Cargo 2000 updates air cargo quality standards

Cargo 2000, an IATA interest group, wrapped up a meeting last week in Vienna that focused on finalizing its airport-to-airport and starting revisions of its door-to-door process definitions for air cargo.    Cargo 2000, an International Air Transport Association interest group, has wrapped up a meeting this week in Vienna that focused on finalizing its airport-to-airport and to start revising its door-to-door process definitions for air cargo.
   The organization’s Audit and Certification Program is also being “refreshed” by the working group and is expected to be ready for a “re-launch’ next year.
   Cargo 2000’s new airport-to-airport document defines the standard processes and measures at the air waybill level for all cargo movements, from airport at origin to airport at destination adopted by airlines, freight forwarders and ground handlers.
   With that done, Cargo 2000 said it can now move forward with revising the door-to-door specification, which defines standard processes and measures at house air waybill level for all door-to-door moves adopted by forwarders and trucking companies in the group.
   “The launch of the door-to-door specification revision is integral for DHL Global Forwarding, as it will be the standard to measure the door-to-door performance and improve the air cargo customer experience,” said Stephen Smith, vice president and senior project manager at DHL Global Forwarding.
   A new, so-called D2D Task Force, including forwarders, information technology firms and airlines will begin revising the specification immediately and will hold its first meeting in November at Frankfurt, Germany, Cargo 2000 said.
   The Cargo 2000 Technical Working Group is also identifying ways to add information to the data it captures to measure and report new key performance indicators (KPIs) for the industry and is developing an implementation plan for this Smart Data project ready for a launch next year.
   “The Smart Data approach will provide the added value of built-in analysis, added guidance as to where shipment processing time lapses occur and, as such, enhance visibility to identifiable opportunities for improvement,” said France Pellerin, manager of cargo quality compliance at Air Canada.
   Cargo 2000 said most of these programs are planned for implementation in 2016, with the door-to-door specification expected for formal adoption in 2017.