Air cargo’s top 3 tech trends of 2019

#1 Digitalized management systems

Perhaps the biggest trend of 2019 was the major development and application of digitalized data and cargo management systems across logistics and air cargo. While platforms still remain highly fragmented – perhaps foreshadowing an eventual battle over who will lead the market, reminiscent of those being waged between streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu – the technology undoubtedly took off this year.

Several key players in the pool of developing cargo management systems emerged this year. Germany-based cargo.one saw seven carriers, including Etihad Cargo, Nippon Cargo, El Al Cargo, Finnair Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, AirBridgeCargo and CargoLogicAir, sign onto its platform, which allows freight forwarders to book capacity on its member carriers’ flights. Meanwhile, U.K.-based Hermes Logistics Technologies began rolling out the H5 system – the latest version of the cloud-based Hermes cargo management application that is designed to improve service management, revenue accounting, process automation and service failure avoidance – in the operations of various airports, airlines and ground handlers across the globe, including Hanoi Airport (HAN), RSA National, LuxairCARGO, CHS Trade and Menzies.

A legal battle also flared up between logistics payment platform competitors PayCargo and CargoSprint in the middle of the year, which has yet to be resolved and saw recent additional filings to the case by PayCargo in December.

The development of these software-as-a-service and digital cloud platforms will be one to watch over the coming year as air cargo seeks to capitalize on business during what stakeholders are hoping will be a more lucrative year.