Frankfurt pilots electronic DG declarations

Frankfurt Airport is piloting a scheme to digitise dangerous goods declarations through the INFr8 platform jointly developed with German software firm Dakosy.

It told a seminar at Air Cargo Europe on 4 June that it was the first air cargo location worldwide to offer shippers and forwarders digitized dangerous goods processes along the entire supply chain.

The Dangerous Goods Declaration (DGD) required for transport is created digitally via the INFr8 shipping portal and can be shared with all relevant parties.

Bernhard Leßmann, senior manager CargoCity development at airport operating company Fraport explained: “The paper-based documentation in use until now involved very long lead times and had a high error rate for hazardous goods transports. About 10% of all shipments were stopped at the airport due to errors. That’s why we participated in the development of INFr8 – to accelerate processes, make them more reliable and create transparency for everyone involved.”

The pilot group already includes shippers, logistics service providers, customs declarations agents, handling agents and Lufthansa Cargo. The latest testers are AaDC and KLEX Klaus Exportverpackungen.

Dakosy officer Dirk Gladiator, added. “Each participant can now use an interface to declare dangerous goods on the platform and at the end a quality-assured eDGD is created, which can then be transmitted to the airline or handling agent. INFr8 is not limited to Frankfurt Airport, but rather has an international focus.”

Dakosy is currently in discussions with other airports regarding the use of the shipping portal.