The electronic air waybill (e-AWB) penetration rate in Turkey has risen to 59 per cent, above the industry average of about 39 per cent, but there is still more to do to modernise processes, delegates at Logitrans Istanbul heard.
During the session ‘Electronic Air Waybill and e-freight systems’ on 17 November, Lufthansa Cargo general manager Turkey, Hasan Hatipoglu; Emirates Airline cargo manager Turkey, Feza Erdogan; UTIKAD board member, Arif Badur; International Air Transport Association campaign manager for Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Okan Ogur; and Turkey Cargo vice president operations, Serdar Demir discussed the benefits of e-freight and what more needs to be done.
The session was moderated by Qatar Airways cargo manager for Turkey, Serkan Demirkan and organised by Air Cargo Committee Turkey.
Ogur says shipments can easily have 18 documents and nine stakeholders, and the processes are not well connected, and that e-freight is the solution to the problem.
He says: “It is very complex with old fashion software used and the data quality is low. Lots of the documents are not digitised yet. The strategy set for the industry is to modernise, processes have to be modernised.”
He admits implementing e-freight is not as easy as it looks but is essential, and e-AWBs are the start.
Ogur told delegates that e-AWBs reduced paper usage, improve efficiency and quality of data all while reducing costs for airlines and freight forwarders.
Demir spoke about why Turkish Cargo sees e-AWB and e-freight as so important. He says: “We are trying achieve stable operations and improve the data quality, that is the main goal.”
He agrees though it has been challenging to implement, e-freight is essential. Demir says: “Information should be able to travel independently so any authority has access. We want simplify the process.”
Hatipoglu adds that using e-AWBs can be very simple. He says: “I’ve seen how simple it is, go into bill offloading prepared data in our system, tick the box for e-AWB, that’s it. It took two minutes.”
