Survey: Forwarders slow to embrace e-freight

Survey: Forwarders slow to embrace e-freight    A global survey by two industry groups found many freight forwarders are still unwilling to fully embrace airport-to-airport e-commerce programs, such as the International Air Transport Association's e-freight initiative, unless they realize a significant improvement to their operations.
   The survey, which was conducted by the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) and The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), included about 450 forwarders from 84 countries. The largest number of participants were from Australia, Canada, Egypt, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
   According to the survey, about 55 percent of respondents said they were aware of IATA's e-freight project yet less than 20 percent said they were participating in the initiative.
   'With nearly half of the forwarders claiming not to have heard of e-freight, we have to find ways to reinforce the message,' said Bill Gottlieb, immediate past president of FIATA, in a statement.
   'Air cargo remains woefully behind other modes of transport in terms of e-commerce,' he said. 'We know that for every industry it takes time and investment to build momentum, but right now there clearly isn't enough value added to entice many airlines and the wider international forwarding community to 'come to the table.' '
   Daniel Fernandez, TIACA secretary general, said the need to work together with industry partners to facilitate new e-commerce developments should be supported through the new global industry advisory group being created TIACA, FIATA, IATA and the Global Shippers' Forum (GSF).
   FIATA and TIACA noted that individual air cargo shipments still require as many as 30 paper documents to process.
   'This unnecessarily slows the air cargo process and is an undue strain on resources. It is estimated that the volume of paperwork that currently accompanies airfreight shipments is the equivalent of 7,800 tons, which is sufficient to fill 80 747 freighters annually,' Fernandez said. 'That isn't sustainable in modern day business, particularly for an industry needing to optimize cost efficiencies so as to remain competitive and in profit.'
   Fernandez added the air cargo industry must do a better job espousing to forwarders the benefits of embracing e-commerce programs.
   'We cannot ignore the feedback from freight forwarders that completed the survey and we want to share the subsequent analysis with our industry partners to see how we can make e-commerce more viable and an even bigger priority for all players in the air cargo supply chain in 2011,' he said. 'Everyone needs to see how it is going to lower their costs and improve their efficiency.' ' Chris Gillis