CCS-UK trials IATA One Record technology

London Heathrow Airport’s air cargo community has ompleted its first trial of IATA’s ONE Record technologies, which aim to replace the legacy Cargo-Imp and XML standards.

US application development and data management specialist Nexshore built a ONE Record server based in the UK, to control the storage and transmission of the ONE Record data objects which form the core of the new concept.

The Heathrow project – led by community provider CCS-UK and its user group – took place between March and July 2020, and involved forwarder Geodis and Cathay Pacific Cargo, and their respective IT systems providers WiseTech Global and GLS.

Interfaces to the participants’ systems were provided by Nexshore. During the pilot, air waybill data was successfully exchanged between the parties and status updates provided.

The server was built to the latest ONE Record standards, but was also designed to support earlier versions. In addition, security to the latest IATA specifications was built into the CCS-UK platform.

Malcolm Fowler of the CCS-UK user group said: “ONE Record may not seem like the most important priority for the industry right now, but in fact there has never been a better time to adopt it.

“It delivers greater efficiency and potential cost savings, and low implementation costs.

“In addition, through the total transparency and uniformity it brings to the supply chain, it provides the kind of seamless data flows and visibility which shippers and consignees are demanding, and the traditional airfreight sector must provide, if it is to realise its full potential in the developing e-commerce boom.”

The vision for ONE Record is an end-to-end digital logistics and transport supply chain where data is easily and transparently exchanged through a centralised platform.