Expanded forwarder IT system unveiled

   Worldwide Information Network has integrated its WIN 3.0 system with CHAMP Cargosystems’ Traxon cargoHUB platform, allowing for direct connectivity between WIN’s freight forwarders and more than 100 airlines.
   The new capabilities will launch in June. Forwarders using WIN previously had the capability to connect electronically between agents, and between agents and ocean carriers.
   The two parties announced the partnership during the WCA Family Annual Conference in Bangkok. WIN is the preferred program for the agency’s more than 4,000 forwarder member offices.
   WIN officials see this as a large step toward the proliferation of e-freight and electronic air waybill, especially for small and midsized forwarders. Master and house air waybill availability and status information, and booking requests can all be transmitted electronically though the new system. Forwarders can use all the new benefits by simply connecting through their own IT networks to the WIN system.
   “Although small and medium-sized forwarders offer their customers many advantages over the multinationals, they still lack the sort of IT connectivity their larger competitors take for granted,” WIN’s  John DeBenedette said during a separate unveiling at the World Cargo Symposium in Doha. “This new connection between WIN and CHAMP’s  Traxon cargoHUB levels the playing field and, in fact, sets the stage for the independents to leap ahead. Users will rapidly benefit from efficiency gains, cost savings and increases in service quality.”
   This solution, officials said, puts everything under one roof and replaces the patchwork of management systems many forwarders have had to use.
   “(Traxon cargoHUB) simplifies transmission, conversion and distribution of messages, and expands the scope of information sharing within the air logistics community,” CHAMP’s Aike Hofft said in a statement. – Jon Ross