Emirates’ e-freight rallying cry
05 / 03 / 2015
EMIRATES SkyCargo’s head of freight has warned the air cargo industry needs to adopt a much more focused approach in order to tackle the complexities involved in trying to roll out efreight.
Nabil Sultan, the divisional senior vice-president of cargo, observes: “Coming from primarily the passenger side of our business, where e-tickets and paperless transactions are the norm, I think this is one of the key areas that definitely surprised me. The whole of the industry should be transacting through e-airwaybills by now.”
“Customers should be able to monitor their shipments while they are sitting at their desks and know exactly what is happening to their shipments at any given moment,” he adds.
Emirates Airline has stolen Cathay Pacific’s ‘e’-crown in the e-freight race. It is now ranked as the carrier that operates the most eAWB shipments, according to the latest IATA top-10 league table.
Sultan acknowledges the logistical difficulties and complexity involved in encouraging different governments, along with their Customs departments, to sing from the same hymn sheet on this matter.
“I know a lot of work has been done by different entities like IATA, ICAO etc but they do a lot of other things as well. I think we [the industry] need to have a group that is committed [solely to driving the process forward] and has the financial backing as well,” he recommends.
Read Thelma Etim’s full interview in Air Cargo News 7 April 2014 – Issue No. 774
Read Thelma Etim’s full interview in Air Cargo News 7 April 2014 – Issue No. 774
