Air Canada leads way in piece-level tracking

AIR CANADA (AC) Cargo is poised to track shipments at individual piece level. 
The airline is getting ready to introduce radio-frequency-based RFID tracking and tracing, starting with its route between Montreal and Frankfurt.
RFID is the wireless non-contact use of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects.
Lise-Marie Turpin, the airline’s vice-president of cargo, says that the technology will be deployed in the first quarter of the coming year. Other routes will follow after successful implementation on the sector.
AC Cargo has been working closely with technology providers to develop an RFID set-up that allows real time tracking at piece level, hands-free, with a single interface.
It is deployed at six read points throughout the shipment process that is in the custody of the airline – from goods acceptance over build-up, export and import, to breakdown and final delivery.
Read Ian Putzger’s full piece in the next edition of Air Cargo News 18 November 2013 – Issue No. 765