That Sinking Feeling: Keeping shippers from running back to seafreight

Welcome to the machine…

So, what exactly should the game plan for airfreight look like?

“Ironically, it’s automation,” says Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association. Fried garnered applause at this year’s CNS Partnership conference in Orlando, when he said that the forwarders he represents may have been slow to innovate, but they are not “technical Neanderthals.” Humor aside, the audience’s response spoke to a recognition that, despite its reputation, the airfreight business is listening to shippers’ demands for transparency and automation. That’s partly why shippers are more comfortable shifting volumes to air these days.

Deploying technology that makes life easier for shippers is especially important for larger shippers, said Swiss WorldCargo’s Perez. “For global companies, we are talking about a fully integrated supply chain. Every time somebody has to pick up a phone, it costs money, it increases the chance of making mistakes, and it costs time.” Perez explained that global companies manage their supply chains within enterprise resource management (ERP) systems, powered by the likes of Oracle or SAP.

“The whole supply chain is in there, and interdepartmental communication is fully automated,” explained Perez, noting that there is an interruption for transportation, meaning that paperwork needs to go to a forwarder, who then books a flight with a carrier. The carrier does manual work, and gets the final OK. For companies with thousands of transactions, this process needs to be automated. That’s something that carriers need to accommodate.

The ERP has all the information needed to order transportation. Nonetheless, in most cases, the forwarder is contacted via email to request transportation, and thereafter the forwarder contacts the airline/trucker. Even if there’s an electronic data interchange (EDI) connection, somebody often has to create the transport booking. Perez suggests that, if prices and conditions are agreed upon in advance, “all of this could be done automatically, the same as the internal processes in a company’s ERP.”