in addition to the original six e-freight locations.

Of these sites, 46 countries, representing approximately 60% of global airfreight volumes, have the appropriate international treaties and high level customs framework required to qualify for the freight of paperless shipments. The global agency has set a deadline of the end of 2010 to implement e-freight where feasible.

"Altogether StB's projects will save $6.5 billion," explained Steve Smith, IATA's project director for e-freight, speaking to Air Cargo Middle East & India.

"IATA is active in helping airlines save money on fuel - our most expensive operational cost. Our experts work with airlines and civil aviation authorities to shorten routes, improve operational procedures and share best practices that together will save $3 billion and 10 million tonnes of CO² this year."

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