Lufthansa Cargo and Freightos are taking a “quantum leap in cargo booking” with an instant online eBooking system.
Through application programming interface (API) services, forwarders will be able to instantly look up contracted rates, assess capacity and book cargo on specific flights in real-time.
The companies say that e-commerce drove the nine per cent growth in airfreight demand in 2017, but manual airfreight management and sales continued to cost the industry billions annually in changing fees, untapped capacity and manual labour, all contributing to average transit times of six days though flights last a matter of hours.
Lufthansa Cargo and Freightos customers can instantly view their contracted price online and secure airfreight capacity, and this system will be expanded globally in coming months beginning with a rollout in major European markets.
Freightos customers including Rohlig Logistics are already benefiting from improved visibility, instant booking, and increased data exchange accuracy.
Rohlig Logistics global airfreight director, Dirk Schneider says: “The new functionality enables rapid quoting and booking of our shipments. Röhlig Logistics customers benefit as one of the first through improved information flow and handling of their consignments. We are happy that we joined the pilot and look forward to extending this service further within our network.”
Lufthansa Cargo has prioritised technology initiatives like APIs, with chief executive officer (CEO) Peter Gerber saying: “Through Lufthansa Cargo web service, we are driving the digitisation of our industry to offer our customers and partners a convenient and fast digital interface to our products and services.”
Freightos WebCargo already has the world’s largest air cargo rate database enabling real-time pricing, capacity and eBooking for airlines with the necessary digital capabilities.
Freightos CEO, Zvi Schreiber says: “Everyone’s talking about air cargo digitisation but for most it’s just talk. It’s fantastic to partner with a forward-looking airline like Lufthansa Cargo for this quantum leap in cargo booking. The result of on-demand booking is that goods will move faster, with up to a day shaved off transit time, and tens of dollars saved per shipment.”
