In the second half of February the first e-freight compliant transactions were performed on the trade lanes between Zurich Airport and Chicago, Hong Kong, Singapore and London.
The introduction of the e-freight operational process at Zurich Airport, led by Swiss WorldCargo, the cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., was accomplished in a remarkably short time scale and involved the broadest representation of the local air freight community.
Cargo carriers (Singapore Airlines Cargo, Air Canada), freight forwarders (Lamprecht, DB Schenker, DHL Global Forwarding and SPEDLOGSWISS), ground handling agents (Cargologic), the federal office of civil aviation (BAZL) and customs authorities have all been working closely with Swiss WorldCargo and the IATA e-freight team for the successful and timely launch of the initiative.
An important role was also played by the ground handling agents at destination, namely Lufthansa Cargo in Chicago, Singapore Airport Terminal Services and Swissport in Singapore and London, and AAT in Hong Kong.
“All the parties involved in the local logistics chain will now be able to exchange their consignment details online. This significant step in improving data quality and efficiency, will further strengthen the leading role of Switzerland as a hub for urgent, sensitive and high value cargo,” says Oliver Evans, CCO, Swiss International Air Lines.
Participants in the project have been very positive on the approach and potential of the project:
Markus Loeffler, Business Service & Quality, Swiss WorldCargo
“SWISS has supported e-freight from its inception, and we can certainly be proud that we have given our contribution to move the industry forward to a new, more efficient era.”
Markus Keller, Director Airfreight, Lamprecht Transport Ltd.
„e-Freight“ stands for paperless airfreight management and represents a big step towards simplification of processes – important requirements for the forwarding industry, in particular for a medium-sized, family-owned company, to remain competitive. For the customer this means an improved quality of data, an efficient supply chain und a higher level of customer service”.
Hans Schütz, Product Manager Airfreight, Schenker Switzerland Ltd.
“We are excited to be part of the e-freight pilot project in Switzerland. DB Schenker has been actively involved in the programme right from the beginning. In the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and the UK, DB Schenker has already successfully introduced paperless airfreight handling."
Christoph Jeanneret, Head Operations Air & Ocean, DHL Global Forwarding Switzerland
“With our trial shipment from Switzerland to Hong Kong we managed our first live e-freight transaction successfully. We left the first stepping stone on our path to a more digital and less paper-bound way of air freight transportation. This fits well in with various other DHL <go green> initiatives and our global involvement with e-freight and its pilot shipments.”
Thomas Schwarzenbach, Vice Director - Reto C. Wieser, Chairman Airfreight Division and Member of the Board of Directors, SPEDLOGSWISS
"As the Swiss national freight forwarders association we are honoured to be part of this important project for the air cargo industry. All forwarders involved in the project are members of our association and helped to start e-freight in Zurich together with our partners at airlines, customs, ground handling agents and IATA. This is what we would call an efficient sharing of know-how."
Walter Burri, Country Manager Switzerland, Singapore Airlines Cargo
“We are at the beginning of an exciting development in Switzerland’s airfreight industry. We at Singapore Airlines Cargo, with a leading role in the process of e-shipments in and out of Singapore, are pleased to see that all Swiss participants have demonstrated the willingness to move forward together along this road and hopefully during this journey to convince other participants to join-in, who can further help with their contributions to modernize the airfreight industry”.
Rolf Holderegger, Cargo Sales & Service Manager Switzerland and Southern Europe, Air Canada
“Air Canada fully supports the introduction of e-freight ex Switzerland. Air Canada has already started successfully e-freight shipments to/from Canada to London. Toronto and Vancouver are certified e-freight stations and Montreal should follow in due course. It is one of Air Canada’s main objectives to move forward with this paperless way of shipping, and we look forward to implementing in Zurich when we have the green light to expand the number of participants in Canada.”
Annelis Krebs, Information & Technologies, Cargologic Ltd
“It was an excellent experience to get e-Freight on track in Zurich. E-freight shows us the importance of a proper data flow, and we are looking forward to seeing it as a common standard!”
About e-Freight
For further information please visit:
http://www.iata.org/pressroom/facts_figures/fact_sheets/e-freight.htm
About Swiss WorldCargo
Swiss WorldCargo is the air freight division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. With a global network of more than 150 destinations in over 80 countries and a wide range of services offered, Swiss WorldCargo generates true added value for its customers and makes a substantial contribution to the earnings power of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.
Note to editors:
For further information about Swiss WorldCargo, pictures and interview requests please contact:
Bernd Maresch
Director
Head of Marketing & Strategy
bernd.maresch@swiss.com
Phone +41 44 564 50 50
Please visit www.swissworldcargo.com
