Emirates SkyCargo launches new cargo management system

Emirates SkyCargo launches new cargo management system Emirates SkyCargo officially launched a new cargo management system Tuesday, which the Dubai-based air carrier said not only improves freight data management between itself and its own customers but may be tapped for use by other cargo airlines.
   The system, SkyChain, offers a number of benefits, including compatibility with the wide host of customer systems, capacity to accommodate upgrades and changes through Java architecture, and real-time access and updates.
   “It’s the future that’s dictating how we manage today. It’s not our past,” Ram Menen, divisional senior vice president of cargo for Emirates SkyCargo, told reporters at the International Air Cargo Forum and Exposition in Calgary on Tuesday.
   Menen noted that cargo carriers have been using systems that are 10 to 30 years old and offer little flexibility. Instead of forcing a new system standard on its customers, Emirates SkyCargo decided to give SkyChain the ability to work with all types of electronic programs and standards. “We will communicate with customers the way they want to be communicated with.”
   Emirates SkyCargo began developing SkyChain in April 2004. The airline enlisted a team of 150 information technology and cargo specialists in Dubai. Menen said the carrier consulted with shippers and freight forwarders during the development of SkyChain.
   SkyChain provides cargo customers with flight scheduling capability including freighters, trucks and passenger planes; provides a routing engine to find the shortest and cheapest flights; air waybill management; flight load planning; and flight disruption management, among numerous other capabilities. Menen said SkyChain is also in line with the International Air Transport Association’s “e-freight” initiative to eliminate 95 percent of air cargo paperwork by 2010.
   Emirates SkyCargo will make SkyChain available to other air cargo carriers through Mercator, the Dubai-based IT division of the Emirates Group. Menen said airlines are already contacting Emirates SkyCargo about SkyChain. “It was built by an airline,” he said.
   For more details about the system, access https://www.SkyChain.com.