The charter market is complex by nature, with a high number of variables and a non-commoditised or unified structure to how requests are sent or quotations provided to customers. However, on both sides of the market, customers want the ability to better track data to aid decision making without sacrificing response time.
Currently this is managed by filling out request and quotation tracker spreadsheets or manually filling out lengthy forms in a CRM tool or bespoke system that takes time. Technology and automation can be leveraged to make the capturing of request and quote data an implicit process that occurs in the background without the need to fill out forms or fields at a time when every second can count in the request and quotation process.
When attempting to identify suitable or available carriers for charter, brokers and professionals often resort to manually checking with each carrier.
On the other hand carriers with ad-hoc capacity available also struggle to distribute this capacity to the market, often resorting to manual availability emails that quickly become out of date. These disjointed and manual processes result in missed opportunities for both sides, with carriers losing out on revenue and requesters missing suitable options for a request in hand.
“Given the highly volatile nature of the current macroeconomic climate, supply chains are being relied on now more than ever and the speed to react to changing requirements is now crucially important,” Simon Watson, founder of Aerios, stated.
“The reliance on legacy processes and a lack of data and transparency in the charter market make ascertaining the availability and identification of relevant carriers hugely inefficient and slow for brokers and charter professionals. Carriers that have availability or can perform requested routings can be missed. Occasionally, this information is distributed manually across existing channels, becoming out-of-date the moment it’s shared. Without real-time data and transparency, it becomes extremely difficult for all parties to make informed decisions quickly, increasing the reaction time when responding to a changing market.”
Applying tools across airfreight
Artificial Intelligence has the capability in the long term to greatly support businesses across a number of use cases. One key use case that Aerios is focusing on is using AI to assist users in summarising large amounts of information held across communication, request, and market data. Helping to assist long-term strategic decision-making, together with more day-to-day operations that include shift handover summaries.
Companies that don’t embrace digitalisation can be impacted by two key cost factors: cost inefficient growth and lost revenue opportunities.
The extra cost required to facilitate an increasing number of requests managed using manual processes doesn’t scale in a cost-efficient manner for carriers or charter brokers. A combination of automation and a more efficient, implicit workflow can make scaling for growth more cost-efficient.
Not having access to data that can help maximise the upside potential for each potential deal and not having access to new marketplaces or new distribution channels can result in lost revenue when compared to competitors that embrace these new routes.
“The logistics sector is vitally important to support global trade and the only way to ensure its continued success is to ensure we are adopting the latest technological advancements that in turn will help to attract the best and brightest minds to our market,” Watson stated.
